MORRIS MARINA MADNESS! LOST BRITISH LEYLAND CARS - Marina Marauder, BL Special Tuning AND MORE!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มี.ค. 2024
- In this video we explore some of the most incredible and mysterious Morris Marinas ever made, lost British Leyland cars, experimental one offs and ordinary marinas converted into incredibly deadly pickups sporting Rover V8s. These are the stories of some of the most incredible lost Morris cars ever made.
I have credited where possible these works are transformative.
ARonline is a great source and provided some of the images in this video; www.aronline.co.uk/
Follow me on Instagram for more cool stuff: / tomisdrivingcars - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Sorry Tom, I think there's an error with the date regarding the Marina V8 pick-up going around Donington Park in 1974. As far as I know, Donington in its present form didn't reopen until 1977 having closed in 1939. I live just down the road from Donington Park. Could it have been Mallory Park if it was 1974, as that's not that far from Castle Donington?
My parents owned a K reg Marina in purple I think it was, with red interior for a short time in the early 1980s after they got rid of my mum's 1980 W reg Mini 1000 after a could of years. I think it might have been 1982ish. The Marina was a right old banger with one of the back doors not opening from the inside and the interior smelling of a combination of damp carpet and hot vinyl in warm weather. How it got through an MOT I'll never know! We didn't have it for long.
You’re right yes, I’ll pin this so others can see! Thanks :)
I forgot to mention, another great video by the way. 👍
Another little mistakette was the car had Minilite wheels not woolfrace as stated. look carefully at the next one (the V8 pick up ) THAT one has woolfrace wheels on it
@@usernamesreprise4068 correct, can’t win em all. That’s why I’m glad you guys are so observant and why if I make a mistake I acknowledge it.
Fantastic content, Tom! I’ve never liked the Marina but find this video fascinating. Re. “Droop snoot inspired” - I also think this variant was inspired by the Citroën SM - the glass/perspex covered front numberplate? Just a thought of mine whilst enjoying this video. What do you think? 🤔
The marina sold in thousands and yes looking back it was nothing special but it was more than adequate for many. By todays standards it is dreadful but then most family cars of this era were little better I think we should remember this when slating cars of this era.
As always great content and research.
There's a 1975 Austin Marina GT in South Carolina with about 200,000 miles on it. Owned by the grandson of the original owner.
I’m the guy who owns the 1981 Morris Ital 1.3 HL (KAM299X) I’ve owned the car since 2012 to present day. Which I’ve been told is the Ital with the lowest recorded mileage yet. At the moment it has 950 miles when I bought the car it had just 365 miles back in 2012 .. it’s totally original and never been restored or any welding or repairs done to it. If you Google the cars registration number the full history and story about the Ital is there to be read and believed
That’s incredible, looks a great read. 700 miles in 2018 so you’ve done a few recently as well!
I only use my Morris Ital in the summertime for local carshows not that far from my home town
Is this car one of the cars sold at Gaydon Auction in the early 2000's?
@@fredericksaxton3991 in the story of the car it doesn’t mention about the car being sold from Gaydon motor museum. The full history is on Google if you search for KAM299X
@Rayfaedundee ....my first car was a morris ital estate :))
A car I wish I still had, a late 1979 Marina 1.7 estate....but it was no ordinary marina. It had a tuned rover SD1 2 litre O series engine, with custom made 4 branch manifold, It had a triumph 2.5 Pi overdrive gearbox, Front telescopic shock absorbers with proper top wishbones, over sized trunnions, beefed up radius arms with poly bushing, an Alfa Romeo Alfetta front anti roll bar, a heavily welded up and strengthened front end, new solid calliper mounts, cross braced floor pan, coil springs as well as leaf spring rear suspension, an Alfetta rear anti roll bar and a panhard anti tramp bar. Sadly its weak link was its rear axle which regularly needed changing. It was good for 120 mph and was nearly 8 seconds to 60. It handled really well too on decent wheels and tyres. It would return 35 mpg too which was a lot in its day. Oh why did I get rid of it☹☹
I worked for a British Leyland dealer group in the mid 70s. I got to drive Range Rovers, Stags, 2500PI (my favourite!), TR6, Rover 3500V8, etc etc. But the Marina 1.8TC was really fun to drive - it was so light, and had, I thought, pretty good suspension. Very good in South London traffic!
Neighbour had a 1.8 "Jubilee" special edition finished in Citron Yellow with black vinyl roof. Stunning looking car.
It was designed on a very tight budget so from a business point of view it was a success. My Dad had the 1.8 saloon back in the day, it was a good car and did many miles, lots of room and a huge boot. Pretty sure a neighbour had an ST or he'd just customised a regular Coupe. We also had a neighbour who bought a Austin version which was supposed to go across the pond. The 1800TC was a nippy car and the Estate looked pretty neat as well. Fun fact in the late 70's you could by a telescopic shock upgrade kit from the Argos Catalogue of all places.
So I drove a Marina Estate in 1984, back to Cowley. This one had a Montego Turbo engine fitted to it, car was a simulator. Was very quick , but standard brakes made it pretty lethal.
