The mighty blue Marina passion wagon

[trigger]

I thought i should probably start a thread on the latest project, having one Ital van isn't enough and what seems to commonly happen when you have one paticular make of car you then start getting offers of other ones...

 

This story starts on Sunday a few weeks ago, I was at a car show in my van, in fact this one at this show.

 

 

when a chap with a old Jaguar came up and said he had a Marina estate in his barn with low mileage which he was wanting shot off, after much chatting we arrange on a time to go over to have a look, i won't hurt to look will it?.

 

I go round his and see all the other old cars he has hidden away like his 1986 Mazda 323 daily, his parents old Volvo 245 GLE Estate buried under boxes and his collection of old Jags and a Jowlett.

 

 

then we go to the Marina shed, the blueness lit the room up!

 

 

 

I couldn't believe the condition, the story behind it is back in 1981 for what ever reason the car was parked up in a lock up with only 25000 miles on it until the mid 00's when presumably the owner died and the council cleared the lock up out and got a local scrap yard to take it away, thankfully they had the foresight to see it's condition and sold it without a COD being issued, the chap i bought it from bought it for £450 from them, got it home and spend a few years tinkering with it, rebuilding the brakes, replacing fuel lines, getting it running and changing the tank. At some point around 6-7 years ago he crushed his fingers whilst working on it down to the bone and decided it hated it after than and didn't touch it since.

 

A price was agreed on which included this 23000 mile Ital estate which unfortunately has been of the road outside so many years that it's rotten and not worth saving.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile another deal was arranged with a mate where he has the Ital (it will probably get broken for spares to help the owners club out) in exchange for delivering the Marina for me, Tuesday evening this vision of blueness arrived!

 

 

as the fuel tank isn't fitted i rigged up a jerry can of petrol from the rear axle and it started perfect and drove into the garage, the brakes are seized and need freeing but i was just relieved that it looked just as good outside as it did in the garage!

 

 

 

 

 

[bezzabsa]

Just watched the video on YooToob ..looks a corker...Still think the estate has way better proportions than the saloons

 

Ital Estate - T cut LOL

[danthecapriman]

Absolutely stunning that is! It looks almost like new still.

Even better being an estate, Ive not seen one for ages.

[Anglevan]

Great example, well done and good purchase. I miss my old Marina and would have another no hesitation. As always room is my enemy. Look forward to seeing your progress. Great to see its in good hands

[trigger]

Yesterday i made a start looking at what I've bought and cleaning a few bits, firstly i could tell the 25000 miles was geunine, I've never seen a Marina with so little rust, i mean just no rust, ok it has a few storage marks and scuffs but nothing a touch up won't tidy.

 

 

 

 

 

I got the rear wheels off and pressure washed inside the arches, they are like new, no rust anywhere!

 

 

 

annoyly at this point my 4 year old £140 Karcher pressure washer decided to seized up which proper pee'd me off and wasted over a hour trying to fix it, never the less i carried on cleaning the boot area and spare wheel wheel out, i seem to have forgotten to take photos here but again there's no rust or damage, it's still got its unused original spare.

 

 

 

The front carpet is sun damaged so I'm going to remove both carpets and have a go at dying them black again, i haven't done that before.

 

 

The interior needs a tidy up and clean but it's all there, the igition barrell was damaged because the key was missing but it's comes with a new one to fit and the cowling.

 

 

 

 

There's no headroom in the back of these!

 

 

The engine bay got a quick wash and looks better for it.

 

 

There seems to be a lot of wax all over the lower half, I'm guessing it's been done prior to storage?.

 

 

 

 

But there you go, jobs on the list are to refit fuel tank, refit ignition barrel and cowling, fix the brakes, a fuel service, replace a couple of missing trim bits and buy a set of tin raised digit plates from Tippers and then it's on the road again, i guess technically it doesn't even need MOTing now either?. I still think that i will though.

[trigger]

And heres a video i made of it too!

 

[bezzabsa]

RE the carpet....Do a Mike Brewer and spray paint it......

 

there IS a carpet dye out there but IIRC its VERY messy and very hit n miss if it works!!

[Datsuncog]

This

 

is

 

AWESOME!!!!

 

 

Another brilliant save, and what a corker. Beautiful colour, beautiful condition - this sounds like a fantasy come true.

 

Maybe the best, most original  and lowest miles Marina Estate left? I'm assuming MarinaJosh can advise?

 

 

Just for giggles, here's an archive pic of me having a bash at rustproofing my dad's 1978 Super estate.

 

 

What an exercise in futility. The thing was already rotten as a pear, resprayed once and on its second set of sills despite not even being six years old yet.

 

Still, I'd love one!

 

[Mrs6C]

Fantastic Marina!

