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Marina Shite (Fleet changes- beige-r than ever)


MarinaJosh

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The dashboard was clearly designed by stylists rather than engineers as there is a lot of wasted space there which could have been put to good use for storage &c. It also seems to intrude a lot on passenger leg room (though this may be the camera angle). The industry trend since the 1960s was to build lower cars and as a result the hump down the middle grew, something I consider a nuisance.

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Mk1 dashes were better (IMHO) - the one posted up in Page 1.    Odd that BL went from a logical layout to a stylised one just after Ford canned their Mk3 Cortina reverse-raked affair for one more similar to the original Marina.... 

 

My own Marina experience is rather limited but my Uncle bought one new in 1972 (1.8 SDL  saloon in Harvest Gold BCR856K) and promptly took me plane-spotting up to Hounslow in it.    The bloody glovebox lid chattered all the way there and back.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Bit of an update. Michael very kindly rebuilt my original prop for CVF the coupe with a new centre bearing. I fitted it a few weeks ago and drove it for the first time with the new gearbox, no crunches now, lovely! Just got to get round to putting the carpet back in and jobs a good 'un. Next job will be to fit some new front brake hoses and change the knackered front tie bar bushes for some nice poly ones- these totally transform the handling too.

 

In 309 news my GLXDT flew through the MOT. It did however piddle coolant all over Michael's ramp. Over the course of the week it has started using 1.5 litres of coolant per day. Got the wheel off today and had a nose around the water pump area where it was coming from. Water pump itself looked dry (so it should, it was new in June) but there was a steady drip from further up. Had a look from the top and there was a steady stream coming out the side of one of the heater hoses. So does anybody have a top heater hose for an XUD7T 309? No idea if they are the same as anything else, can't find one on eBay and can't keep up with it's coolant appetite now!

 

In other news I am picking up another 309 next Friday. Apparently it has a rotten rear end but it was local and cheap... It's a 1.9 GLD with 220k on the clock. Has been in the same family for many many years. The guy was going to scrap it but wasn't happy when he discovered they would cube it as is which he thought was a waste of good spares. I haven't seen it yet but as I'm just getting it for spares I'm not too bothered about it!

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Dabbed some gasket sealer on the offending heater hose and seems to be holding up so far. Hopefully the one on the N/A XUD9 spares car is the same. If not I'll have to make one up although it's a lot bigger at one end than the other.

 

Edit: bugger, looks like it is also leaking where it meets some aluminium thing (heat exchanger? has arrows on it and lots of pipes). Can't get to the hose clip for love nor money... also can't put another clip on as the air feed for the turbo is in the way and can't get to the clip for that to take it off. Think it was all plumbed in before they fitted the subframe...

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Cheers! Have now found another heater hose, £34 secondhand mind you but at least I found one!

 

Collected the spares 309 today. The rear end is really fucked sadly, rot has spread from the usual bit up by the fuel tank, through to the inner arches, into the chassis and subframe mounts. However with a quick jump start it fired up and ran beautifully. Given a known good injection pump and Clarion radio cassette costs more than I paid for the whole car I am pleased with it. One rear wing has a small dent but all other panels are straight. Will be a shame to break it up as it does look quite smart in silver.

 

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Check out the bonus Landyshite in the pictures. The seller runs a specialist LR garage.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Thought it was about time to update this...

 

I was contacted by a chap who needed his late father's Marina cleared, for my favourite price, free. So we set off to Birmingham to get it. It turned out to be a MK2 base model saloon in surprisingly good condition. We free'd the brakes off and headed for home. On the way back I sent a mate some pictures and he fell in love. About an hour after getting home with it he came over and said he'd give it a home.

 

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The only problem is he only has space for a couple of cars so it meant having to sell the Marina he bought off me just over a year ago. Needless to say I bought it back and have done about 1000 miles since. So that's two white Marinas I have dragged from garages in Birmingham!

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The MK2 is nearly ready for the road. We've replaced all the brakes, done some welding, overhauled the cooling system, fitted electronic ignition, various new suspension bits etc.

