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


MarinaJosh

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While we're doing pictures. The Marinas what I have seen:

 

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The police replica is alright but up close there are many imperfections and a general air of "not quite right". I think it's a bit tarted up under the fresh paint judging by the rust bubbles when I saw it...

 

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The bloke who owns this isn't really too fussed with it, I think the photo might flatter the paintwork a bit. He lamented losing one of those wheeltrims the last time I saw the car, the steelies underneath are rust free and painted silver and I did suggest it'd not look bad without them! Also the roof is painted a different colour which is a bit weird. He's got another Marina auto I think...

 

There is a distinct lack of Marinas up here, I'd like to help but I'd only really want to part with money for an estate and they seem to command alright money these days. :(

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Guest Breadvan72

I have never driven a Marina but have travelled many, many miles in them.  My Uncle Mike had a new Marina every year during the 70s.  Always a blue saloon, and I assume a 1.8 because he had a caravan, and took us on hols a lot.  He had one Ital, IIRC, but then went home to Ireland, where everyone was skint (this was pre the Celtic Bubble) and all cars were scabby Fiats and such (before the scrappage scheme which resulted in everyone having a Honda, except for farmers, who got Mercs).

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A mate of mine posted some shots of a pimped up Ital at Brooklands today, its a blue estate with a Marina grille on, and apparently a 2.0 Rover engine from an 820, and it gets driven hard by it's elderly owner. Different to say the least. 

 

This Marina belonged to a windowcleaner in my parents village in the early 00's

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I have a real soft spot for marinas. My sisters first car was an L reg mk1 1.3 sdl, my first car an Ital 1.3 SL. I thought it was just fine, roomy, reliable and I don't recall ever being concerned about the handling.

Is this example known to you? It lives locally to me in South Wales

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Reg is CVJ 439L it's clearly loved and cherished

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CVJ is well known in the Club, the guy who owns it has been a member for years. It's his daily car and does thousands of miles. He also has a really nice Bracken orange N reg saloon.

 

Both those Scottish auto ones have been on eBay, the other is Tundra green. The interiors are quite something having been patched up with various bits of wood etc. They were both up for just over a grand a few years ago and obviously didn't sell. They looked quite crusty and auto ones aren't very sought after. The police replica now lives down in Surrey with a guy and his son who have quite a few BL lovelies including a MK1 estate, two MK2 GT coupes, a Triumph 2000 and a Maxi.

 

The hatch is off the road at the moment which is probably for the best. I have seen underneath it and the chassis that was there was a patchwork quilt. Other parts were missing entirely.

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I know this is going to sound twaish but I'd hate to have a car that was "known to the club" and have its history and whereabouts tracked like some kind of sacred object :-)

 

It's for the benefit for enthusiasts really. We don't have any surviving build records etc for Marinas as they were all lost in a fire at Gaydon. Therefore it has only been because of my efforts to track down cars, talk to the owners, and build up a database that we have been able to discover the history of the car, it's development etc so can then answer the questions we get from owners (when was my car built, when will it be tax exempt, how rare is the colour, have you got any old photos of my car, do you know what happened to my old car- by far the biggest query etc etc). It has also proved useful when putting cars back on the road that have lost their paperwork, or reg plate and has been essential when the DVLA contact the Club asking for proof when somebody is asking them for their car to be made tax exempt. Most clubs have a register of cars and it is done for the benefit of the owners. Generally those who own an old car become interested in the history of that particular car. At least that's how I try and justify the work I have been doing for the last few years. My background and profession is heritage and and unless we share it and our studies of it then it's pointless preserving anything.

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I have never driven a Marina but have travelled many, many miles in them.  My Uncle Mike had a new Marina every year during the 70s.  Always a blue saloon, and I assume a 1.8 because he had a caravan, and took us on hols a lot.  He had one Ital, IIRC, but then went home to Ireland, where everyone was skint (this was pre the Celtic Bubble) and all cars were scabby Fiats and such (before the scrappage scheme which resulted in everyone having a Honda, except for farmers, who got Mercs).

Don't suppose he moved home to Wexford? Ital's were really rare here and I took the only one I'd ever seen as a scrappage scheme car in 2000; was a blue imported Ital that the old boy told me he'd had from new. I drove it for a few days because it was taxed, wasn't a bad old thing; but because of the scheme, we had to scrap it.

 

Farmers didn't get Mercs btw; diesel Jettas in the 80s and diesel Ventos in the 90s :)

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Guest Breadvan72

Don't suppose he moved home to Wexford? Ital's were really rare here and I took the only one I'd ever seen as a scrappage scheme car in 2000; was a blue imported Ital that the old boy told me he'd had from new. I drove it for a few days because it was taxed, wasn't a bad old thing; but because of the scheme, we had to scrap it.

 

Farmers didn't get Mercs btw; diesel Jettas in the 80s and diesel Ventos in the 90s :)

 

That wasn't my uncle, as he moved back to Dublin, and died in the 1990s.   I recall that the Powerscourt shopping centre was mobbed by silver Mercs after the scrappage thing.  Maybe farmers' wives!

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It's for the benefit for enthusiasts really. We don't have any surviving build records etc for Marinas as they were all lost in a fire at Gaydon. Therefore it has only been because of my efforts to track down cars, talk to the owners, and build up a database that we have been able to discover the history of the car, it's development etc so can then answer the questions we get from owners (when was my car built, when will it be tax exempt, how rare is the colour, have you got any old photos of my car, do you know what happened to my old car- by far the biggest query etc etc). It has also proved useful when putting cars back on the road that have lost their paperwork, or reg plate and has been essential when the DVLA contact the Club asking for proof when somebody is asking them for their car to be made tax exempt. Most clubs have a register of cars and it is done for the benefit of the owners. Generally those who own an old car become interested in the history of that particular car. At least that's how I try and justify the work I have been doing for the last few years. My background and profession is heritage and and unless we share it and our studies of it then it's pointless preserving anything.

