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

[MarinaJosh]

Yes I'm quite happy patching up old heaps but the level of work this car needs is beyond my skills sadly. Needs a proper workshop, proper tools etc!

 

In other car news I have also rediscovered my love of old Citroens and have set my heart on a BX GTi. I went to view one in Ipswich but sadly it turned out to be a turd, shame as I doubt I will find one closer. I then negotiated on another one up in Lancashire but the advert turned out to be a pack of lies so I withdrew from the sale and am still looking if anybody comes across one.... Have set my heart on an 8v GTi to try and stop myself buying any old heap that comes up for sale...

[Skizzer]

Looking forward to the heroic Marina resto thread! Great save. Mad, but great.

[bramz7]

Awesome update. I look forward to the Marina resto unfolding!

 

I might be interested in that Mardi Gras 306 by the way, I need to try one out...

[MarinaJosh]

I was going to stick it up for £500 but open to offers. MOT'd until November, done about 56k from memory. My partner bought it last September and used it daily, before I then used it daily. Have done about 10k in it between us without any problems. Fitted a new (Gates) cambelt and water pump when we bought it, also had a new passenger side driveshaft. Now due another oil and filter change but I can do that before it goes. 1.4 TU engine, surprisingly revvy little engine. Lovely to drive. Has original dealer key fob, sticker, plates etc. Also has the original Mardi Gras floormats for bonus cool points. Sits on 405 alloys which had new tyres up front when we bought it, and will have a new tyre on one of the back wheels after I had a puncture a couple of weeks ago. Comes with original trims but the original steels have gone. Has a dent on passenger side sill (owned by one family before we got it, passed around and son learnt to drive in it.... causing the sill dent!) and a crease on the driver's door from somebody in a supermarket car park which I was absolutely livid about....

 

If I had a use for it I'd keep it but just know it would sit around and never get used again. It's a really lovely little car. 

 

Sadly there won't be many Marina updates for a while as my mate is booked up for bodywork for the next two years, so it's just a case of raising cash and trying not to spunk it all on French tat in the meantime.

[Parky]

That coupe is awesome.

 

If you need inspiration, I recall Sid James bought himself one in "Carry on at your convenience" which I believe was also made in 1971. Couldn't be an ex Sid James car now could it?

 

I had a coupe in 1990 - I got it for £30 from a mates Grandad. It was shagged but I had big plans, or at least I did until I realised the entire floor was made up of food tins, flattened out, and brazed together. The old boy had even left the labels on some of them which was handy as the use by date on 1986 on a Spam tin label helped us to carbon date the repairs!

 

The clutch failed on the way to the scrappy. Shame really, but a potless, talentless 17 year old with no money didn't stand a chance with it

 

EDIT - found a pic of Sids motor, can't make out the plate though

[davocano]

I've only managed to catch one Marina outside of the show/meet environ, way back in the summer of 2015.

 

 

Racking my brains and I can't recall even seeing one when I've had no camera to hand. I did once see the blue Mumford convertible on the A3.

 

 

[davocano]

Here is aforementioned Mumford at the Walton Bridge Breakfast Club meet.

 

 

 

 

 

[trigger]

That Carry on Marina was a J reg but it's not on the DVLA database any more. I went with Josh to collect the 306, you know you've bought a winner when you can't even lock it to go in the pub!

 

 

[Bren]

Did'nt the J plate Marina appear in a magazine? So many drivers these days know nothing of car control - driving a marina and mk IV zodiac should be part of the driving test.

[MarinaJosh]

Yes it did- Practical Classics are going to be covering the rebuild in some form.

 

That yellow one is a ringer- started life as a Russett MK3, still has the MK3 rear lamp panel cut to accomodate MK1 rear lights!

 

I was happier driving the 306 back than sitting in the car with your farts any longer Trigg. Had a few good laughs that day! It's the only reason I keep buying shite cars...

[MarinaJosh]

Well today I finally became the owner of a car I have wanted since I was a kid. I have always loved the shape of BXs and a background interest in them turned into serious want last summer. I set my heart on finding an 8v GTi. By doing this I was making sure I didn't buy the first turd that came along like I usually do. Most survivors are diesels, as much as I love an XUD (despite my previous experiences with them) I wouldn't want one in a weekend fun car, and I can't warm to the bodykit on the 16v GTis.

 

There was one locally on eBay for ages but it was up for silly money, however I noticed the price dropped steadily and when it reached £1500 (the budget I had set) I went for a look. It was a clean car but with a tired pump and no service history I walked away as he wouldn't budge on price.

