Morris Marina - was it really that bad?
Discussion
lowdrag said:
Anyone who has ever driven a Tii will tell you how scary it is though. "Big Burly" John Burton, as he was known, the scrambles and trials rider, had one in Lutterworth and let me drive it one day in the 80s. I came back white-faced having nearly wrecked it on a damp road. The turbo was fitted with an invisible on/off switch and when it cut in - watch out!
The Tii didn’t have a Turbo????You’re thinking of the 2002 Turbo or some home-brewed modded car surely?
The Tii was naturally aspirated, fuel injected 2 litre
60 came up in about 8.5 seconds and they topped out about 116/117mph
s m said:
lowdrag said:
Anyone who has ever driven a Tii will tell you how scary it is though. "Big Burly" John Burton, as he was known, the scrambles and trials rider, had one in Lutterworth and let me drive it one day in the 80s. I came back white-faced having nearly wrecked it on a damp road. The turbo was fitted with an invisible on/off switch and when it cut in - watch out!
The Tii didn’t have a Turbo????You’re thinking of the 2002 Turbo or some home-brewed modded car surely?
The Tii was naturally aspirated, fuel injected 2 litre
60 came up in about 8.5 seconds and they topped out about 116/117mph
Many confuse the two quite different cars.
It was,
it would not (possibly press cars, not those on sale though); 12, maybe, not even after twenty miles with foot firmly on the rubber mat.
The Crack Fox said:
Great thread! I stuck a Marina Coupe on the cover of the latest issue of my magazine. We’ve had quite a bit of feedback on that 
This one? 
(Nicked someone's link from the other Fred)
Reminds me, I think I need to renew my subscription to the very awesome http://www.motorpunk.co.uk/
I haven't even opened the last one I received yet - trying to read them in the correct order when time permits!
Edited by PorkInsider on Monday 18th November 10:55
Etypephil said:
s m said:
lowdrag said:
Anyone who has ever driven a Tii will tell you how scary it is though. "Big Burly" John Burton, as he was known, the scrambles and trials rider, had one in Lutterworth and let me drive it one day in the 80s. I came back white-faced having nearly wrecked it on a damp road. The turbo was fitted with an invisible on/off switch and when it cut in - watch out!
The Tii didn’t have a Turbo????You’re thinking of the 2002 Turbo or some home-brewed modded car surely?
The Tii was naturally aspirated, fuel injected 2 litre
60 came up in about 8.5 seconds and they topped out about 116/117mph
Many confuse the two quite different cars.
It was,
it would not (possibly press cars, not those on sale though); 12, maybe, not even after twenty miles with foot firmly on the rubber mat.
Certainly the one we had was basically the same as the Dolly Sprint or Mk2 RS 1800/2000 in give and take driving - being teenagers at the time we certainly had plenty of TLGPs - quite a few at the local disused airfield which you could drive onto back then
The steering was a lot woollier than the Escorts/Dolly Sprint though
s m said:
Maybe yours was broke then or past its best? Or maybe we all had ex-press cars
Certainly the one we had was basically the same as the Dolly Sprint or Mk2 RS 1800/2000 in give and take driving - being teenagers at the time we certainly had plenty of TLGPs - quite a few at the local disused airfield which you could drive onto back then
The steering was a lot woollier than the Escorts/Dolly Sprint though
My then business partner's car, which he found a little disappointing. Certainly not of press car standard. Certainly the one we had was basically the same as the Dolly Sprint or Mk2 RS 1800/2000 in give and take driving - being teenagers at the time we certainly had plenty of TLGPs - quite a few at the local disused airfield which you could drive onto back then
The steering was a lot woollier than the Escorts/Dolly Sprint though
Dolly Sprints and RS1600s / 1800s were really quite something in their time.
The wooliness of the BMW was most likely due to their use of a worm steering mechanism rather than a rack and pinion.
BL did put out some decent cars, however, they were often poorly packaged. I wanted a Mexico or RS2000, but decent one’s, were beyond my budget. Enter the Dolomite Sprint, looked like a scaled down Triumph 2000, bit of an old man image, Hence my reference to packaging.
I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
daqinggegg said:
BL did put out some decent cars, however, they were often poorly packaged. I wanted a Mexico or RS2000, but decent one’s, were beyond my budget. Enter the Dolomite Sprint, looked like a scaled down Triumph 2000, bit of an old man image, Hence my reference to packaging.
I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
daqinggegg said:
BL did put out some decent cars, however, they were often poorly packaged. I wanted a Mexico or RS2000, but decent one’s, were beyond my budget. Enter the Dolomite Sprint, looked like a scaled down Triumph 2000, bit of an old man image, Hence my reference to packaging.
I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
Most BL stuff was good in its own way - if you got a good one. But that argument applied to Fords as well. Moines were....well, Minis, the 1100/1300 was very good and the old 1800 Landcrab was too far ahead of its time. The Maxi was a tremendous thing really compared to a Cortina or Viva. The Issigonis cars were tools for a certain job and they did them very well. So much interior space for the external dimensions and they rode so well. They were no less robust than anything Ford made either. I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
daqinggegg said:
BL did put out some decent cars, however, they were often poorly packaged. I wanted a Mexico or RS2000, but decent one’s, were beyond my budget. Enter the Dolomite Sprint, looked like a scaled down Triumph 2000, bit of an old man image, Hence my reference to packaging.
I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
Shows you how we're all different.I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
I always thought at the time the Dolomite Sprint looked more classy than any Ford, 127bhp, twin exhaust in yellow looked the biz.
Raygun said:
Shows you how we're all different.
I always thought at the time the Dolomite Sprint looked more classy than any Ford, 127bhp, twin exhaust in yellow looked the biz.
I'm considering a TR7 convertible with a Sprint engine as 'next project'. Problem is finding a Sprint engine, or even a head.I always thought at the time the Dolomite Sprint looked more classy than any Ford, 127bhp, twin exhaust in yellow looked the biz.
Yertis said:
Raygun said:
Shows you how we're all different.
I always thought at the time the Dolomite Sprint looked more classy than any Ford, 127bhp, twin exhaust in yellow looked the biz.
I'm considering a TR7 convertible with a Sprint engine as 'next project'. Problem is finding a Sprint engine, or even a head.I always thought at the time the Dolomite Sprint looked more classy than any Ford, 127bhp, twin exhaust in yellow looked the biz.
Raygun said:
daqinggegg said:
BL did put out some decent cars, however, they were often poorly packaged. I wanted a Mexico or RS2000, but decent one’s, were beyond my budget. Enter the Dolomite Sprint, looked like a scaled down Triumph 2000, bit of an old man image, Hence my reference to packaging.
I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
Shows you how we're all different.I picked up a very tidy 10 year old example, for far less than aforementioned cars, yes, it looked dated compared to the others. It was, very comfortable and with overdrive went like stink, to me anyway, I think performance was on par with the RS2000, although handling was not as progressive.
Yes BL produced some howlers, but some good and innovative stuff was made as well.
I always thought at the time the Dolomite Sprint looked more classy than any Ford, 127bhp, twin exhaust in yellow looked the biz.
The overdrive was a novelty back then - they were/are still a pretty quick little 4-door
Here is a friend’s old S-reg - o/drive on 3rd and 4th
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