My Dad had a 1978 Marina 1.8 Super estate too, in the same colour blue. It had chrome hubcaps and beige velour seats. IIRC, it ended up with a 'mix & match' engine using the bottom end from our old J4 van and the top end from itself. This gave it the ability to be started with a starting handle, which caused much amusement along the lines of 'Didn't you get one with yours?' questions of bemused onlookers...

I thought the estate variant looked the nicest. The higher waistline of the rear side windows was a neat finish to the upsweep in the quarter window of the rear door.

Vulgalour had some success with cleaning and dyeing the faded Paprika carpets on the purple Princess:
http://autoshite.com/topic/10789-1980-austin-princess-2306-update/?p=1324551
http://autoshite.com/topic/10789-1980-austin-princess-2306-update/?p=1332065

[vaughant]

Minolta, seriously well bought !!!!

[oldcars]

Love this x 100000000000000000

 

My dream car (yes i'm odd)

 

One day if i get a garage & some better mechanical skills i will have one

 

I think the first picture of it in triggers garage sums it up well. WIN.

[Crooner]

I might just have a brand new, genuine Leyland front carpet for this!

[Crooner]

Just checked. It's for an Allegro. sorry.

I'll get my coat..............

[trigger]

That's a shame but thanks for thinking of me!

[quicksilver]

Trigger does it again! What a superb machine and a perfect companion to the van. Just be sure to keep it away from any falling pianos.

[artdjones]

My brother had one in 1987,it seized up on the M4.Later I managed to start it up and drove it at 30mph, which was all it would do,up the hard shoulder and into Chepstow, where I abandoned it and got the bus home.A few weeks later I fitted an engine I bought for £30 and it ran better than ever.The next summer both my brothers took it on a 3000 mile camping tour around Scotland.When they got back it was put in for an MOT, which it failed on 18 separate items,and was then scrapped at ten years old.

The condition of Trigger's car is almost miraculous.

[Tickman]

.... and what seems to commonly happen when you have one paticular make of car you then start getting offers of other ones...

 

This never happens to me

[clayts450]

This is just awesome on so many levels. Love the BL mudflaps too.

 

Well saved sir !

[Guest Hooli]

That is so full of win it's untrue!

[RobT]

That looks superb. The sort of thing Doc Faringdon finds and then churns over on eBay with loads of superfluous waffle!

 

Will look forward to the updates.

[egg]

Remarkable.  The condition beggars belief, the more you look at it.

 

My dad had a 1.7 Ital estate as a company car for a bit when I was a lad in the early 80's.

[trigger]

The condition is amazingly good. I'm just sat in it at the moment looking at stuff, 1976 dates wiring loom

 

 

Leyland cars sticker

 

 

Hard to read but last anti freeze change on 17-10-79 sticker

 

 

No rust on the doors at all

 

 

And that's the only rust on the arches

 

[junkyarddog]

It's absolutely amazing what shite is still laying out there undiscovered!!

 

That's an absolute belter.

[HMC]

Time warp example - how many times have we heard that one?

 

Well this really is a time warp marina estate, great find trig!

[cort16]

Not a huge marina fan but this looks well nice . You’ve turned into a right BL chod botherer.

[anonymous user]

You lucky,lucky, bugger

[ProgRocker]

Nice Marina. I prefer the styling of these series 2s over the original and the Ital. 

 

As Marinas were such a dowdy British built family sized car I'm utterly amazed that my parents never owned one.

[Skizzer]

That is just stunning, Trig. Pageant Blue is a great colour, too, very summer of ‘78.

 

Normally it takes you a whole weekend to get some random barn-found BL tin looking this immaculate!

[trigger]

Apparently this is Tahiti Blue with Regal blue interior, Pageant is a bit lighter. Not sure how soon the turn around will be on this one as everything is taking 10 times longer than usual having a toddler in the terrible twos stage in the household...!

[Isaac Hunt]

Ace find. I'm not sure I've seen this spec before. It looks proper crossover to me, MK1 style seats with a MK2 style dash. Might make it ultra rare.

 

I had a 1.3 SDL with drum brakes and then a 1.8TC late mk1 saloon with velour inferior. The TC was in 'Chundra' Green with pale green Bri-Nylon trim and and aftermarket Wooden dash kit and door trims, by Rokee or summit. I was 17 and I hadz Marina with an MGB engine in it so to me it was the Dogs Bollocks it waz

 

To this day, I've never seen a Tundra Green 1.8TC Saloon, probably because it was a turd of a colour no fekker ever ordered it.

 

Had to loOk twice at the Ital Estate, had one on the Y Plate 1.7 SL, same colour. The engine in that let go on the M42 outside lane 'flat', dropped the head of a valve, smashed through the piston, I just kept my foot nailed to the floor, it banged, coughed, sparks out the zorst, almost got it home.

 

When you start out as a youth with such shite goes a long way to explain why I'm on here a few years later.