Fun fact, those left over door handles were used on early land rover discovery as well as the tail lights from the maestro vans like the one near the fence
Very well spotted sir, and a couple of great bits of information to people trying to find them today! The maestro van is super rare in nz, this one is ex royal mail from the uk
Mirage Grey with Spanish Rose trim... I had a Maxi that colour which I shouldn't have sold looking back... It was avaliable in the UK ... sold on Mini's early Allegros late VP (ado16) Princess 1300's some MG's and Landcrabs ... Not in the colour chart long though 73-74 ... Never seen an early Wedge 18-22 Series or Allegro Estate in Mirage... I think they ceased doing the Spanish Rose trim which is why it came off the charts...
The 1-8 b series engine was a great engine, didn’t go round corners mind, exhausts used to last 18months if you were lucky very. heavy gearbox with floating slave cylinder.
@robertwalker1742 oh I fully agree the early marina had awful handling that became progressively better as they improved the suspension. Wider tyres and anti roll bars help a lot. The 1.8 was a flyer due to the gearing. I've never had a problem with exhausts, but I'll bet there was a bad batch of them produced!
Lol I'll bet, the very vivid green, yellow and orange are my particular favorites, the sd1 had some absolutely incredible colors, ahhh the 70's were awesome
Agree like the Australian built Morris 1500 which used the Maxi 1500 cable change gearbox, God help you if you ever have to rebuild a gearbox, BL went through 3 different pitch angles on the gears to quiet them down , as you said use the public to test them and fix them later
@doctormengele961 it's remarkable how badly they built the launch cars, and then put in patch fixes until version 2 of the cars came out, the word of mouth destroyed any chance they had of selling them. All the later cars were very much improved, but by then it was too late, poor management and non existent quality control ruined some great cars, the maxi, Allegro,p76, princess, marina, sd1, triumph stag, tr7, all had massive, easily solved problems that ruined they're reputations in the eyes of the public. Such a massive shame
Kinda, they don't share components though. As usual they rushed it through production, and failed to iron out the bugs, and cut costs everywhere. Not a terrible car though, and really very good at the end of production
Lol all too true sir, and you actually own a 1750tc rally car! The lighter e series helps with handling! The 1275 actually did ok rallying, but I don't ever remember the 1800 being that successful 😉
Fun fact, those left over door handles were used on early land rover discovery as well as the tail lights from the maestro vans like the one near the fence
Very well spotted sir, and a couple of great bits of information to people trying to find them today! The maestro van is super rare in nz, this one is ex royal mail from the uk
Mirage Grey with Spanish Rose trim... I had a Maxi that colour which I shouldn't have sold looking back... It was avaliable in the UK ... sold on Mini's early Allegros late VP (ado16) Princess 1300's some MG's and Landcrabs ... Not in the colour chart long though 73-74 ... Never seen an early Wedge 18-22 Series or Allegro Estate in Mirage... I think they ceased doing the Spanish Rose trim which is why it came off the charts...
@ianmax69 I think that's a real shame as it's a very nice colour combination, but it's probably too subtle for the outrageous 70s
The 1-8 b series engine was a great engine, didn’t go round corners mind, exhausts used to last 18months if you were lucky very. heavy gearbox with floating slave cylinder.
@robertwalker1742 oh I fully agree the early marina had awful handling that became progressively better as they improved the suspension. Wider tyres and anti roll bars help a lot. The 1.8 was a flyer due to the gearing. I've never had a problem with exhausts, but I'll bet there was a bad batch of them produced!
I resent the comment about weird colours - my bright orange Marina Coupe (described in the brochure as "bracken") looked very Dukes of Hazard!
Lol I'll bet, the very vivid green, yellow and orange are my particular favorites, the sd1 had some absolutely incredible colors, ahhh the 70's were awesome
Agree like the Australian built Morris 1500 which used the Maxi 1500 cable change gearbox, God help you if you ever have to rebuild a gearbox, BL went through 3 different pitch angles on the gears to quiet them down , as you said use the public to test them and fix them later
@doctormengele961 it's remarkable how badly they built the launch cars, and then put in patch fixes until version 2 of the cars came out, the word of mouth destroyed any chance they had of selling them. All the later cars were very much improved, but by then it was too late, poor management and non existent quality control ruined some great cars, the maxi, Allegro,p76, princess, marina, sd1, triumph stag, tr7, all had massive, easily solved problems that ruined they're reputations in the eyes of the public. Such a massive shame
Basically a Morris Minor,enlarged,and restyled.
Kinda, they don't share components though. As usual they rushed it through production, and failed to iron out the bugs, and cut costs everywhere. Not a terrible car though, and really very good at the end of production
What do you mean Not sporty and can't rallycross them🤣🤣 Rust just helps with bodyshell lightening😁
Lol all too true sir, and you actually own a 1750tc rally car! The lighter e series helps with handling! The 1275 actually did ok rallying, but I don't ever remember the 1800 being that successful 😉
Are you all left handid there ?
Well ,no rust !
A like this body and colour ❤
Right hand drive in New Zealand, but there are a few lhd cars too
Nz is surprisingly good for rust due to no road salt!
Thanks for watching, it's a pretty rare colour!!