 

Another friend said he was interested in my Blaze coupe I hadn't touched for ages. I was never really going to get round to doing it as I preferred my others so of course I sold it to him for a not inconsiderable loss!

 

I then fell head over heels in love with a gorgeous Peugeot 405. I have fancied one on and off for a while, preferably a high spec red saloon. So when this appeared after a bit of deliberation I had to have it.

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It is a 1.8 GLX with Mi leather seats and wheels.

 

Sadly it did mean the 309s had to go... I sold the turbo diesel one to a mate of mine who was looking for a new car for his son.

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My petrol GLX is currently up for sale (I am back to using it daily now) and my spares car GLD I have now stripped- I have sold my big stock of 309 spares to a friend. The remains of the GLD shell is going to a local guy who needs some front panels for his GTi restoration.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well both 309s have now gone to pastures new. The spares one is still here though as the guy never showed up to collect it... off to the weighbridge soon.

 

I have had the 405 for a month so about time I stuck up some pics of it.

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It drove back from Doncaster to Suffolk beautifully. With Mi leather seats and armrest it was like sitting on a sofa. The exhaust developed a hole on the way back but that was the only incident.

 

I have been making a few minor improvements which have somehow added up to around £300 so far! Including...

New headlights and fog lights as originals were past it

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Fogs of course have been fitted with obligatory yellow covers

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The spares 309 yielded a pair of the correct side repeaters, so from this shite

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To this

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Spares 309 also gave some Peugeot floor mats. Not the type 405s had though but will do for now...

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Some chavvy wind deflectors

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This car has been so well loved the chrome on the badges had been polished away. Reproduction Pug badge fitted

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Along with NOS GLX badge

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Sadly 405 badges are no longer available but reproductions will be available shortly...

 

Original radio/cassette was knackered so fitted a CD player from a 306. Plugged straight in, did need to change the stalk control though for a 306 one

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I also added a 6 disc multichanger for ultimate 90s cool

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NOS genuine flappage was also sourced, I have NOS badges waiting to go on

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I also replaced the centre exhaust, it had been stuffed with putty along one seam.

 

I really do love this car. It feels so much more 'together' than the 309s did and it drives even better as well. Handling is incredible. It would be nice if it was a 2 litre though...

 

It has been a well pampered car with tons of history. Goes back to December 1996 when it was sold by a Pug dealership to somebody in Birmingham when it was a year old. It then passed to a Peugeot employee in the early 2000s who spent a fortune on it, before it went to somebody in Buckinghamshire a couple of years ago who had the head gasket done along with a new heater matrix and cambelt. The guy I bought it off then got it, he is a 405 addict but never got round to doing anything with it.

 

Still a few jobs to do....

Heated seats aren't working

Air-con needs regassing- taking it this afternoon

The Mi16 wheels had poor tyres so the guy I got it off included a set of GTX alloys (with centre caps!). I'll get some tyres for the Mi wheels after next payday hopefully...

The speedo stops working if it's a particularly hot day or if you accelerate too hard, haven't investigated yet...

Those hideous modern font number plates need to go. Anybody around Coventry got any pics of a 90s Peugeot dealer plate so I can get a replica set made up?

Battery needs replacing- one in it works fine but it's too tall so the battery clamp won't fit

Passenger sill needs a small patch at the back

 

I was also visited by this the other day. It was up on eBay a while ago, I even had a bid on it. Somebody posted an appeal on a FB group looking for a spare 309 wheel locally. The couple who now own it are driving it to Norway as I type. Import taxes are much cheaper on cars over 30 years old out there. They have had all sorts of other old French cars. It's one of the earliest 309s left and is a real honey. Base model 1.1 in beige with a brown interior. My spares car yielded two wheels with good tyres only a couple of years old and a parcel shelf as theirs was missing.

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  • 7 months later...

Nice thread resurrection! Have enjoyed taking a flick through these, though shame that some of the pics have dropped off.

