Filed Under: News
After the ridiculous situation with the Renaults, no matter how much information one gathered the chances of buying one was very slim.
I have always wondered why there are so many MG”b”’s, Stags and Jaguars and Morris Minor’s for sale, the answer is now rather obvious they don’t rust as fast as many of the others, why, well there is the pride of ownership where cars have been rust-proofed and any signs of rust is eradicated, though for some reason the little minor doesn’t quite fit in or does it by the examples in the club the Morris Minor is very much cherished..
Our minor wasn’t rust proofed or undersealed but it didn’t show any signs of rust, one of the obvious spots I have seen is the front door bottom, however from the numbers for sale the minor stands out head and shoulders above other small cars.
I looked at some other cars and of course rust and the Marina go hand in hand, despite being nearly Britains best selling car at one point, it has many other accolades to live down, Britains worst made car, Britains worst handling car and from a poll taken four years ago there was only just over 600 left on the road making it the most scrapped car.
The Marina was supposed to appeal to the fleet market and Mr and Mrs Average, it was a simple car with two engine choices 1.3 and 1.8 neither engine was new but were hand me downs from other models, never the less they were reliable. You also had a choice of three body styles two door coupe, four door saloon and an estate, though there is a rumour which said that the estate only came about as they had some spare parts left over.
The drive was through the rear axle which was the current fashion at that time, though front wheel drive was coming up fast.
The Marina was designed by Roy Haynes but some of his idea’s were considered too radical by management, he thought there should be a common floor pan across the range, which has become an industry standard, so a Triumph designer Harry Webster was brought in, however it seems many others had their fingers in the pie and the costs of developing the car was escalating, things got so bad that they decided to develop the coupe and the saloon as separate cars which was an unheard of practice.
Apart from the saloon and coupe there was a pickup and a van, suspension was not futuristic rear leaf springs and torsion bar at the front. A hot version of the saloon appeared the TC twin carbs as the MG”B” it was almost an “B” unit, and a low powered diesel was introduced which developed something like 40BHP no performance figures are shown and it was only sold in countries where tax advantages applied for diesel power though some comments state it must have been woefully slow.
The Marina was launched in the UK during the summer of 1971, within 11 months the 100,000th Marina was built, the model a 1.8TC, this actual version of the Marina has been declared the rarest car on UK roads.
The 1.3 engine was quite economical with figures of 37mpg, the 1.8 the figure had dropped to around 24 mpg, the hot coupe such mundane figures are not quoted which is indicative of a slightly more thirsty motor, all three had different tyre sizes, the 1.3 ran on 145×13’s, the 1.8 was shod with 155×13’s and the hot coupe 165x70x13’s, however all three had the usual disc front brakes and rear drums, gearboxes were 4speed all syncro and there was an automatic available.
The poor Marina had a few inherent problems, the first cars released to the press had incorrect set up of the front suspension, which meant the there was no change of camber when the car rolled on bends, which is recorded as producing heroic levels of under steer and in some cases the car would end up on the wrong side of the road, it seems 5000 cars were delivered in this state, however modifications were made to correct the problem.
The final accolade of the Marina from the motoring press was it was one of the worst cars of all time.
In 1980 there was great news from Leyland a new car the Morris Ital was being launched, the name implied Italian styling, well I happened to be in Kirkby Lonsdale in the Lake district the night before the unveiling of the ITAL and sitting in this little country town’s Morris Dealer’s showroom under a cover was obviously an Ital what an opportunity so in I went and was just to lift the cover when a very stern security man stepped forward, “I wouldn’t do that Sir”, I hastily dropped the cover, I wasn’t trying to steal it, honest, the unveiling is tomorrow morning, but, sorry sir no but’s and I was sort of ushered out.
Well, what a let down, yes the car had been looked at by our friends at Ital Design studio’s but only to ensure production correctness, no design, and as we know it was a tarted up Marina, Harris Mann was actually given the job and all we got was the same old Marina.
By now you are probably saying what about the Lamborghini, fair enough, well the Marina Door Handles, honest, were used in the Urraco, they also appeared in the Range rover, a couple of Peugeot’s Fiat’s and Alfa Romeo’s and lastly Lotus, not bad going, apparently they were made by Willmot Breedon better known for keys.
Little secret the next car will be something everyone will love, no rust no rubbish a true classic but you will have to wait, happy motoring and how does one keep a white Capri clean parked near Avonmore, got my eyes on that one, regards as always
Ted Lay tedlay@gmail.com
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