The mighty blue Marina passion wagon

[oldcars]

Nothing exciting? I disagree all Marina's are exciting. You work quick, looks good so far.

[bezzabsa]

That Estate is truly Gorgeous

 

BL would have had that in their Museum if they were still going!!

[Jon]

Frankly, I can't wait until the Tippers raised digit plate filth is revealed. It's a special kind of person that sets the correct number plate style with what was used new at the time and you're just that kind of person, trigger.

 

Have you thought about selling the SD1 and buying an early coupe, so you could get some of those strange black and white plates BL used in early 70's publicity shots? If so, you might as well get an Ital saloon on Sercks too, to complete the collection.

[trigger]

Funnily I had a press Marina plate that a work mate found in his loft and sold to me that I sold on to a mate with a Marina at the time.

 

 

I'm still watching on the V5 to came back from the DVLA for the car but once it's here the pates will be on order, I can't wait! If anything is sold them it will be the van but that's only because of lack of space, but we'll see...

[D Spares & Tyres]

Lovely.

 

Another old car that was utter shite when I was a kid. The kind you would disown your parents for if they bought it. Nowadays though I have much jealousy for it.

 

Not sure if has already been said but I can't be the only one seeing the link between your user name, the Marina's colour and Trigger 's going out suit.

[trigger]

Not a awful lot of photos unfortunately yet but progress is being made, the log book arrived yesterday, yay! I've already been back to the post office and got it changed to historic and mot extempt.

 

Also got the wheels finished and new tyres fitted today.

 

 

 

The van came in handy taking them down to the garage, ended up getting some Royal Passenger tyres, the same as on the van for £124 which was cheaper than everywhere else, they will look smart once fitted i think. I've also now changed the steering column over so it now has a working ignition and steering lock, that now means the interior is done.

 

 

Saturday I'll get the brakes all finished and slave cylinders fixed, oh and I've also got a nice set of new 70s raised digit style plates on order from Tippers too!

[Guest Hooli]

I'll just leave this here.

 

[danthecapriman]

Nice job Trig.

 

Slight thread hijack, but how the hell do you get registered for MOT exempt?

I want to do it for the Mercury but no idea how? It’s currently MOT’d for about a month and (free) tax due in December. Presumably I’ve got to re-tax it now?

[trigger]

Personally I just went to the post office, she made me fill in a form, she then put the details into her computer and handed me back said form and a receipt saying it changed over. All very quick and simple. I also believe you can do it online when you tax the car too.

[Felly Magic]

This is going to look seriously fit with the Tippers plates on

[trigger]

Look what I got today!

 

 

Yep my Tippers plates! Amazingly it turned out they arrived yesterday but my neighbour had them, that means they arrived less than 24 hours after ordering them, fantastic service.

 

Also this happened today.

 

 

 

The first time it's been taxed in 37 years! This now means that once it's insured it will legally be able to be used on the road again, I still can't believe that's right!

 

Spend the day finishing the brakes in it today, as well as the fuel pipes, it now starts and runs great.

 

 

 

All that's left to do is finishing cleaning it, waxoyl the underside, fully service it and fit the plates and it's ready for the road, yay!

[Guest Hooli]

Do you get away with not following the continuous insurance thing in the hysterical historic class then?

[HMC]

Those plates are the perfect finishing touch! Wonder what happened to the old old ones during it's lay up?

[trigger]

I think the scrapyard who ended up with it binned them and the vin plate annoyingly.

 

Its all very odd if I'm honest, I had no V5 and the vin was missing so I got the details from a friend who works for a car dealers via the HPi system, filled the form in and wrote the chassis number down he gave me and posted it along with £25, 3 weeks later I get the new log book through so I took that to the post office and got it transferred over to historic from PLG and filled in a MOT declaration form and two days later it's down as being taxed!

[mk2_craig]

I was going to say the exact same thing as HMC, seemed strange it was untaxed so long yet still managed to have the 2001-on style plates fitted.

[trigger]

Oh that was the guy I bought it off, he was going to put it on the road about 10 years ago so got the plates made up but couldn't find the chassis number so never got any further, fortunately my sisters partner works for a big main dealers and can do HPi checks for free.

[Pillock]

Will it not cause any problems in the future if there's no VIN plate? Or can you get one made?