 

If we're still playing Marina-themed Top Trumps, have a pic of GOL 564L, which I understand has passed through the hands of numerous shiters and may be familiar to some on here. Known as 'Marla', this lovely now resides with a friend outside Belfast as his first non-modern car. Originally a white 1300 Deluxe, it's had a full mechanical rebuild but may* need a spot of bodywork in the near future.

 

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Also significant to me as it was used as our wedding car!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Time for another thread resurrection!

 

That hatchback is a complete turd of a car. Patch upon patch underneath and a couple of structural chassis rails completely missing...

 

Anyway, a few months ago I came into possession of the earliest surviving Marina, which I discovered in a shed in Dorset. It had been there since 1979 having only had one owner and before that it was a dealer demonstrator for Henlys. When he died the house passed to his son who then passed away last year, leaving everything to his brother. Sadly the shed roof developed a hole which was never repaired which meant water had been pouring onto the car for years. All the bodywork forward of the bulkhead on the driver's side will need replacing as will all the chassis rails on the driver's side. The Marina Club President down on the Isle of Wight has offered to do the bodywork. I am just in the middle of selling most things I own to pay for it- it will be a five figure sum by the time it is finished. This car was built in January 1971, chassis number 343 (production began on 101), and was built before some of the press cars. Holy grail for me!

 

Marina-wise not too many updates since last time. I sold BOP92K on to a new owner in Lincolnshire who had a fine collection of cars which included two Allegros and a 1950s Jag. I have also sold HUC766K on to a friend of mine. Next to go will be my 1.3 saloon with 25k on the clock- all to help fund VRU.

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I have also been chopping and changing my daily cars....

 

A while back I purchased a 306 2.0 16v cabriolet as an engine donor for the 405. With a few tweaks this will basically be the equivalent of an Mi16 engine for half the price. Then in December I managed to crack the sump on the 405 when I hit a log on a single track road which I didn't see until it was too late.... So I took the 405 off the road ready to begin the swap. The engine is now out of the 306 (which has now been stripped and weighed in) and I have just finished buying all the necessary parts to do the swap. I will also be getting some of the bodywork sorted and eventually it will be yet another weekend car rather than a daily drive.

 

With the 405 off the road I needed a new daily car that weekend to get to work the following week. I looked around for the cheapest car I could find locally and ended up with a Vauxhall Astra 'Montana' (Hannah). It was a truly awful car and when I managed to flip it two weeks later (Police reckoned it was a diesel spill) I was quite glad to see the back of the miserable turd. 

 

Fortunately I was off for Christmas which meant a bit more time to find a replacement car. My partner (who has a bad back) was saying she fancied a 306 with power steering. So we set out and ended up with a Y reg 1.6 Meridian with all the toys, she bought that and I bought her M reg 1.4 Mardi Gras (no PAS). I have been using the Mardi Gras for the past month or so, it's a great little car and only has about 50k on the clock. However I was then chatting with a mate of mine who asked me if I saved the door mirror covers from the 306 cabrio, as he wanted to tidy a few bits on his PH2 D-Turbo before selling it. Naturally I ended up buying it off him, so we currently have three 306s on the driveway. The Mardi Gras will be up for sale soon. The plan with the D-Turbo is to keep it for a while, tidy it up etc. but eventually find another 405 to use everyday.

 

When we picked up the D-Turbo I also bumped into an old flame- my old 309 turbo diesel. Sadly it has now popped it's head gasket in true XUD style and as it has never been in the best state bodywork wise it is now going to be chopped up for spares. RIP.

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Excellent! That's some dedicated resto work ahead of you (well, the president) but great to see it's been saved; I guess it could've just as easily have gone for scrap if someone somewhere down the line didn't recognise it was such an early one. Here's hoping you retain the tow bar and relocated number plate as a period mod, the likes of which you don't see these days.

 

I've just been reading a couple of period articles about the Australian Marina Six, so Marinas overall are quite high on my personal 'old cars of interest' bell curve at the moment.

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