Morris Marina - was it really that bad?
Discussion
blueg33 said:
I disagree, but I can only go on the comments from my parents and their friends. Neighbour hated his Avenger, other neighbour had a Dolomite Sprint and loved it. Didnt see many Viva's in Coventry, but the one I got lifts in to school was horrid.
Trust me- I drove sundry Marinas , Vivas , Chevettes , Escorts and Cortinas and Dolomites in period - and the Marina , even in its best (1.3) form wasn't even close. They were truly, madly, deeply awful cars . coppice said:
blueg33 said:
I disagree, but I can only go on the comments from my parents and their friends. Neighbour hated his Avenger, other neighbour had a Dolomite Sprint and loved it. Didnt see many Viva's in Coventry, but the one I got lifts in to school was horrid.
Trust me- I drove sundry Marinas , Vivas , Chevettes , Escorts and Cortinas and Dolomites in period - and the Marina , even in its best (1.3) form wasn't even close. They were truly, madly, deeply awful cars . I don't think anyone has mentioned the Chrysler Alpine yet. The fact that it won COTY in 1975 (?) shows just how bad the rest of the cars for sale were, and that includes the Marina. Spongy suspension, seats the same, a gear change that worked - sometimes. I won't go on, but I shudder when I think of the time I borrowed one.
lowdrag said:
I don't think anyone has mentioned the Chrysler Alpine yet. The fact that it won COTY in 1975 (?) shows just how bad the rest of the cars for sale were, and that includes the Marina. Spongy suspension, seats the same, a gear change that worked - sometimes. I won't go on, but I shudder when I think of the time I borrowed one.
I had one of these too, company car. Having had a Marina my initial thoughts were it was a step up. How wrong was I! It was even more unreliable. It was a lottery if it would start in the morning and the driveability was awful.It did have a pretty solid front bumper though which was ideal for taking out jaywalking pheasants.
Having had both a Marina and an Alpine it is a wonder I didn't need therapy to get over them.
stevensdrs said:
lowdrag said:
I don't think anyone has mentioned the Chrysler Alpine yet. The fact that it won COTY in 1975 (?) shows just how bad the rest of the cars for sale were, and that includes the Marina. Spongy suspension, seats the same, a gear change that worked - sometimes. I won't go on, but I shudder when I think of the time I borrowed one.
I had one of these too, company car. Having had a Marina my initial thoughts were it was a step up. How wrong was I! It was even more unreliable. It was a lottery if it would start in the morning and the driveability was awful.It did have a pretty solid front bumper though which was ideal for taking out jaywalking pheasants.
Having had both a Marina and an Alpine it is a wonder I didn't need therapy to get over them.
But they hated the cars, ditches them very quickly
lowdrag said:
I don't think anyone has mentioned the Chrysler Alpine yet. The fact that it won COTY in 1975 (?) shows just how bad the rest of the cars for sale were, and that includes the Marina. Spongy suspension, seats the same, a gear change that worked - sometimes. I won't go on, but I shudder when I think of the time I borrowed one.
1976 but it meant little, the Horizon won in 1979 and the Renault 9 won it in 1972 and the Mk 3 Golf in 1992...though there have been some worthy winners, along the way.I was talking to a guy the other day in his 80's. His last British car was a 1976 Alpine that needed a full repaint at a year old due to rust. He had to threaten them with legal action. As soon as the festering turd came back post paint job, he traded it for a BMW 316 and has had about 13 BMW's since.
Folk don't realise how dire British cars were for quality but Chrysler/Talbot were the absolute nadir. Absolute rubbish.
Folk don't realise how dire British cars were for quality but Chrysler/Talbot were the absolute nadir. Absolute rubbish.
Touring442 said:
I was talking to a guy the other day in his 80's. His last British car was a 1976 Alpine that needed a full repaint at a year old due to rust. He had to threaten them with legal action. As soon as the festering turd came back post paint job, he traded it for a BMW 316 and has had about 13 BMW's since.
Folk don't realise how dire British cars were for quality but Chrysler/Talbot were the absolute nadir. Absolute rubbish.
No, they were all rubbish. My girlfriend's father had a Mk III Cortina with a rust hole in the door you could get your arm in and it wasn't that old. I had a 6 year old Viva HC with most of the inner wheel arch rusted away. There again, they were cheap and BMW gave you bri-nylon seats and no radio. You'll note they still all rusted away though, just took a bit longer.Folk don't realise how dire British cars were for quality but Chrysler/Talbot were the absolute nadir. Absolute rubbish.
Touring442 said:
I was talking to a guy the other day in his 80's. His last British car was a 1976 Alpine that needed a full repaint at a year old due to rust. He had to threaten them with legal action. As soon as the festering turd came back post paint job, he traded it for a BMW 316 and has had about 13 BMW's since.
Folk don't realise how dire British cars were for quality but Chrysler/Talbot were the absolute nadir. Absolute rubbish.