I had a Blue 1.8 HL with built-in oblong spot lights, a blue vinyl roof, more crome than you can imagine, a blue velure interior, and a light blue stripe down the side. It was a lovely car.
Unlike your spelling…
Down under the cars were fitted with a six cylinder ohc that we only got over here in the 18/22 landcrab and later the princess,also there was a big red version which I am told goes like stink Ian over at Hubnut has a good film about them well worth checking out,thanks for the Marina appreciation Tom.
Yes,they were very fast in a straight line, but were diabolically bad handlers and had quite poor brakes.
Did the UK ever adopt the 2.6L version of the E-Series engine of the Australian 6 cylinder Marina in the cars you mentioned? I thought they used the smaller 2.2L?
@@erroneouscode I only thought the UK had the 2.2 Six Cylinder as well. That 2.6 motor was in the Leyland P76
.
@@paulmartin7737 Yeah I'm uncertain of the history of the E-Series engines in the UK and particularly the 6 cylinder versions. At least we turned them around the right way to drive the rear wheels. 😉
Yes I had one back in late 80's was fitted with B/W 3 speed manual floor shift ,went very well and a lot of axel hop, never really had any trouble from it but could it drink oil! drove it from Perth to Melbourne and back with only a broken headlight.
I had a Marina 1.8 here in Ontario, Canada in the mid-70s. Had fearsome understeer, but also a throaty exhaust note that sounded awesome in multi-story car parks, and have to say never remember it breaking down and leaving me stranded .... even in the Canadian winter.
I ran a 1977 1.3 estate bought 1984 & sold for the same money less inflation of £350 in 1995. The car gave brilliant service on the fantastic A series engine. Only belly ache was the clutch judder, especially reversing uphill when hot. Renewed everything possible & even fitted a special clutch plate & slave cylinder developed by BL to improve the problem. Gave up after three clutch kits & every piece of rubber renewed. Years later I’ve been reading about oil mist developing from the back of the crankshaft into the bell housing. The rear oil seal was never mentioned at the time by any mechanic who gave me advice & the bell housing always seemed pretty dry when I dismantled it to change things including the spigot bearing as the last resort. Waxoyl kept the rust from most of the vital parts & the engine & ride were faultless. Would buy a new one tomorrow if they were around.
A V8 Marina would be quite the experience to drive
Very good video. 👍
Small correction - the Bedford Beagle was based on the original Viva HA, not the later HC.
It would be interesting to hear about BL performance catalogue...
We all know about Ford AVO, what about other British manufacturers right? Another great vid btw
The early 1.8 coupe in purple is one of my all time favorites!
Marina was well named. The ones we saw on this side of the pond were underpowered and shabbily built. But the name told you all you needed to know, as you were at sea all the time you were in it.
I was always amazed to read the Marina gearbox was produced entirely in-house at Longbridge, with the The Flight Shed being the hub of gearbox production using a fleet of very old machining & milling tools (WW2 era & before...?) that was the source of the continual variation in tolerances of the finished internals...!?!
& like elsewhere in Longbridge, there were semi-automated production lines for the gearbox work, all designed & built by a production line automation section, based in the North Works I believe...incredible really when you think of the daily quantities they had to produce. 👌
The gearbox was crap rebuilt mine x2 also straked UJ s on the prop meant is was non repairable 😠. I believe it was the same box on the 2ltr Vitesse so bad my mate kept a spare which he got adept at changing and repair till next time. Engine was good and reliable thou .
My parents bought a new 1969 Wolseley 1300 Auto (CKD from England and assembled in New Zealand).
The car leaked a pint of sump oil in the 6 miles home...and another pint taking it back to the dealer. It had a cracked sump. The dealer had a hole drilled and filled with a steel bung very similar to a plumbing fixture bung.
Of course 6 years later on Christmas Eve the steel bung wore out the forward gear clutch in the AP auto and I drove it home backwards at 1am in reverse 5 miles in city traffic...being accused of drunkeness by passing motorists...with my mother and sister as terrified passengers.
My father then found only BMC dealers would give him anything for the vehicle after they fixed the auto at his expense.."No mate that can't have been a fix under warranty..." and unsurprisingly the selling dealer had gone out of business...so no records eh mate?
So he bought a Mk1 Marina 1800 saloon in bold as brass yellow. What a horrible car that was.
Three years later he went to buy another car and surprise surprise only the BMC dealers would give him anything for the Marina...so he bought another new Marina...a Mk2 saloon
But this time I went with him and insisted the car be put on a hoist before we took possession of it.
Every fluid level under the car was low to non existent, gearbox, diff, shock absorbers...and under the bonnet...brake, clutch, coolant even the windscreen washer fluid!
The only hero thing that car ever did was protect us in a rear end crash when a Series Land Rover under panic braking hit our very solid fitted tow bar bending the 1/2 inch solid steel tongue up 45 degrees with no other damage to the Marina.
I had to fit coil over helper springs to the rear shocks to assist with load carrying....
After I had driven my Datsun 120Y for 5 years without ever having to spanner anything but routine maintenance he went Datsun/Nissan until the last little car the parents ever owned ...a wee Suzuki.
