Pianoed Marina - number plate madness

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I just spotted this sad looking old Marina which was apparently given the Clarkson treatment back in 2020. 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/12FVh3Szzx6/

I then thought I'd look up the number plate to see if it was a known car prior to the piano redesign. 

Turns out the number plate is ONE digit away from @Andyrew/ex @HMC's Plahhh. 

Chances of that, eh?!

@MarinaJosh Don't know if the car is of any interest to you? Looks to have some decent parts left on it, looking past the buggered shell. 

 

[outlaw118]

Wasn't this the one where he raced James May in a Riva? Can't remember who drove which, because tired.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

4 minutes ago, outlaw118 said:

Wasn't this the one where he raced James May in a Riva? Can't remember who drove which, because tired.

Not sure. The ad says it 'had a piano dropped on it by Clarkson and crew from Grand Tour in 2020 during filming of their Show at Berwick-upon-Tweed.'

[outlaw118]

2 minutes ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Not sure. The ad says it 'had a piano dropped on it by Clarkson and crew from Grand Tour in 2020 during filming of their Show at Berwick-upon-Tweed.'

Just had a quick look, the one I was referring too was an N plate. So they were still doing that joke* on GT? Nobs.

 

[MarinaJosh]

I have been eyeing it up! The 1.3 engine with auto box combo is worth the asking price alone. Lots of people out there with Minors, A35s, Midgets etc who want to convert them to an auto box to make driving them easier. Interior looks decent too. Alas, by the time it's made it all the way down here it would be getting on for £1500 which is a bit more than I can justify at the moment sadly. 

[garbaldy]

14 minutes ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Not sure. The ad says it 'had a piano dropped on it by Clarkson and crew from Grand Tour in 2020 during filming of their Show at Berwick-upon-Tweed.'

That is the car I mentioned seeing passing our house on the gt thread heading west towards kelso.  there was no footage of the car being crushed on the gt episode in question so even more of a waste.  

[alcyonecorporation]

Yo, could you post a screenshot of that, please - I'm not a member of that particular FB group. 

[New POD]

8 hours ago, MarinaJosh said:

I have been eyeing it up! The 1.3 engine with auto box combo is worth the asking price alone. Lots of people out there with Minors, A35s, Midgets etc who want to convert them to an auto box to make driving them easier. Interior looks decent too. Alas, by the time it's made it all the way down here it would be getting on for £1500 which is a bit more than I can justify at the moment sadly. 

My university mate had a 1.3 auto coupe in beige.  As a 19 year old I knew it was the shittest thing ever conceived.**  But putting the engine in a midget sounds like a plan if you are Heather Mills. 

** It was written off in very horrific circumstances which I've previously described. That may cloud my judgement on how good a car it wasn't. 

[N Dentressangle]

I'd be up for dropping a piano on Jeremy Clarkson if that's an option?

Sure he'd be game for a laugh

[garbaldy]

7 hours ago, alcyonecorporation said:

Yo, could you post a screenshot of that, please - I'm not a member of that particular FB group. 

The guy owns Gibb auto's in kelso.

[LightBulbFun]

16 hours ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

I just spotted this sad looking old Marina which was apparently given the Clarkson treatment back in 2020. 

part of me wonders if that might be fixable/saveable in some fashion?, is it just the roof thats been caved in or has the whole "chassis" been bent also?  if this was some sort of Aston Martin DB5 you bet that it would be fixed somehow...

 

I dunno I just feel like it needs saving somehow so it can meet up with @Andyrew's ADO16  such a shame otherwise for such a survivor to meet such a sad end

[Talbot]

It is of course repairable.  Donor roof from another rotten car, similar door frames and it could be put back on the road.  I probably have the tools and skills to do it if I had an indoor workshop to use.  And of course the time.

Would anyone want to though?  Highly unlikely.  Not rare or valuable enough.

[juular]

9 minutes ago, Talbot said:

  Not rare or valuable enough.

Stares at message.

Stares at Autoshite.

Stares at message.

[SilverMachine]

could be way im looking at it but i dont think the screen is damaged! side glass obviously buggered, a post not too bad.  b posts look fairly expanded. would love to get a closer look to see how straight the sills are or not and what welds have given way. id think it could be jigged rather easily then look at replacing the roof and doors. maybe make a 2 door saloon ddspeedshop style.... 

[SiC]

55 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Would anyone want to though?  Highly unlikely.  Not rare or valuable enough.

I seem to remember a Marina licker fixed another one of the piano impacted Marinas. Was a huge amount of work but he got it back on the road again. 

Edit: it was a bit rarer example that was restored https://www.facebook.com/share/p/EBNk4RnpcWfAmS7r/

[quicksilver]

2 minutes ago, SiC said:

I seem to remember a Marina licker fixed another one of the piano impacted Marinas. Was a huge amount of work but he got it back on the road again. 

