Morris Marina - was it really that bad?
Discussion
If BL had been more proactive with product placement in films and TV shows they would have been onto a winner, some great product and potential good will was let down by a piss poor attitude. When the first series of The Professionals was being shot in '77 they had a golden opportunity to push cars like the SD1, Dolly Sprint and TR7 into the limelight but the production crew were let down so badly with unreliability and promised vehicles failing to turn up that they went to Ford instead, returning the BL cars with great haste. Ford's PR people were much more on the ball than BL's.
The Dolomite - shudder . Nice car, lovely inside and brisk . My dad had an 1850 HL . It went through 5 replacement gearboxes in 20,000 miles and only after dad went into meltdown and wrote to Lord Stokes was the damned thing fixed . It helped that dad was a GP who really , really needed a car to work .
Oh , and then the accursed heap started to run on (up to 30 seconds clanking and banging to itself after you'd locked it and walked off.)
That got sorted - decoke I think - and then the bd thing decided to collapse its n/s front suspension on me. At 80 mph , going over an A1 viaduct .
He drove Hondas the rest of his life ...
Oh , and then the accursed heap started to run on (up to 30 seconds clanking and banging to itself after you'd locked it and walked off.)
That got sorted - decoke I think - and then the bd thing decided to collapse its n/s front suspension on me. At 80 mph , going over an A1 viaduct .
He drove Hondas the rest of his life ...
Edited by coppice on Wednesday 20th November 07:29
s m said:
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
Does the old mantra apply to Dolomites like it did stags in that the early ones were made of British steel and the later ones made from foreign sourced steel meaning the early ones were a bit less prone to rot?
P5BNij said:
If BL had been more proactive with product placement in films and TV shows they would have been onto a winner, some great product and potential good will was let down by a piss poor attitude. When the first series of The Professionals was being shot in '77 they had a golden opportunity to push cars like the SD1, Dolly Sprint and TR7 into the limelight but the production crew were let down so badly with unreliability and promised vehicles failing to turn up that they went to Ford instead, returning the BL cars with great haste. Ford's PR people were much more on the ball than BL's.
You're forgetting the Avengers - Steed's "racing" XJ, Purdy's TR7 and Gambit's Range Rover. The series featured many BL cars although I gather Ford were very professional and BL were a bit of a shambles.LuS1fer said:
P5BNij said:
If BL had been more proactive with product placement in films and TV shows they would have been onto a winner, some great product and potential good will was let down by a piss poor attitude. When the first series of The Professionals was being shot in '77 they had a golden opportunity to push cars like the SD1, Dolly Sprint and TR7 into the limelight but the production crew were let down so badly with unreliability and promised vehicles failing to turn up that they went to Ford instead, returning the BL cars with great haste. Ford's PR people were much more on the ball than BL's.
You're forgetting the Avengers - Steed's "racing" XJ, Purdy's TR7 and Gambit's Range Rover. The series featured many BL cars although I gather Ford were very professional and BL were a bit of a shambles.The Dolly got an honourable mention when pitted against the RS2000 and the Droop Snoot Firenza (the easy winner) although, technically, the Firenza's natural competitor was the Capri (BL had only the Marina TC in the way of 2 door 4 seaters and that was never going to win any test).
Always lusted after the Frenzy, aged about 13 but saw the Dolly as a bit "old man's car" and the RS2000 as a bit dull next to the Frenzy. How or why Vauxhall blew that remains a mystery to me.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/alb...
Always lusted after the Frenzy, aged about 13 but saw the Dolly as a bit "old man's car" and the RS2000 as a bit dull next to the Frenzy. How or why Vauxhall blew that remains a mystery to me.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/alb...
LuS1fer said:
P5BNij said:
If BL had been more proactive with product placement in films and TV shows they would have been onto a winner, some great product and potential good will was let down by a piss poor attitude. When the first series of The Professionals was being shot in '77 they had a golden opportunity to push cars like the SD1, Dolly Sprint and TR7 into the limelight but the production crew were let down so badly with unreliability and promised vehicles failing to turn up that they went to Ford instead, returning the BL cars with great haste. Ford's PR people were much more on the ball than BL's.
You're forgetting the Avengers - Steed's "racing" XJ, Purdy's TR7 and Gambit's Range Rover.LuS1fer said:
How or why Vauxhall blew that remains a mystery to me.
From a Vauxhall memo that was on display at the Heritage Centre:"The ZF gearbox is noisy and initially gives one some difficulty. The reliability of the engine has been suspect. The price is too expensive, considering the specification level. The performance is below the publicised figures. Quality is poor. "
Reading further there seemed to be some genuine annoyance at how the company had handled the launch and distribution of the vehicle. The plan was that the next generation would have a nicer gearbox, fuel injection, better quality control, and be based on the estate shell.
LuS1fer said:
How or why Vauxhall blew that remains a mystery to me.
The Vauxhall board simply weren't interested in sporting cars (or motorsport) other than a token representation. They didn't even have a 'works' rally or motorsport division, DTV (and DOT in Germany) was as close as they got, which was as the name implies, money that came from Vauxhall (or Opel) dealers, rather than Vauxhall and Opel themselves.GM had withdrawn from motorsport back in the early 60's and there was no sanctioned official support forthcoming from GM to Vauxhall and Opel for a Ford style works factory setup.
LuS1fer said:
The Dolly got an honourable mention when pitted against the RS2000 and the Droop Snoot Firenza (the easy winner) although, technically, the Firenza's natural competitor was the Capri (BL had only the Marina TC in the way of 2 door 4 seaters and that was never going to win any test).