Brit cars in NZ are really rare now ...
once the Japanese cars hit our shores and especially by the mid 80's when we started importing 2nd hand JDM vehicles by the hundred thousand....
the Brit cars were scrapped wholesale.
I had an 1981 1750cc auto in fire engine red, a sedan from Australia. It was like brand new and only done 34 000 mls I pai 4800nz for it in 1994. It had been ownd by the retired owner of the local NZMC (what BL where called in NZ) agents. The plastic wrap covering the back seat was still there and the only tiny dent was in the boot was from where his golf clubs were stored in the boot. I only owned it a short while but I was very proud of it.
Marina's from Australia never got anywhere near 1981 production. We were also using the metric system of kilometers rather than miles by that time.
A mate of mine had a white 1.3 coupe that he modified with a red Starsky stripe.
He thought it looked good then.
Now, he doesn't like to be reminded about it.
mate of mine did the same. Got the p*ss took out of him summat rotten🤣🤣🤣
Had to be better than the lad on our street when we were growing up....head done the same thing to a 4 door Avenger! At the time we thought it was fantastic. I was 8 years old!
I can beat that, once saw a Reliant Robin done up as Starsky and Hutch's 'Flying Tomato' Ford Gran Torino
The BL Special Tuning video would be a cool video
What, no mention of the Australian 6 cylinder Marinas? They actually went into production 2 and 4 door version. They were even tinkering around with a cut down V8 made into a V6 for it. The demise of Leyland Australia in general was the stupidest mistake Leyland could have ever made. It's models should have been exported to the USA, where big engines in little cars was also a popular idea
That’s its own video, not a conversion but I understand what you mean.
Oh Howard oh Marina interesting video thanks greetings from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Thanks Ian
@@tomdrivesHoward and marina where two characters on the sitcom last of the summer wine filmed in holmfirth Yorkshire many years ago
Hi
I was an apprentice at James Edwards Nantwich from 1976.
The 1.3 suffered from clutch judder and gearbox problems. However the 1275 engine was reasonably quick.
The main problem was road holding. Which let it down.
BL did have build quality issues on some vehicles. Not as bad as Fiat and Renault.
BL were to quick to own up
To their own errors. Other car manufacturers did not.
BL even ran an advert About “Gremlins”. Which did not help
I found that their warranty was good and they did recalls. Efficiently.
The 2.2 princess had drive shaft knock. The recall on that was extensive.
Moving the engine back by two inches. Including new exhaust section engine mounts and brackets and new drive shafts
No one mentions the goodwill that was given to owners.
Great stuff from Tom. I thought I knew a bit.
But he does his research well
Well done Tom
I had two Marina 1.7 estates. The last was an Ital, but it was a re-badged Marina. It had telescopic, rather than lever arm dampers. I replaced the lever arms on the earlier one, which was a simple job. They were great cars - reliable, easy to work on, spacious and cheap to run. That 1.7 "O" series engine was excellent.
Before anything BL produced there was a Pick up with a Rover in it around my way. It was named Moonshine and was featured in Street Machine.
As a Dutch we didn't see many British cars back in the day but I have a soft spot for the Marina and Ital. I like all oddball cars😂
My late parents had Dutch friends who had very good service from their Austin Cambridge Diesel.
Unfortunately they then bought an early Maxi 1500 which was not vey reliable and they were not impressed with (changed for a Renault 16 TS after a few years).
@@Martindyna That should be tthe 1.5 B series diesel. Very rare!
I too have a soft spot for the Marina since they were company cars when i was an engineering apprentice.
I was often a passenger in a 1.8 saloon which sounded great and went well in a straight line (ideal gearing in 4th resulted in a 95 mph top speed at the engine maximum power RPM of 5,100 if I remember correctly). I remember the driver saying he largely forgave the poor handling because it would go so well on `A' roads and motorways.
Ik heb een Marina 1.3 coupe van 74.
Volgens zeggen 1 van de 2 nog rijdende coupe,s anno 2024
@@Volgmijneigenwijze Prachtig! Op RDWdata kun je zien hoeveel er nog geregistreerd zijn.
I had 2 1.8 Marinas 1 x 4 door and 1 x 2 door I loved them 😊
Liking the SRV2 . As a family we must have had six or seven Marinas, as a student I was a serial Marina owner, buy them cheep and run until they needed work for the MOT, buy another and strip off the usable parts before scrapping the old one. IIRC I had 2 4 doors and 2 coupe s. The MK2 Escort 1600 Sport that followed was a big upgrade but was also scrapped due to rotten bodywork, in those days they were just cheep fun transport. Oh for a crystal ball to see the future thirty five years ago. :)
I had a 1.8 in contract blue as a company car. Quicker than the 1.6 cortina, it handled well enough. I thrashed that car around the Midlands and the North for 3 years. Never failed once..
The Marina was a thoroughly decent car. I had an estate that was a superb workhorse
I think the issue is people didn’t see it for what it was. A workhorse.
@@tomdrives Many that were there and driving them in the day saw it for exactly what it was. A dangerous underdeveloped POS. That front suspension with it's severe understeer is deadly in the wrong hands on winding country roads. Undoubtedly many lost their lives in head on collisions thanks to the penny pinching. I contemplated putting a Rover or P76 V8 in one of mine, but thought better of it in the end having a young family that needs their father. They really were terrible handling cars.