I'm sure I've seen pics on the club facebook page of a piano victim being restored with a roof from a donor car and now being back on the road. There must be rotten Marinas with good roofs out there to restore this one. It'd be a lot of work but worth it if only to stick two fingers up at Clarkson and his wanton destruction.

[SiC]

Just now, quicksilver said:

I'm sure I've seen pics on the club facebook page of a piano victim being restored with a roof from a donor car and now being back on the road. There must be rotten Marinas with good roofs out there to restore this one. It'd be a lot of work but worth it if only to stick two fingers up at Clarkson and his wanton destruction.

I found the link and put it on my OP! 😀

[quicksilver]

That's some nice work! Glad I didn't imagine it and one survived Clarkson's puerile antics. Shame it was a unique and cherished prize-winning car they trashed in the name of 'entertainment' that wasn't even amusing.  

[garbaldy]

It's more than just the roof mind.  

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

It is of course repairable.  Donor roof from another rotten car, similar door frames and it could be put back on the road.  I probably have the tools and skills to do it if I had an indoor workshop to use.  And of course the time.

Would anyone want to though?  Highly unlikely.  Not rare or valuable enough.

thats my thoughts exactly, if its "just" the roof thats been caved in, I was thinking, could you chop off the damaged roof and graft on a new roof from an otherwise rotten donor car

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

Would anyone want to though?  Highly unlikely.  Not rare or valuable enough.

it would certainly be one of my lottery win things to do

can you imagine in the latest Harry's garage type video "Sorry in this episode the Zagato restoration has been delayed because someone has booked up and bankrolled the restoration shop with a broken and bent Morris Marina"

18 hours ago, MarinaJosh said:

I have been eyeing it up! The 1.3 engine with auto box combo is worth the asking price alone.

interesting that its an Automatic, because @Andyrew's ADO16 is also an automatic, so both are sequential reg *and* Automatic, go figure!

 

[sierraman]

That’s never seeing the road again. Anything’s fixable technically but given it’d be worth bugger all fixed it’s not going to get done. 

[Dobloseven]

What a feature for a classic car mag.The car Jeremy Clarkson couldn't kill! Perhaps a photo shoot outside his farm shop.

[big_al_granvia]

marina pick up anyone? bl did a mini pick up, basic cage in cab extended to boot for rigidity, panels from 1mm plate or old road signs to fill holes left by missing back doors, canvas roof over cab.... being an auto it would be perfect for dez just in case he rescued some floodlights that have rare thorn halide lamps

[Bear]

5 minutes ago, big_al_granvia said:

marina pick up anyone? bl did a mini pick up, basic cage in cab extended to boot for rigidity, panels from 1mm plate or old road signs to fill holes left by missing back doors, canvas roof over cab.... being an auto it would be perfect for dez just in case he rescued some floodlights that have rare thorn halide lamps

Pretty sure BL made a Marina (and Ital) pickup...

[HMC]

What was the thing behind the piano and marinas on top gear? I love a bit of destruction as much as the next man. I love it for instance when on the special episodes when their cars get a good going over. But it seems to be pointless?

[lesapandre]

2 minutes ago, HMC said:

What was the thing behind the piano and marinas on top gear? I love a bit of destruction as much as the next man. I love it for instance when on the special episodes when their cars get a good going over. But it seems to be pointless?

TV ratings nonsense 🙄 

[HMC]

18 minutes ago, Bear said:

Pretty sure BL made a Marina (and Ital) pickup...

@trigger is our resident expert on the commercial derivatives.

[Wibble]

26 minutes ago, Bear said:

Pretty sure BL made a Marina (and Ital) pickup...

They did.

[captain_70s]

19 minutes ago, HMC said:

What was the thing behind the piano and marinas on top gear? I love a bit of destruction as much as the next man. I love it for instance when on the special episodes when their cars get a good going over. But it seems to be pointless?

They did it once as a joke, the enthusiast forums complained about it vocally online TG read out the comments posted online and did it again to get a rise out of folk on the basis that people who like Marinas were stupid, so fuck them.

Then it became a running joke. Eventually the Marina folks learned kept quiet whenever it happened to try and prevent more cars getting squashed but by that point the damage was done.

Obviously £3-5k is a drop in the ocean for a TV production so most of the cars were good examples being bought directly from club members by production staff pretending to be enthusiasts.

There some cars destroyed that never even made the final cut of the show!

[Zelandeth]

Sadly it's dead.  If it was something worth big money maybe not, but nobody's going to spend thousands of quid and hundreds of hours rebuilding a Marina.

I'd *love* to, just to stick the metaphorical middle finger up at Clarkson though.