Always lusted after the Frenzy, aged about 13 but saw the Dolly as a bit "old man's car" and the RS2000 as a bit dull next to the Frenzy. How or why Vauxhall blew that remains a mystery to me.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/alb...
Those Droopsnoots were nice but pretty rare Always lusted after the Frenzy, aged about 13 but saw the Dolly as a bit "old man's car" and the RS2000 as a bit dull next to the Frenzy. How or why Vauxhall blew that remains a mystery to me.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/alb...
I can only remember ever seeing one at the time
I think I can speak for all of my friends in saying we’d have all loved one! A Lotus Sunbeam was common in comparison - one of us managed to get one of those, another lad got an RS1800......but I honestly don’t think I recall ever seeing the chance to get a Firenza Droopsnoot
aeropilot said:
LuS1fer said:
P5BNij said:
If BL had been more proactive with product placement in films and TV shows they would have been onto a winner, some great product and potential good will was let down by a piss poor attitude. When the first series of The Professionals was being shot in '77 they had a golden opportunity to push cars like the SD1, Dolly Sprint and TR7 into the limelight but the production crew were let down so badly with unreliability and promised vehicles failing to turn up that they went to Ford instead, returning the BL cars with great haste. Ford's PR people were much more on the ball than BL's.
You're forgetting the Avengers - Steed's "racing" XJ, Purdy's TR7 and Gambit's Range Rover.Dr Jekyll said:
I do have a vague memory of seeing a row of what I think were brand new droop snoot Firenzas in a compound somewhere near Tamworth. I had an idea it could actually have been the Reliant factory.
Anyone know what they might have been doing there?
We stumbled across a compound full of purple Magnum Sportshatches, in Capenhurst, not far from Ellesmere Port. Vauxhalls were far more common in the area.Anyone know what they might have been doing there?
s m said:
Those Droopsnoots were nice but pretty rare
I can only remember ever seeing one at the time
I think I can speak for all of my friends in saying we’d have all loved one! A Lotus Sunbeam was common in comparison - one of us managed to get one of those, another lad got an RS1800......but I honestly don’t think I recall ever seeing the chance to get a Firenza Droopsnoot
I was considering one back in 1983, but ended up with the RS2000. Used to see Snoots for sale relatively often in Muttering Screws back then, considering they only made 204, but good ones were still up around the 1900-2000+ mark and the rough ones were down in my price range of 1500-ish. Went to see one at that price, but the ZF gearbox clearly needed a rebuild, among other things, which meant walking away.I can only remember ever seeing one at the time
I think I can speak for all of my friends in saying we’d have all loved one! A Lotus Sunbeam was common in comparison - one of us managed to get one of those, another lad got an RS1800......but I honestly don’t think I recall ever seeing the chance to get a Firenza Droopsnoot
Mind you, the RS2000 I ended up buying wasn't all it seemed
Oh, the impetuousness of youth
aeropilot said:
The Vauxhall board simply weren't interested in sporting cars (or motorsport) other than a token representation. They didn't even have a 'works' rally or motorsport division, DTV (and DOT in Germany) was as close as they got, which was as the name implies, money that came from Vauxhall (or Opel) dealers, rather than Vauxhall and Opel themselves.
GM had withdrawn from motorsport back in the early 60's and there was no sanctioned official support forthcoming from GM to Vauxhall and Opel for a Ford style works factory setup.
That was just crackers. Opel made quite a few nice sporting cars - Vauxhall had the Chevette which had superb handling out of the box (way better than a cooking Escort), a 2000 Cavalier engine and box, brakes etc and they could have knocked together a very good RS2000 rival for peanuts. I guess that's why GM got tired of them and got Opel to run the show in the 1980's. GM had withdrawn from motorsport back in the early 60's and there was no sanctioned official support forthcoming from GM to Vauxhall and Opel for a Ford style works factory setup.
The Dolly Sprint was a really quick car that should have done better however the seating made you feel sat on not in. It was a confusion of design, like a sprinter in a Harris tweed suit in never jelled.
Also when the head gasket went, as they did, if more than a few months old getting the bottom head studs out was a nightmare which stopped the head coming off if not removed.
As for product placement, I read an article in a magazine which said that BL gave cars to use on the New Avengers but they hadn't got the right ideal on continuity. One day they would send a red car then next a white one etc. The only consistent car was Steeds jag as there was only one like it
Also when the head gasket went, as they did, if more than a few months old getting the bottom head studs out was a nightmare which stopped the head coming off if not removed.
As for product placement, I read an article in a magazine which said that BL gave cars to use on the New Avengers but they hadn't got the right ideal on continuity. One day they would send a red car then next a white one etc. The only consistent car was Steeds jag as there was only one like it
Touring442 said:
aeropilot said:
The Vauxhall board simply weren't interested in sporting cars (or motorsport) other than a token representation. They didn't even have a 'works' rally or motorsport division, DTV (and DOT in Germany) was as close as they got, which was as the name implies, money that came from Vauxhall (or Opel) dealers, rather than Vauxhall and Opel themselves.
GM had withdrawn from motorsport back in the early 60's and there was no sanctioned official support forthcoming from GM to Vauxhall and Opel for a Ford style works factory setup.
That was just crackers. Opel made quite a few nice sporting cars - Vauxhall had the Chevette which had superb handling out of the box (way better than a cooking Escort), a 2000 Cavalier engine and box, brakes etc and they could have knocked together a very good RS2000 rival for peanuts. I guess that's why GM got tired of them and got Opel to run the show in the 1980's. GM had withdrawn from motorsport back in the early 60's and there was no sanctioned official support forthcoming from GM to Vauxhall and Opel for a Ford style works factory setup.
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