I understand it might be useful to know some stuff it's just me not understanding these one make clubs and stuff like that.

 

My everyday car is 28 years old but I don't really care that much what it's done before just weather it's going to break down in the future! As normal it's each to their own and all that.

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I know it's a real long shot but I wonder if you know of an orange or maroon saloon that was parked up for years in Chislehurst with a car cover over it in the 90s all I remember is it really looked in good condition

 

When I lived in Chislehurst a neighbour around the corner from me owned the car and the poor guy bought it to pass his test in and really looked after the car but he suffered from epilepsy and every time he got to the 2 year deadline for getting a licence he would have a fit so was unable to use the car or get a licence.

 

I went back past my old address about 15 years later and the car was still under the cover but recently I went past the address and the house has been extended and the car has now gone and I think the name of the road was called Elmlee close.

 

I just hope it didn't end up on the bridge.

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As everyone else is posting I'll join in with some Marinas what I done seen. I guess all of these are known to the club.

 

This one was at Stondon. Don't know where it went when the museum closed.

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1973 Morris Marina 1300 Deluxe coupe by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

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1972 Morris Marina 1800 Super Deluxe by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

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1972 Morris Marina 7cwt van by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

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1973 Morris Marina 1300 Deluxe by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

Marina with a difference, Gaydon's SRV2

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1974 Morris Marina SRV2 by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

This one's well known around here (photographed at Shitefest)

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1972 Morris Marina 1300 Deluxe by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

Winner of last year's Festival of the Unexceptional. Not bad for something that's spent its life on a potato farm.

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1981 Morris Marina 575 pickup by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

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1977 Morris Marina 1300 Deluxe estate by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

The Generally from Practical Classics

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1972 Morris Marina 1300 Super Deluxe Coupe by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

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1972 Morris Marina 1800 SDL by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

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1971 Morris Marina 1300 SDL by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

Some Itals

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1981 Morris Ital 1.7 HLS by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

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1982 Morris Ital 575 pickup by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

The last one

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1984 Morris Ital 1.7 SLX estate by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

And my miniature Marinas from Oxford Diecast

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Marina medley by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

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Happy birthday Heathrow by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

And a link to a story on Craptical Plastics' Farcebook page about a Marina van found on Gran Canaria: https://www.facebook.com/PracticalClassics/posts/1390517474299869

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Howdy Josh. Pretty sure we've spoken (years ago!) when I was writing a Marina buying guide for one of the classic rags.

 

All these posts, and NO-ONE has remarked on the very early wiper layout. Why on Earth did BL ditch it and move to LHD wipers? Why did the arm shape change too? Those early ones look amazingly weird. I remember being fascinated by one that lived in our road when I was a (very young) child (a very young child with some serious priority issues).

I never knew the early ones had different wipers but then I haven't seen a Marina that old. So they started off the right way round then got swapped to the wrong way?! Typical back-to-front BL thinking. I always thought it was cost-cutting so they could use the same wipers for RHD and LHD but it turns out they go the opposite way on LHD cars, including the dreadful Yank-spec Austin Marina. Not sure it was to do with standardisation either - of the BL tin we've owned the Dolomite's went the wrong way but the contemporary Maxi's went the right way and were never changed.

 

Isn't the Austin Marina lovely*?

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Incidentally, what is the correct pronunciation of Ital? I've always thought it was 'It-al' as in Italy, but I heard Danny Hopkins saying 'Eye-tal' and as the editor of a leading classic car magazine he has no excuse for getting it wrong.

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Is the BAA Fire Service based on a real vehicle?  I started at BAA in 1990 and worked on among other things the Fire Service vehicles.  Before my time but I believe that other sections had Marina yellow estates.  BAA does have form with unusual emergency vehicles, the Airport Police had A60s an one stage.  Fire service had two Maestros, a 4 x 4 Dodge 50 and a Sherpa.

 

 

 

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Is the BAA Fire Service based on a real vehicle?  I started at BAA in 1990 and worked on among other things the Fire Service vehicles.  Before my time but I believe that other sections had Marina yellow estates.  BAA does have form with unusual emergency vehicles, the Airport Police had A60s an one stage.  Fire service had two Maestros, a 4 x 4 Dodge 50 and a Sherpa.

 

 

 

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Oxford models are usually authentic and DVLA says KLA 12V was a red Marina so I assume it did actually exist. I guess that Maestro probably replaced it and I've seen an even older picture with an ADO16 that was presumably the Marina's predecessor so they have a history of using BL shite.  

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Oxford models are usually authentic and DVLA says KLA 12V was a red Marina so I assume it did actually exist. I guess that Maestro probably replaced it and I've seen an even older picture with an ADO16 that was presumably the Marina's predecessor so they have a history of using BL shite.  

 

I thought the Oxford model would be based on an actual car just surprised that I hadn't see a photo kicking about. Probably not the Marina, but some of the old interesting Fire Service stuff from Heathrow gets donated to Brooklands. 

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Incidentally, what is the correct pronunciation of Ital? I've always thought it was 'It-al' as in Italy, but I heard Danny Hopkins saying 'Eye-tal' and as the editor of a leading classic car magazine he has no excuse for getting it wrong.

 

I have always pronounced it 'It-al' as it is named after Ital Design who take their name from their country of origin (Italy). I have heard a lot of people say 'Eye-tal' though.

 

Here's a pic of KLA

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