I dont think people these days realise how bad almost all cars were.Folk don't realise how dire British cars were for quality but Chrysler/Talbot were the absolute nadir. Absolute rubbish.
My first cars were 70's cars as a young driver and almost every car by 5 years old were likely to have rust holes in them somewhere. Its frightening these days to think, but the number of cars with gaping holes in the wheel arches being driven about was a frequent sight.
Escorts were as bad as Marina's for rust.
BMW's on the other hand, did seem a little better. But then again, they were a lot more expensive and well out of my range.
LuS1fer said:
No, they were all rubbish. My girlfriend's father had a Mk III Cortina with a rust hole in the door you could get your arm in and it wasn't that old. I had a 6 year old Viva HC with most of the inner wheel arch rusted away. There again, they were cheap and BMW gave you bri-nylon seats and no radio. You'll note they still all rusted away though, just took a bit longer.
E21's weren't MOT failures at 5 years old, nor were they requiring remedial resprays at a year old. In 1988 when I had my first BMW - a 1976 R registration 320i - there were still loads of early E21's about. Tatty, worn out but not suffering from the sort of rot where the car was literally falling apart. They were not rubbish. A 1976 Ford was a death trap. From my time MOT'ing cars in the 1980's, the one car I can't recall failing for rot was the Allegro. The Princess was pretty good as were Saabs and Volvo 240's. Marinas were never Ford levels of bad, normally just the easily repaired outer sills.
Fords were terrible as were Minis (they failed on everything though), early Golfs, Alfas, Fiats etc. Jap cars were grim as well. One S plate Escort estate tested in 1987 was so bad we refused to allow it to be driven away because the passenger inner wing had rusted away from the bulkhead. The whole front end creaked and flexed.
I guess that those of us of a certain age should be grateful for these cars, otherwise we would not have learnt the bodywork skills we have acquired; the downside is, of course, we are too old to physically be capable of doing it and modern cars do not rust as much - therefore the skill is redundant!
Touring442 said:
LuS1fer said:
No, they were all rubbish. My girlfriend's father had a Mk III Cortina with a rust hole in the door you could get your arm in and it wasn't that old. I had a 6 year old Viva HC with most of the inner wheel arch rusted away. There again, they were cheap and BMW gave you bri-nylon seats and no radio. You'll note they still all rusted away though, just took a bit longer.
E21's weren't MOT failures at 5 years old, nor were they requiring remedial resprays at a year old. In 1988 when I had my first BMW - a 1976 R registration 320i - there were still loads of early E21's about. Tatty, worn out but not suffering from the sort of rot where the car was literally falling apart. They were not rubbish. A 1976 Ford was a death trap. From my time MOT'ing cars in the 1980's, the one car I can't recall failing for rot was the Allegro. The Princess was pretty good as were Saabs and Volvo 240's. Marinas were never Ford levels of bad, normally just the easily repaired outer sills.
Fords were terrible as were Minis (they failed on everything though), early Golfs, Alfas, Fiats etc. Jap cars were grim as well. One S plate Escort estate tested in 1987 was so bad we refused to allow it to be driven away because the passenger inner wing had rusted away from the bulkhead. The whole front end creaked and flexed.
My dad spotted visible rust on two he had on the day he picked them up, brand new, from Parkside motors in Coventry.
heisthegaffer said:
My old man had 2 Reliants followed by a marina.
He then got a Strada 65CL and said the Strada was a leap forward to drive, was incredible round corners in comparison.
I assisted my sister into a 1978 Fiat 128 which was incredibly eager and like a Ferrari round bends, in comparison to anything British (bar the Mini which was slow).He then got a Strada 65CL and said the Strada was a leap forward to drive, was incredible round corners in comparison.
Touring442 said:
I was talking to a guy the other day in his 80's. His last British car was a 1976 Alpine that needed a full repaint at a year old due to rust. He had to threaten them with legal action. As soon as the festering turd came back post paint job, he traded it for a BMW 316 and has had about 13 BMW's since.
Folk don't realise how dire British cars were for quality but Chrysler/Talbot were the absolute nadir. Absolute rubbish.
^ ^ but Alpines weren't British, they were French cars, re-badged Simcas.Folk don't realise how dire British cars were for quality but Chrysler/Talbot were the absolute nadir. Absolute rubbish.
cjb44 said:
I guess that those of us of a certain age should be grateful for these cars, otherwise we would not have learnt the bodywork skills we have acquired; the downside is, of course, we are too old to physically be capable of doing it and modern cars do not rust as much - therefore the skill is redundant!
The trick is to keep on running older cars that you have to keep on repairing.Then your skills arent redundant at all.
My marina was much improved by the ford pinto motor and gearbox I fitted, morris ital headlights and an escort xr3 drivers seat.
I.Am.Sad.
It was not fast and didnt handle.
Theres a lesson in there someplace, I just know it.
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