Morris Marina - was it really that bad?
Discussion
British Motor Museum at Gaydon has just taken delivery of a lovely 1971 1.3 deluxe.
https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/news/museum-n...
https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/news/museum-n...
Mr Peel said:
British Motor Museum at Gaydon has just taken delivery of a lovely 1971 1.3 deluxe.
https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/news/museum-n...
Made me smile... brilliant little story https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/news/museum-n...
baconsarney said:
Mr Peel said:
British Motor Museum at Gaydon has just taken delivery of a lovely 1971 1.3 deluxe.
https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/news/museum-n...
Made me smile... brilliant little story https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/news/museum-n...
What a lovely story
I've mentioned this thread to my Dad and he reminded me of some more things. We had 2 coupés and my Dad also had a van that he ran for quite a few years. He remembered fitting the 'tennis ball' suspension fix to the leaf springs too.
He chose the Marina as it was relatively cheep and easy to maintain and he used to do all the maintenance work on it, he did mention the front suspension being a bit of an issue and having to fix it several times in order to pass the MOT.
The car I eventually inherited had a broken passenger door handle, it snapped in half one cold morning - I think these were the same handles that ended up on the Lotus Esprit?
We used to go camping in Cornwall in the 70s and we somehow managed to fit a very large tent, 2 adults, 2 children a dog and enough equipment to last 2 weeks inside a 1.3 2 door coupe with a roof box. I'm not sure how we managed it and I doubt I could do the same in my 1 series today.
I've mentioned this thread to my Dad and he reminded me of some more things. We had 2 coupés and my Dad also had a van that he ran for quite a few years. He remembered fitting the 'tennis ball' suspension fix to the leaf springs too.
He chose the Marina as it was relatively cheep and easy to maintain and he used to do all the maintenance work on it, he did mention the front suspension being a bit of an issue and having to fix it several times in order to pass the MOT.
The car I eventually inherited had a broken passenger door handle, it snapped in half one cold morning - I think these were the same handles that ended up on the Lotus Esprit?
We used to go camping in Cornwall in the 70s and we somehow managed to fit a very large tent, 2 adults, 2 children a dog and enough equipment to last 2 weeks inside a 1.3 2 door coupe with a roof box. I'm not sure how we managed it and I doubt I could do the same in my 1 series today.
Here you go folks. Just what you want for Xmas:-
https://www.brightwells.com/lot-details/100011766
https://www.brightwells.com/lot-details/100012048
https://www.brightwells.com/lot-details/100011766
https://www.brightwells.com/lot-details/100012048
aeropilot said:
2xChevrons said:
The Daimler V8s (2.5 and 4.5) are absolute gems and were criminally underused by Jaguar thanks to the devotion to the good-for-its-time-but-quickly-dated XK6. The V8s offered more power cube-for-cube, were much smoother, much freer revving, much more suited to continual high speed driving, had infinitely more tuning potential and were much longer-lived in service. Had these things been decided purely on engineering merit then the V8s would have been used in preference to the XK.
Imagine a Series 1 XJ in Daimler Sovereign trim but with the 2.5 and 4.5 V8s instead of the unhappy 2.8 and charismatic-but-clunky 4.2 XKs? What a wonderful machine that would have been!
Imagine a Series 1 XJ in Daimler Sovereign trim but with the 2.5 and 4.5 V8s instead of the unhappy 2.8 and charismatic-but-clunky 4.2 XKs? What a wonderful machine that would have been!
Apparently the larger, 4.5 V8 as fitted to that was the darling of early drag racers (including one S. Allard Esq.) and the bottom end would happily cope with up to 1,000bhp without modification.
Turbobanana said:
Apparently the larger, 4.5 V8 as fitted to that was the darling of early drag racers (including one S. Allard Esq.) and the bottom end would happily cope with up to 1,000bhp without modification.
There an English ex-drag racer who moved to the USA and runs a well known hot rod shop in LA, who has a 4.5L Daimler fitted into his 1932 Ford roadster..........and causes no end of confusion at US shows given it looks like a Chrysler Hemi, until they look closer and then the confusion starts
My Dad had an Ital and I distinctly remember him test driving one of those puke yellow/green Marina's
The ital was hideous, but better than the Maxi it replaced, same colour, orangey red.
But there is one thing I will never be allowed to forget, the vinyl roof.
Especially after me and a friend played cops and robbers with trigger activated products over it one day in the garage!
A deserved fine thrashing ensued!
The ital was hideous, but better than the Maxi it replaced, same colour, orangey red.
But there is one thing I will never be allowed to forget, the vinyl roof.
Especially after me and a friend played cops and robbers with trigger activated products over it one day in the garage!
A deserved fine thrashing ensued!
One thing I liked really liked was the 4 spoke steering wheel in mine This is from a Marina but the Itals was the same
And I actually liked the front end too: This was similar to my mates Marina 1700
Genuinely it was good for me.
Each to their own
And I actually liked the front end too: This was similar to my mates Marina 1700
Genuinely it was good for me.
Each to their own
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 28th November 13:52
Turbobanana said:
aeropilot said:
2xChevrons said:
The Daimler V8s (2.5 and 4.5) are absolute gems and were criminally underused by Jaguar thanks to the devotion to the good-for-its-time-but-quickly-dated XK6. The V8s offered more power cube-for-cube, were much smoother, much freer revving, much more suited to continual high speed driving, had infinitely more tuning potential and were much longer-lived in service. Had these things been decided purely on engineering merit then the V8s would have been used in preference to the XK.
Imagine a Series 1 XJ in Daimler Sovereign trim but with the 2.5 and 4.5 V8s instead of the unhappy 2.8 and charismatic-but-clunky 4.2 XKs? What a wonderful machine that would have been!
Imagine a Series 1 XJ in Daimler Sovereign trim but with the 2.5 and 4.5 V8s instead of the unhappy 2.8 and charismatic-but-clunky 4.2 XKs? What a wonderful machine that would have been!
Apparently the larger, 4.5 V8 as fitted to that was the darling of early drag racers (including one S. Allard Esq.) and the bottom end would happily cope with up to 1,000bhp without modification.
BigMon said:
I really like the Ital pickup above. £4K is a lot though, but if I had a spare garage slot and money to waste I could have been tempted by it.
Me too, always liked them myself in Marina and Ital form.Many years ago I nearly bought a real unicorn from a garage in Lenwade in Norfork a Maestro pick-up once owned by the Foresty Commission in it's green livery.
bristolracer said:
Some interesting Marina facts nicked from wikipedia
Marina was the first car to use platform engineering
It was available in some European export markets with a 37hp diesel engine
It was rallied in South Africa with a Rover v8 lump in it
Some of its components have been used elsewhere, Lotus doorhandles, Indicator stalk used in the Diablo
Until the Metro, it was BLs 2nd best selling car and often came second in the sales charts behind the Cortina.
Hyundai bought 2 of them and used them as a template to start building their own cars, i.e the Pony. I wonder where Hyundai would be now if they had chosen a Cortina?
They did, the stellar was based on the mk5 cortina.Marina was the first car to use platform engineering
It was available in some European export markets with a 37hp diesel engine
It was rallied in South Africa with a Rover v8 lump in it
Some of its components have been used elsewhere, Lotus doorhandles, Indicator stalk used in the Diablo
Until the Metro, it was BLs 2nd best selling car and often came second in the sales charts behind the Cortina.
Hyundai bought 2 of them and used them as a template to start building their own cars, i.e the Pony. I wonder where Hyundai would be now if they had chosen a Cortina?
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