 

I then did a deal for one up in Lancashire (it's still for sale...) but then discovered the advert was a pack of lies and that rather than being 'dry stored' for years it sat on a driveway covered in moss!

 

I kept looking, and saw a really tidy red one up for £2.5k. It sold within a day so I was getting worried my budget just wasn't high enough. I then put a couple of wanted ads around and it was after this I heard back from the seller of the local one I had already seen. After chatting again he agreed to come down to £1300. This left me with a couple of hundred to source things like cambelt, spheres, pump etc. I was really hoping for one with all the work done but because it was local, and had cool pinstripes, and a reasonable price I just couldn't say no.

 

It made the 20 mile drive home. There's a few issues. It has sat for a while so the calipers were a little sticky, going up the slip road to the A14 was interesting, but they soon improved and the brakes feel great. It has a new exhaust but it has a major blow and of course it needs a major service. It's covered 120k but the engine pulls well, oil pressure is good, it goes up and down and it has those pinstripes. The ABS light is of course on, like all BXs with ABS. Sadly the sensors are no longer available.

 

The hideous wheels complete with nearly new tyres will be up for sale. If anyone has a set of originals (as per the last two pictures which I found of it from early last year) please drop me a line...

 

[MarinaJosh]

I also had some French car related disappointment (that sentence probably sums up my life actually). My 306 D Turbo is proving to be a nice little daily, it drives great and uses bugger all fuel, but I do miss driving a 405 everyday. I was chatting to my 405 obsessed mate (I also bought my GLX from him) about it and he reminded me he had a 2.0 STI sitting in his stock which he wasn't doing anything with. He agreed to get it on the road for me and it would be my new daily.

 

He knew it needed some work- at least a new front subframe and the backs of the sills in the usual place. However, he got it on the ramp to start welding and discovered there is rot just about everywhere. He has had absolutely loads of 405s and reckons this is the worst he has seen, so sadly it won't be joining my fleet and is being broken for spares instead. I am absolutely gutted about it as it looks stunning in Sorrento Green. You'd never know from on top how bad it is underneath!

 

So I am now seeking a high spec but not mint 405 saloon....

[NorfolkNWeigh]

That's lovely, those wheels look great to me, but I am a chav.

Drove a lot of Gtis when they were current and I had a white TZi estate ( basically a GTi estate) as a company car for 2 years.

BX Gtis were faster than identically powered 405 SRis, but Mk3 Cavalier SRis were faster than both in a straight line, however my BX would stick to the back bumper of a hard driven Cavlier on a windy road.

[txe4]

That BX is proper sexy. Well bought!

 

Original wheels are soooo much better, it doesn't look original and 80s without them. Good swap.

 

The ABS might not need sensors if you're lucky - might just be a wiring or connector fail. The sensors aren't unique to BX, they're reasonably common, just the wiring is. It's not a big job to cut the connector off and solder a replacement sensor on if you need to.

[trigger]

It's awful. Dibs on a drive when I see you next!

[MarinaJosh]

Well it's been a busy time here at Marina towers.

 

The BX is progressing well. I was really surprised how hard it is to find parts and how expensive they are though. Even asking on the BX groups seems fairly fruitless. I eventually found this place in the Netherlands which had most bits I needed for a reasonable price: https://www.garage80.nl/

 

I have now replaced most of the broken interior trim, and sorted all the dash lights out so they are now working.

 

The next job which is underway is a new cambelt and water pump- the old cambelt was absolutely ancient and the tensioner was completely knackered. How it ran is beyond me! Once this is done I will be fitting new spheres and replacing the LHM. I have also discovered the rear trailing arm bearings are knackered so those will be replaced. Fortunately it looks a lot easier on a BX than on Peugeots with no need to remove the rear axle. Then it will be time to stick it in for an MOT and see what else it might need.

 

I haven't been able to find any original wheel trims yet but I have now got a set of steelies ready for them- removed from a 405 in a local scrappy. I have also found a set of original BX alloys locally which I will get refurbished.

 

I have noticed the headlights are corroded so if anybody has any NOS ones or very good used please let me know. Again they are no longer available!

 

 

Speaking of MOTs I finally took this heap for one which it passed with flying colours. Brakes need a bit of adjustment and I have a new dynamo ready to go on.

 

 

I have also said goodbye to this, after five years of sitting doing nothing, and now being in the possession of the earliest one, I was never going to do anything with it. The new owner will though!