As an Italian who really loves British cars it is so sad to see British car makers to disappear😢
My parents bought a 1973 Austin Marina brand new, to deal with the oil crunch, here in the US. For a car that was hobbled together by bits from the BL parts bin. It was a very durable car lasting more than a decade. It was given to me as a first car. I still miss that mustard yellow no one had ever heard of in the US car.
Love this! Only recently been reading about the Custom Car Magazine Marina V8 pickup in a stack of old CC mags I acquired a few years ago. Shortly after CC mag featured their own V8 pickup following issues chronicling the build, they also featured a similar looking car with Ford V6 power (1977 iirc). This didn’t need the front end modifications the V8 required to fit and also looked rather special.
I owned 2 Marina’s as work run around cars, a 1.3 and 1.8, great, cheap, reliable, economical , boring, loved them , with some memorable winter drives👌🏻😎
I’m a Marina convert. I’ve converted from believing they are okay, to believing I wouldn’t want to touch another with a barge pole. I owned my first in 1981 aged 19 years, and it was a 1975 1.8 auto. As far as I am concerned, at the time, I knew nothing at all about bad handling, unreliability, or anything. I’d had two Mk3 Cortinas, an HC Viva and several bangers that all had issues and all had degrees of rust. That was just par for the course with car ownership in the 70s and 80s. After a few ‘used car’ teething troubles and battling with wet carpets when it rained (all the other cars I’d owned also let rain in to some degree) the Marina settled to be the best car I’d owned to date, and was a bit special having the largest capacity engine of all the cars I’d had, and my first with a ‘slush box’. I thought I was driving a Cadillac. At one point when it was not worth much I even painted white rings on the tyre sidewalls. I enjoyed it. A few years and a few cars later owned a 1977/78 Mk2 1.8 in budget banger form, which wasn’t good and wasn’t kept long. Then in 2016 after owning a few other classic cars, I bought at a famous auction house (featured on TV) a low miles, almost one-of-a-kind survivor 1976 1.8 HL automatic with twin carb engine in basically MGB tune. Hoping to relive the good times. Three years of misery. To be fair, an awful lot of the problems were created by poor and inept previous repairs and maintenance that wasn’t easy to know about, but to me that car became a soul destroying money pit. Of course by the time I threw in the towel and got less for it than I’d originally paid, let alone my expenses, it was a much better car than the one I’d purchased, but I still couldn’t keep the rip-off rebuilt carbs in tune (yeah I was ripped off there by a ‘classic car expert’) and I just detested driving and owning it in the end, despite it looking great overall and being nearly the last of its kind. That Marina was substantially responsible for me calling time on my owing and playing with classic cars after nearly 20 years. Enough was enough.
Pity it didn't work out. It sounds like it was a much better car after your ownership. Classic car ownership can suck up so much time and money. You need to be enjoying it. That rip-off merchant 'expert' was a sickener.
@@EamonnKee Thank you. It was a significantly better car when I sold it. Though not perfect. Aside from the odd thing (like the temperamental rebuilt SU carbs) that I never got working to my satisfaction, there was the odd act of previous bodgery that I'd not yet uncovered, that the next owner did - mainly electrical gremlins from poor rewiring behind the dash. I'd followed the new owner on Facebook for a bit, but then after a while, wanted to cut my links to the car! A dealer bought the car off me, after I'd fielded several private visitors in previous months, that hadn't resulted in a successful sale. Various views like I was asking too much, or one elderly 'expert' who incorrectly insisted the car had been in an accident! Due to the Marina fit and finish! So I sold the car to a dealer at a loss, and within two weeks, someone had paid more to him than I'd been asking! A straight £1500 mark-up on top of the price that I got. THAT is what owning a classic car is all about! I'd replaced and upgraded the radiator (the original was disintegrating and the car persistently ran too warm) installed a starter relay (the starter frequently failed to turn due to high wiring resistance, and I found a permanent live 'hot wired' button, dangerously jury-rigged under the dash) repaired the starter and battery wiring, changed and upgraded the battery, had the starter motor rewound when that failed (invoices claimed it had been already been rewound by a garage, but that was another con-job), had five new quality radial tyres fitted, had a new exhaust fitted (because the existing one turned out to be blocked, which was strangling the engine), had a 'new' used distributor fitted (because the existing one had been messed with and had the wrong advance springs fitted), and my local garage also found an inlet manifold air leak from a 'glued' in bolt. At one point the car had a top speed of around 15mph, before some of these faults were uncovered. I also drained and refilled the auto box, in the process fitting a new filter and sump gasket, 'cos the sump was leaking where it had hit something and the flange needed dressing straight. Then there was the £300 I gave someone to rebuild the twin carbs and he couldn't even send me the right ones back that I'd given him! Some so-called SU carburettor specialist, recommended by someone in the club magazine. He'd got a nice big expensive bungalow near Grantham that he was having extended, from the proceeds of his carburettor business...I saw it when I dropped the carbs off, and he gave me the 'tour' of his sheds... disorganised chaos. I should have known better but he talked the talk. So - I don't restore. I maintained. I used to work in industry and have mechanical knowledge and skills that enable me to service and maintain, but not restore a car on a rotisserie like some, or repaint, or build an engine. And this Marina defeated my skills on many levels. Over the 3 years of owing, it travelled the least distance of all the 8 classic cars I'd owned, most of them since 2003, but one dating back to 1986 (a Jag). I got useful help from some club members via the forum, I was supplied with the exhaust and guided how to wire the relay into the starter circuit, but I also strongly perceived from a small number of other members, via their reactions, and probably the ones with more enthusiasm and higher levels of restoration skill than me, that my lack of progress in solving running issues was down to my incompetence. It left a bad taste. Likewise, this car left a bad taste for buying from auctions. It was my first and last. "Living The Dream!" they say on TV. Ha! I was running a 90s Ford after the Marina was sold, which was my daily, and a clean old bus it was too, one that never actually let me down, but it still had issues that defied my ability to solve (and the Ford dealer! And two or three other non-franchise garages!) to do with fumes and smells that got to me, so when I sold that one, that was me done with buying old cars. You've got to be tougher than I am to own a classic car. I've been mad on cars since I was in short trousers and that was a VERY long time ago, but I don't want to play with them any more.