 

I guess after 37 years the chances of another car turning up wearing that reg and VIN are minimal to zero.

[trigger]

You can get VINs made up for these already stamped for £30 or make your own for £4 plus a set of stamps, you can see they it's so easy to clone Minis.

[Felly Magic]

Those plates do look WIN, all you need now for it are some 1970s period 'giffer trinkets' to make this perfect

[trigger]

Small steps but I'm nearly there now! So this morning I got the insurance sorted, £78 for the year Inc breakdown wasn't to be sniffed at, after that I spent the morning polishing the offside, roof and all the tailgate which to be honest in this heat was murder!

 

Still it was looking good, also fitted the rear plate and then serviced it, changed the coolent, oil, fanbelt etc and took it for its first drive on the road since 1981, it drives amazingly well, everything is tight and quiet and smooth, well it should be with only 25017 miles on the clock!

 

All that's left is to polish the front end and nearside, waxoyl the underside and then give it a long road test and it should all be done!

 

 

 

[Brodders]

Small steps but I'm nearly there now! So this morning I got the insurance sorted, £78 for the year Inc breakdown wasn't to be sniffed at, after that I spent the morning polishing the offside, roof and all the tailgate which to be honest in this heat was murder!

 

Still it was looking good, also fitted the rear plate and then serviced it, changed the coolent, oil, fanbelt etc and took it for its first drive on the road since 1981, it drives amazingly well, everything is tight and quiet and smooth, well it should be with only 25017 miles on the clock!

 

All that's left is to polish the front end and nearside, waxoyl the underside and then give it a long road test and it should all be done!

 

 

 

Looking very good Trigger, and hats off for daring to polish it in the heat we have had today.

 

Will this be making its debut at Shotley this Wednesday?

[SiC]

Who was that insured with? Very good price. Just hunting around for providers to renew my MGB cover.

[trigger]

The plan is to get it to Shotley on Wednesday! That was with RH classic. He said as it was 40 year old and of a certain value it makes it a lot cheaper. I'm paying £150 for the Rover and £130 for the van with them, he said they were more as they were under 40 years old.

[danthecapriman]

That looks absolutely gorgeous. Well done for polishing it in this heat too, I’ve just washed the Volvo and it’s bloody roasting even at this time in the evening.

[trigger]

Sweating my man boobs off and baby watching too! Front plate just fitted now too!

[Guest Hooli]

Calendar shot!

[Shep Shepherd]

Those plates make all the difference 

[Jon]

If your bonnet adornment is based on anatomic reality, I think you need to call an NHS helpline

 

Still coming to terms that in the UK in 2018, it's now easier than ever before to knock about in an old car. Your entire outlay to legally bring it back from the dead and drive it on the roads has been £101 (V5+insurance). Crikey!

. 

I know those plates aren't cheap but they're like good quality tyres - you'll thank yourself for spending that little bit more. Although, unlike good tyres, everyone else other middle aged men on the internet can enjoy them too. Top philanthropy, trig!

[trigger]

I must be mental but I've now finished polishing the nearside meaning the cars finished other than a touch up, waxoyl the underside and cleaning the dash, 13 hours now spent on this today (on and off) and I'm bo11oxed!

 

[Jon]

You're currently experiencing the hottest heat wave Britain has ever experienced apparently (according to internet comments - it's midwinter in NZ), so I reckon the waxoyl can wait a while. I suppose it'll be nice and fluid in the current climate though.

 

My vote for now is just drive it everywhere with the windows down and your best shades on and feel like an absolute winner. It won't win any traffic light races but won't need to, to look effortlessly stylish. Yes, I used the word 'stylish' to describe a Marina. After all, the condition makes it undeniably attractive and those hilarious Top Gear funsters stopped crushing them under pianos over a decade ago. I reckon that BL knocking will go the way of 1980's Skoda jokes and not be funny anymore, as there's a generation that don't remember them from the first time around. Applies to all 1970's/80's 'shit' cars, I suppose.

 

If you're not convinced, I reckon a really good show piece would be to get a modern day Ford/Vauxhall/whatever brochure and have the paint options page displayed next to a 1970's BL paint brochure for a compare and contrast (the 'contrast' bit relating to the various shades of grey you can buy a modern in, of course).