 

 

I also said hello to this. I was on the Citroen group on Facebook only for this to pop up as an eBay ad. I sent the seller a message and he said I could have it for £500. It's an HDi Exclusive. The seller ran a garage up in Norwich but was retiring. He was a Citroen mechanic all his life. You know it's a good sign when you turn up to collect a car and the garage walls are covered with posters of DSs, BXs, CXs, GSs etc. It's done just over 110k and drives absolutely beautifully. Very comfortable but uses sod all diesel. Hopefully going to have many happy miles in it as a daily driver.

[AnthonyG]

There was a very early modification made to Marinas - something to do with the front suspension and was as a result of various early road testers saying to BL ‘you really need to sort out this understeer’. I haven’t the details to hand but it was quite well documented at the time. I think the modified parts were fitted by dealers, so I assume your car will have them being a Henlys demo.

 

I have a 1972 copy of Motoring Which magazine which advises you to make sure any prospective ‘nearly-new’ Marina purchase has these modifications, so I guess a few escaped into the wild.

 

Does a 1300 have better* handling than an 1800? I realise it’s all pretty subjective by now but BL Special Tuning’s rally man Brian Culcheth reckoned his 1300 Marina Coupe was a good drive and he nearly won the Cyprus rally twice in the early 1970s in his - the same car won its class regularly.

[vulgalour]

I don't think the alloys are the worst I've ever seen fitted to a BX, they did at least suit the car in their own way, especially for being white with a polished lip.  However, factory options do generally look more betterer.  I'd love another some day but like you found, there's few in the cheap category that are worth having these days, even more so if you're after a particular model.  They do look particularly nice in white, the origami styling suits it much better than some of the later metallics they came in.

[MarinaJosh]

The modification to Marina front suspension didn't actually happen until much later... Basically at the launch in Cannes some motoring journalists felt the 1.8 models possessed high levels of understeer and warned BL they would need to do something about it. BL apparently replied that no production 1.8 models would leave the factory without having the suspension modified- this came in the form of a revised trunnion which increased the negative camber of the car. However, this was not sorted before cars started being sold.

 

What happened in the end was the recall of several thousand early TCs to have the revised trunnion fitted however it is clear not all made it back as there's at least one out there with the early trunnions still.

 

This recall never included 1.3s or single carb 1.8s which continued with the unmodified 'suicide' suspension until late 1971 after about 40,000 cars had been made. At this point the Marina was treated to all new front suspension with a revised leg, trunnion and shock absorber which changed the geometry and greatly improved the handling.

 

1.3s handle a lot better than the 1.8s. The B series is a real boat anchor of an engine.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

.....I was really surprised how hard it is to find parts and how expensive they are though. Even asking on the BX groups seems fairly fruitless. I eventually found this place in the Netherlands which had most bits I needed for a reasonable price: https://www.garage80.nl/.....

 

Don't be surprised. PSA-Citroen have historically been very half-hearted about supporting old/obsolete models, and the BX is no exception.

 

PSA are belatedly waking up to the fact that they've got hundreds of past models still on the roads or needing repair / restoration, and have already started remaking some spare parts for old Peugeots.. They may be starting to cover old Citroens (DSs and 2CVs particularly) as well, but we'll have to wait and see if they'll cater for the BX, CX, etc.

[Datsuncog]

^^^ Kinda makes sense - if most car manufacturers (including PSA) are pushing new cars out of the factory to act as marginal loss leaders for their real business of selling personal finance and mandatory franchised dealer servicing, why not tap into the market to extract cash from those who will never buy a new car off them? All those presses and dies for older models just lying there going dusty (except for the ones sold off to Iran/Nigeria etc).

 

Well, it makes sense to me...

[Tadhg Tiogar]

.....All those presses and dies for older models just lying there going dusty....

 

In many cases, all that tooling would either have been scrapped or sold off to aftermarket companies. Keeping old tooling takes up space.....

[MarinaJosh]

It was surprising compared with the spares availability for the Peugeots I have had. Plenty of new and used 309, 405 etc bits floating around. I could get new headlights for both off the shelf. Whereas the BX there's very little, even secondhand parts are proving very tricky to source. It'll be interesting to see what sort of bits PSA decide to reproduce.

[MarinaJosh]

Four years, probably time for an update! Sadly, most of my Marinas have now been shifted on. When I split up with my ex and was left with all the bills to pay, I had to sell them to keep a roof over my head. Broke my heart seeing them go, but life in general is much better now!