@@rx6180 I am really interested in cars and always thought I'd like to buy a classic and work on it. I admire you for giving that Marina such a good go. I really find reading about your experiences I'm the area interesting. It woukd make a good book or short story! You obviously have the knowledge and details.
I'm glad you saved that marina. I'm sorry you didn't get the premium you shoukd have..
@@EamonnKee Oh I think the Marina HL auto would have been saved anyway. It was an extremely good base car. What in theory made it especially appealing - even though I didn't know it when bidding on it up in Pickering - was that it was registered new in 1976 in Ilkeston, my father's home town, and spent some time in the early 80s in Sawley, my mother's home district (part of Erewash) and only a couple of miles down the road from where I still live! It is possible I saw it drive past in the 1980s! But it ended up in Yorkshire, via Stoke on Trent. What was not clear, from the "Thick history folder classic car enthusiasts live for" (auction catalogue speak) was why it spent long periods off the road, and when - and it also had zero dealer service history in the original service book - just the stamp for the pre-delivery inspection, and that's it. Weird. Apart from some hand written sales receipts from when it changed hands privately in the 80s, and some old MoTs, most of the 'history' seemed to be invoices from when it was resurrected from slumber in 2012. When purchased, it had covered just 27,000 miles. It came with a lot, but not a full set of tax discs - presumably the gaps were from when it was taken off the road. What also wasn't clear, and which wasn't apparent to me (or missed by me) when bidding after looking at it, was who and why someone had gone to work on some of the wiring with a knife and fork, used Radweld in the radiator, set the timing with a metronome to make the car appear to drive unless you went above 40mph... when you start following stories about classic car restorations, on TV or in magazines, you often find the full story starts to reveal a catalogue of horrors or bodges, and quick fixes, to keep a car on the road, or just to secure a quick resale. I'd experienced such things before with cheaper classic cars, and had even paid more for one than I did the Marina HL, to a dealer, to buy a Wolseley Hornet in 2011, that turned out to be not all I'd hoped it to be, or all that it had been made out to be by said dealer (though it did serve me well enough for five years doing a few shows and attracted nice comments) but its weaknesses were why, when I saw it advertised, I decided to chance my arm buying at auction the 27,000 mile, largely original, Marina HL (notwithstanding it had a substandard cheap respray, but it looked very presentable if not studied too closely. Inside it was very nearly showroom mint). It was just the running gear that let it down. So many hidden gremlins that took me, or my garage man, ages to find. And the carbs - probably never needed a rebuild in the first place, and were all the worse for having been rebuilt by the creepy con-man I gave them to. Were it not for the fact that the original, correct serial number Lucas distributor had been fitted with the wrong advance springs (my garage man's diagnosis) giving an entirely wrong advance curve, then I would probably have got it timed and adjusted much sooner than I did, and wouldn't have looked like a total numpty to some of those on the forum who seemed to think I couldn't handle a strobe light and a bottle of Tippex! Yes if it had have timed up, then those twin SUs would never have been removed and sent away. Good base car for someone wanting to do a showroom restoration with zero welding. Terrible for me who wanted a good clean low mileage classic I could use just by doing routine maintenance and keeping it nice. Lesson finally learned after 20 years of dabbling - NO classic car for sale is EVER all it appears to be. Whatever it is hiding, it is hiding something. Multiple somethings. I've got several pages and photos of my experiences up on the fastmarinamagazine forum under 'Marina HL Automatic Update' if you're interested. From 2016 and 2017. FYI - when I was on the phone arranging delivery the day after winning the auction, 'Derek' (you know who I mean) told me in the final stages of the auction (hands were in the air everywhere in the early stages) it was between me and one of his regulars - and I wished I'd have backed down. I was one bid away.
It was a very ropey car throughout its build life. I drove one for about four years. Although it never let me down, it required constant maintenance, rusty everywhere, hopeless for more than 75 miles. The oil consumption past 60,000 miles was horrendous. The cost of petrol was matched by the cost of the oil. Motorway miles were perilous.