My 26k mile MK1 1.3 saloon ended up with an enthusiast down in Essex, along with my Racing Green coupe. Nice that they are still together.

I bought the Bedouin saloon back from my friend, but then had to sell that too. It then reappeared on eBay at a dealer for three times what I sold it for after being stuffed with filler. Fortunately, I have been in contact with the current owner and it’s now in good hands.

The BX also had to go. Sadly, the person who bought it then chopped it up for parts. A real shame as there can’t have been many rot free early GTis left. Finances permitting, I’d love to have another someday. Strangely, they now seem to be more expensive than their 405 sister which is odd as now having owned both the 405 seems a lot more solid and better built in comparison!

I did enjoy doing many miles in the Xantia. It was an absolutely brilliant car in all respects. I then changed jobs and my 60-mile round trip commute went down to 20 miles so I no longer had a need for a big diesel (in winter it had barely warmed up by the time I arrived!) so I sold it on. I know it is well-loved by the current owner. It has been replaced on IDGAF duties by a 1.1 206. The 206 belonged to a friend’s mum and was due to go to the scrappy. £130, a pair of droplinks and some brake discs later it was mine and on the road. 25k miles later is has proven to be the best car I have ever owned. Why is it so good? I don’t care about it. I can cart rubbish around in it, park it anywhere, scratch it, dent it, and it just keeps on going. Mechanically I never leave it wanting for anything, we even rebuilt it after somebody pulled out in front of me and slammed their brakes on. It is slow and miserable but it does the job perfectly, and is worth more to me than I could ever get for it if I sold it. As much as I would love a ‘nicer’ daily run around car, this one does everything perfectly. I’d add a photo but I don’t think I have one of it!

The engine from the Sorrento Green 405 ended up in my one. After doing a couple of hundred miles in it the head gasket popped. The necessary work was completed over winter 2019 but with COVID etc I haven’t really had the opportunity to drive it. I have come to realise it’s a bit of a waste having such a brilliant car standing around in my unit so that will shortly be going to pastures new where it will be driven and enjoyed.

[MarinaJosh]

A couple of cars have come and gone. In 2019 we heard about a Black Tulip 1.8 Deluxe (base model) saloon in a scrapyard in Glasgow. Three of us pitched in together and bought it sight unseen. The 1.8 Deluxe saloon is the rarest variant of Marina. Very few were sold when new, they were more expensive than the top 1.3 SDL model with carpets and extra bling, so most private buyers went for plushness vs misery with a big engine. Fleet buyers just went for the 1.3 Deluxe saloon. It had disappeared from the range by 1974. A few coupes survive, but only three saloons are known to survive. NB this is where howmanyleft? is useless- lots of SDL and TC Marinas were registered as Deluxes or DLs. Sadly, this one is not one of those three. It proved to be completely beyond hope. It had been laid up in 1987 but had clearly rotted away at least once before then, despite being only 15 years old with 50k on the clock. The outer and inner sills had all been pop-rivetted on. There was fibreglass everywhere. Original rot isn’t so bad, but bodged rot makes everything ten times harder. It was broken for spares and has helped get many other Marinas back on the road.

[MarinaJosh]

Amazingly, another 1.8 Deluxe also came my way. I received a message from a chap whose grandfather had died and he wanted to find a new home for his Marina. It was free on the proviso it ended up back on the road. Despite having been around the clock and looking incredibly tatty with paint flaking off everywhere, it was one of the most solid Marinas I have ever seen- the chassis rails, jacking points, A posts, sills etc were all completely rot free. Sadly, leaking screen seals had caused rot to the floorpans and around the rear screen area. After copious amounts of welding and lots of other work to turn it into a practical daily driver, it was put back on the road in summer 2020. I used it pretty much everyday up until earlier this year, it proved to be a very capable daily driver and with some suspension upgrades not much kept up with me on the twisty roads on the way to work. Brilliant fun. It came with a vehicle log the previous owner had kept from when he bought it in 1980 through to 2016 when he sadly passed away. It seems in all that time it never suffered a major breakdown, had never spent anytime off the road, and had never had any major work carried out other than routine servicing. The B series engine was perfect and used no oil. The gearbox was very worn, so the low mileage box from the Black Tulip car was fitted. A friend of mine then contacted me earlier this year saying he had no luck in trying to buy his old 1.8 Deluxe saloon back (one of the three known to survive) and that if I knew of any Marinas for sale, I should let him know. I knew it would be a good home, so I sold it onto him. Despite being a free car, I made a massive loss on it with all the work that went into it. It has also left me without a Marina on the road for the first time since I passed my test. I know he is getting lots of use out of it and enjoying every minute of it. Needless to say, I have first dibs on it!