I used a Marina 1.8 as everyday transport for about 4 years. The only problem I had with it was a clutch slave cylinder failure which was a bit of a sod to fit.
Please do a video on the special performance arm of Leyland.
Sounds like a cool story
Definitely agree👍
The Marina/Ital also had a van version. They were used by a lot of businesses at the time and were a common sight on the roads during the eighties.
My friends dad had a marina van that was yellow on the bottom half and red on the top 😂 my friend used to make him drop him up the road from our school because he was so embarrassed by it 😂
My Fathers first company car was a K reg Morris Marina 1.8 Super. I have fond memories of it.
I remember the Marina. Due to the tax system most Marinas sold here in Ireland were 1.3 litre powered. The body was too heavy for that engine. Many were sold to ex Minor owners and had a terrible reputation. Japanese cars then got a major foothold in the Irish market..
MARINA V8, It did exist as a saloon, I was in Abingdon back in around 1974/5 with my Girlfriend Gillian, we had looked in the showrooms of a BL dealer and then I noticed that we were only a short distance away from the MG factory at Abingdon, so we went for a look. In the car park area was a Marina (I cannot recall if it was a 2 or 4 door car, but think 2 door) I noticed that the rear edge of the bonnet was raised on some wooden blocks, so being interested as to why, I opened the bonnet and saw fitted was a Rover V8. It was properly fitted and all looked as if it should be there. I recall the car was in Limeflower, only because Gillian liked the Mini she had just seen in the BL showroom in that colour. So I can confirm that without question, at least one Marina V8 did exist, where it is now of course may be something different.
The Marina did what it said on the tin, my Dad had a 1.3 SDL in Asternal blue went on to go around the clock and then some always reliable ( apart from the trunnions) of witch she had many ! I had a white 1.3SDL back in the 80s loved it
Superb video as always mate (:
Best friend inherited his grandfather's 1972 Marina that was only a year younger than he was. Comfy to ride around in, but every time it rained it became the passenger's job to mop the dashboard as the windscreen leaked, no matter how much silicone you added around the edges.
Hi Tom , great and interesting video. Regards mark
Thanks Mark
A Morris Marina coupe with a 5 litre TVR/Rover V8 would be awesome. However to avoid the creation of a death trap custom front and rear suspension would be needed - possibly from the same TVR that donated its engine!
Good luck getting a V8 under the bonnet and good luck stopping it 😂
so good i watched it twice
My neighbor had one a 1.8 back in 1988 I loved it's burbling sound, there was another red one n it was a 2.6, I think it was a straight six driven by n elderly man n he always drove very slowly to show his enthusiasm towards the car great cars indeed
I had a MK1 and a MK2. back in the late 80's. never had any problems with them.
Vastly underrated cars ,I had a ,71 early TC saloon and later 76 1.8 estate .TC had ,70k miles and as coastal car heavy rust sad,head gasket went did a DIY porting with it's twin carbs big difference on track went off the gauge on Speedo! Estate only 30k on clock to me but farm car inches of compacted mud on a three year old car more rust ,gone now but would love it back,head gasket went again did my DIY porting again , terrible build from BL quarter inch flashing in some ports and an eighth play on rocker shaft had pump checked as healthy,after rebuild 100 plus easy and still good economy ,next owner got a bargain as sold at 80k ,replacement nissan a disappointment nearly new but totally coked up ,,20k top speed 65 and 23 mpg ,another DIY porting to remedy not much better then bl internal flashings,a history of short journeys with the choke out half inch of soot on all the valves ,how it ran? After 1270 easy ,,90!
The Camper Conversion would have made the perfect Vehicle for Brixmis.
I asked my dad, "are you going to get a Marina when the Wolseley 16/60 has to go?" He said, "not a chance, its just dressed up body with moggie 1000 underneath." He didn't like the Land Crabs either, "blown up mini". He got another Triumph 2000 Mk2 followed by two Saabs.
cool Special Tuning
The biggest problem was the suspension, it was intended to be all coil springs but cost cutting saw it using the same setup as the Morris Minor! Weak synchromesh, especially on second gear caused many gearbox failures ( it happened on my 81 model at just 44,000 miles). Many people claim Marinas are classics, they have obviously never owned one 😅
I had a 1977 1.3DL in sandstone with a chocolate brown vinyl roof, that was famous amongst my friends for winning an impromptu "drag race" on Southport/Ainsdale Beach, one late night/early morning in 1984. My opponent, in a 2.5 litre Consul Granada, just couldn't put his foot down without digging holes, whilst the Marina skipped across the drying sand! 😂
hi tom, great vids ime old enough to have had any of these lol cheers sir
The green estate in the background of the thumbnail has the look of the mk2 Granada estate.
My dad was a salesman in the 70s and had 6 or 7 marina saloons & estates and an Ital in 81. All of them were awful especially the vinyl seats in summer!
Great stuff I was always lead to believe that the 1.8tc was detuned because it pissed off mgb owners ⚓🛠️🤠 JB
I’ll be exploring the Marina in more detail I hope soon.