[MarinaJosh]

What do you do when a high spec PH1 306 appears for sale round the corner from you? As soon as the advert appeared on Facebook marketplace I was round there like a shot. I turned up at a very nice farmhouse where a posh chap told me it was his mother’s car and she was now giving up driving as she kept driving into posts etc. This showed in various scratches and a dented wing. However, I could not resist the 70k mileage, the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Wood, the Diablo Red paint with hardly any of the usual lacquer peel and the cleanest XUD engine bay I have ever seen. I had absolutely no use for it, so after a full service, new cambelt and a spot of welding I sold it on again to a keen 306 enthusiast. As always, I made no money, but I don’t think I lost any either. It was an absolute pleasure to drive. All the other XUDs I have had have been moon miles, this felt so tight and smooth in comparison. Wonderful car.

[MarinaJosh]

I never did get round to finishing the fleet updates... here we are only 1 year on! I tend to spend most of my time tinkering with stuff and never think to take pictures or what have you.

Anyway, the next project came in the form of a different kind of Morris. The boss at work bought herself an Almond Green Moggy Traveller which I then set about recomissioning for her. I rather enjoyed the process with the novelty of being able to buy virtually everything off the shelf and delivered the next day. A long-time Moggy enthusiast friend of mine noted my interest and when he rescued a Traveller which was due to be weighed in he kindly let me have it for £sod all. The story is the bloke who owned it fell out with the person who was storing it for him and he needed it shifted ASAP. It had previously been fitted with a 1275cc A series, Ford Type 9 gearbox and fancy seats out of something or other. The bloke wanted all those bits for his other Moggy, so it came as a rolling shell. It was a local car- originally supplied by a dealer in Clacton-on-Sea and appears to have been restored in the 1980s. The wood is all original. A 1098 engine was found locally on eBay and my Moggy mate came up trumps with a gearbox and various other bits and pieces. The back had been boarded out like a van- this was ripped out (and kept me warm for a new nights on the log burner) and replacement seats etc were sourced.

It returned to the road in October 2021, just in time to be laid up for winter. It has been in regular use since. I haven't done huge miles in it, just under 2000, but it gets used a couple of days each week to go to work in and we had a lovely holiday in north Norfolk in it earlier this year. It will never be perfect- there are various dents/scratches and the 1980s respray isn't the best, but there are plenty of mint ones out there and it's nice not being afraid to use it!

 

[MarinaJosh]

Next in was another Morris I hadn't sampled before- an Ital. We did some welding on a friend's Ital estate (the aforementioned Moggy enthusiast who sold me the Traveller) and in return he gifted us a very early black Ital 1.3 HL. Black was a special order option on Marinas and Itals and very few are known to survive. It had been enthusiast owned for a long time but sadly he struggled to maintain it later in life and rot had started to set in. However, it hadn't been previously bodged and wore it's 90k miles very well. It has been progressing steadily ever since with new jacking points, sills, repairs to the inner sills and one rear wheel arch. The wings have already been replaced (very nicely I should add) at some point. Hoping this will be ready to hit the road next year.

[MarinaJosh]

After a bit of a dry spell in 2022, 2023 got off to a flying start when back in March a tempting Ital popped up for sale on Facebook. I spoke about it with a mate and we said about going halves but sadly by then it had sold. A few days later it reappeared and before I knew it we were bound for Manchester to collect it. This was our first foray into the O series engine. The car itself is a HLS model- the top of the range with tinted glass, vinyl roof, intermittent wipers and various other decadent features. It's one of the last Cowley built cars- they lost the chrome from the bumpers, the grille and the side repeaters- before production moved to Longbridge for the final couple of years. It took quite a bit of work to get it running right but my goodness the O series is a lovely engine. After 15 years of messing around with Marinas I have been very impressed with the Itals- they are so much smoother, quieter and more refined. The anti-roll bars (introduced on MK2 Marinas) make a huge amount of difference too- I have been using the 1.7 as a regular daily driver and it's surprising what you can lose in the rear view mirror on the twisty bits.  Sadly, all of these characteristics make it not much fun as an 'old' car to use at weekends. It all feels a bit too modern/quiet. Because of this, this Ital is shortly moving to a new home.