TC a lighter car then the mgb so inbuilt performance advantage DIY ported mine a handful off the Speedo top end and still pulling!
The later TC ( cleaned up exhaust) was the same power as the earlier single carb ( standard) 1.8
I have owned one. A white 1.3 Coupé on a K-reg. It is stil alive on my mates hands.
My dad owned a nearly new coupe Morris Marina "1.3 LE Special" that had gold paint with triple wide gofaster side stripes and a lovely brown and orange stripe interior and the best brown ever flex roof with a webasto full length sunroof. It was actually a really nice looking car and as there were only a limited amount made it was quite rare as well. Probably the most desirable factory built marina ever? 13:02
My Grandad had one in the ‘80s. It was gutless.
We got passed by everything on the motorway travelling to London from Heathrow.
Manchester police tried some 1.8TC's. When pushed hard into a corner, the sump would ground.
The police kept their Ford Capri's
There was an issue with the Marina where it would just under steer for days as well I’m told
@@tomdrives I'd check your facts there Tom? Something that was dealt with on very early cars and later ones had anti-roll bars fitted.
@@claytonspeedcars from what I read, the earlier cars didn’t have anti roll bars. Is that correct? I’ve watched you for a while btw great stuff especially your Marina, lovely car.
@@tomdrives Pre-74 cars yeah. Although Special tuning did Plus Pac kits for the rally cars, and they had some great results. Thanks for watching my vids. I think I found you when you discovered the MG prototypes. Cool stuff indeed!
@@tomdrivesmy 71 TC one of first 50 had different front suspension parts bottom of arm shorter , threaded and prone to falling off if not frequently greesed
I had a white Marina Estate 1700 from 1976-1980. It was a beautiful car, comfortable, fast and economical (40mpg). It's the only car I've owned that I never had any bother with. It had done 66000 miles when I sold it.
I had a 1.7 Morris ital thought it was a great car very comfortable 👍👍👍
Another great video. And another what could have been for BL. The Sun-Tor, BL answer to the VW California.
I had a Morris Marina 1800 estate as my second car, reliable and comfortable.
It replaced my first car which was a Hilman Avenger and was itself replaced by a Triumph TR7
I'd enjoy real time walk arounds of some of this trick machinery
Don't forget the Marina lived on as the Hyundai Pony, Hyundai were building these alongside their Cortina's with the Pony's losing the troublesome engine and boxes and some slight modding to the external shape and overseen by the chap who designed it at BL.
I think the TC coupe was cracking looking
My friend had a leyland ST car in dark purple I remember going on a treasure hunt rally in that it was quick and it handled ok B series had a nice bit of torque , but fascinated by the rover V8 concept never knew that ,damn oil crisis that never was lied to again!!
I remember seeing a Metallic Blue Marina with a jacked up rear suspension going around.
My Father purchased a Rover SDI in 1977, in the two years he owned it, we seemed to have a different Marina courtesy car every week, not an exaggeration as the power steering pump failed on the way home from the dealership 😢the standard of build quality varied in each car.
I went with my dad in 1978 to pick up his brand new marina at the showroom.
The paintwork already had a couple of rust blisters on the shell. As a 10 year old I thought this was normal 😂😂😂
I love your stories about British leyland and other British made cars what about doing a story about morris vans leyland vans like the Sherpa and freight/ rover and ldv
My Mother had a Marina in the early eight's I thought it was a great car,an a big improvement from a morris minor,love the videos,great how you put it across,lovve the research cheers 👍👍👍
Thanks Glen, appreciate it :)
Interesting videos you make!,thank you,very talented,well made 👍👍👍
3 marinas were bought out to NZ to race in the Heatway of 1973 by the factory i believe . .
My uncle had a red marina saloon 1300 I'd love a video on the special tuning department cheers Tom👍
I owned 2 but only drove one
The one I drove was the 1.3 pickup……. The other was the 1.7 Ital which was stripped for parts…. Loved the pickup😎👌🏽
Making the best "middle of the road" car, is probably harder than making the best executive or sports car. Petrolheads fail to understand this. I love those ordinary cars for ordinary people, even today's generations, although I must admit, I am now more leaning into the smallest segment, as cars grow bigger all the time.
I had several Marinas in the late 80s & early 90s. They were unremarkable at the time and cheap enough to buy and scrap when they needed money spending. I lived in a mustard coloured estate back in 85 that I paid £30 for and sold it for £45 at the end of Treworgey Tree Fair. My last one was a ST twin carb in red that I abandoned on a property in Devon and became a chicken house until the rust ate it. You could buy them at auction for a fiver because nobody wanted them. I drove thousands of miles up and down the UK in some of them. Cheapest vehicles I ever owned and probably explains why they all disappeared into the scrap yards.
I had a 1973 4 door. 1750 motor single su carb. It had cortina clutch and brakes. I put on recond dampers and modified top rubber mounts and sleeve which firmed up the front suspension. It still wasn't the best for South Aussie roads. Some bumpy roads would cause loss of steering control. The cornering however was good. Anyone who has travelled on our Southe Eastern gateway in the 70s/80s will know Devil's Elbow (180 deg hairpin turn) I could take that corner at 100km while the bigger cars had to slow down. Over all, I found it to be a pretty reliable and zippy little car.
I had a 1.8 Jubilee M reg lovely looking car but the standard suspension was the same as the 1950's Morris Minor and BL forgot to paint the underside, part exchanged it for a 2.3 Vauxhall Magnum wow!
In Australia Leyland gave us the beaut P76. That was a great machine many years ahead of its time. It came with either the base 2.62L six or the 4.4LV8.
Unfortunately, its woes were connected to British Leyland and the whole thing went belly up here around 73/74.
We had the Marinas also. Basically, they were crap 4 cyls, and they had a lot of trouble selling them up against 6-cylinder Cortinas and Toranas.
A lot of the Marinas had 6 cylinders as well. (2.62L).
Yes the P76 would have been a real contender for the Aussie Big 3. It is largely the BL issues in the UK that resulted in the demise of Leyland Australia.
Owned 3 of these, one being an estate. hey weren't brilliant but with careful and easy maintenance they were okay and more of an Escort competitor than a Cortina competitor. The 1.3 B series engines ranged from sweet as a nut to a bag of nails depending on how they were thrown together. Common fault was gearbox rear oil seal always leaked causing gearbox to run dry and sometime disintegrate at speed ! Rust was a huge problem though - but what Brirish car of this era not have this problem..
My Uncle had a coupe. Lovely car.
I had a Marina, did many many miles in it , worked on plenty other, nasty cheap bit of old rubbish but it did the job
I had a blue 1.3 coupe. It took me everywhere. And marinas were truly everywhere in U.K. Just as was the cortina.
Theres a Marina saloon in my area i have seen a number of occasions,but this one had a custom job,the front end is a vx 4/90, (four headlights),and an amalgamation of 70s kit car 'mould leftovers'😂
The marina did exactly what it was meant to do . Upgrade the morris minor , produce a cheap to repair fleet car with adequate handling and economy . Using tried and tested mechanicals.
The fancy hydrolastic /hydragas suspension and transverse engines being left to Austin.
It competed well with Hillman Avenger , ford Escort, vauxhall viva none of them by any means perfect themselves. I've owned driven all of them . Everything in the seventies rusted because of a glut of cheap substandard steel. Also cars were Only built to last 7 to 10 years In the first place . So like I said it did everything it was meant to , but probably with hindsight for far too long.
The Marina perfectly sums up the idiocy of the British motor industry. The Morris Minor front suspension tended to fail when the lower trunnion wore and pulled apart, causing the front wheel to fold flat. The top trunnion never failed because it was always in compression, not tension like the lower one. So when the Morris Minor suspension was 'improved' for the Marina, guess which trunnion was replaced by a ball joint? Yup, the top one...... FFS !!!!!
The idiocy of Austin Morris group shouldn't be allowed to tarnish all the rest.
Basically its last decent cars were the big Westminster and and the smaller Cambridge.
It was then allowed to drag the whole viable group of Jaguar Rover and Triumph under.
Having said that the 1.8 Marina was at least better than any of the front wheel drive no hopers.
I don't know how that dangerous front suspension design was ever allowed on the road.It was a a screw thread doing the job of a ball joint being pulled apart instead of pushed together.Add that to predictable blockage of it's grease channel it was a failure waiting to happen.Added to the weird conflict in geometry between the front primitive IRS and the zero camber turning to the typical positive camber in roll created by the live rear axle.
I was lucky enough to start driving from day 1 with a Triumph 2.5 the Brit BMW of its day.Although like BMW let down by McPherson front semi trailing rear v the all wishbone Jaguar S type and XJ and front wishbone Granada.
Hi ! Just watched you special tuning video the missing v8 marina was last used in the street machine challenge ! Is currently lost in a garage in york
The pickup?
My first car was a 74 Tundra Green Marina 1.8 SDL, I had it for 4 years and despite it under steering like a pig and constantly having to replace the lever arm dampers it was a pretty reliable car with a decent turn of speed. As a first car it did the job !
conversion kits to change to telescopic dampers were redily available and worked well. I fitted several
Hi! I owned one from new! A 1:8 coupe, what a dog!! Not long after taking ownership,as one does, out came the bucket and sponge! Which was when I discovered that,just below the eye line the door seals had no paint on them! Only grey primer! Because the factory spray guns had not been set right!! It handled like a waddling duck!! Two years down the road it was gone🤔!
Thanks for this very informative video. A great shame that the `Marina that could have been' on the front of Car Magazine wasn't considered for production with similar modifications but perhaps including an `A' series 1.3 warmed up alternative. Saloon & Estate.
The Coupe should have had larger doors. I used to catch my leg on the corner, and usually draw blood. Very light at the back end, and spirited driving could easily spin it. Needed a few breeze blocks in the boot.
I loved my Marina 1300 coupe.
No pianos fell on it.
A slight correction: ADO73 was the development code for the 1976 Marina Mk2, which makes more sense time-wise. The Ital didn't arrive until 1980 and was developed under the code ADO73 F/L, as it was essentially a facelift of the Mk2.
Keep up the good work.
I had a Marina here in Australia I called it the moving earthquake when you hit a bump the whole car shook