*** THE GREATLY UNDER RATED MK3 MARINA ***

[JubileeNut]

Hi Russ,
You want to try floating your pick-up up to 10,000Volts then they won't knick the bleeding parts out the back!! :roll:

I have such a power supply in my garage which does have a small electric fence to stop cats and the like using my car as a spring board to the roof!! :twisted:

They stopped doing it now

It is what I do for a living!! electric fences but high voltage power supplies!! The 10kV one is only the size of a book!!

Shocking Paul!! :shock:

[Alan The Exocet]

I cleaned you the aerosol off of last time the pick up was vanderlised,grey primer was sprayed everywhere,B******S

Alan :twisted: :twisted:

[tigon20]

Just to bring things back to cost cutting we should remeber that every manufacturer does it, i owned two micra k11's (the bubble shape ones) a series one and a series 4, the series one had a better gearbox, in fact one of the best i have ever had the pleasure of swapping cogs with, a padded fascia ( wonder where they got that from?) great seats and a great lettle dashboard, then i purchased a series 4, gone was the apdded fasica, the gear box was not as good, it was noiser, and the seats were thinner, that will be the improved leg room.

All car makers save money and have done no doubt since the year dot, and whilst the series 1 micra was better than the series 4, i will still take a MK3 marina over a mk1 anyday, but that is just my opinion and a love of the old o series engine to boot.

[The original northen boy]

Ay up Jason,

All the manufactures are guilty off this as the saying goes "cars are not built by engineers but by accountants" pure and simple at the end of the day it's all down to profit.

I mentioned this earlier that the MK3 should have had wheel arch liners fitted as a standard a pretty cheap addition to the car that would have paid dividends to the cars longevity,i could go on about the other improvement that the car should have undergone but as we all know this didn't happen,so savings could be made there and while ever the Marina sold in the numbers it did,why bother? The MK3 got so much so right,let was let down on so many other areas and all in the quest to save costs.

I have been asked why was even the top of the range car the MK3 HL had only a fair to average level of equipment,when compared to so much of it competition,there was no 5-speed gear box,no electric windows,or wood trim or sunroof,and simply the answer is this the powers at BL deemed the trim levels satisfactory and sufficient for the volume of sales the car attained.

To all out there who haven't driven the MK3,these are the best car in the range in my opion,and i know you'll think i'm saying this once again but the MK1 and to a slightly lesser extent the MK2 cars are vehicles from the 1960's the MK3 is more an 1980's car and feels that way,the balance,engine,handling and styling are more modern and lend their self better to the driver like myself that has now become accustomed to,ABS,climate control,power steering, and refined engines and gearboxes, OK the MK3 has non of these car fittings as standards,but feels a lot closer to cars that have,or is this just me getting spoilt?



Russ

Beckett Bros "well i do my best to understand you" :roll:

[Alan The Exocet]

You have got to admit it the mk3 has worn really well,and i think the Ital has as also prephaps not as well as the mk3,but as you said russ more like a car form the 80s rather than cars from the 60s,and i like the dash board aswell in the later cars i dont think that looks really that old.

Alan

[MARINAMADBAZ]

I Love the mk3 marinas and own 2
The mk3 is becoming quite rare now with the least production run of the marina's being only 2 years.
I can't help thinking why BL never marketed a fast/sporty mk3 coupe and dropped the bigger engine in the coupe instead of only having the 1.3
A mk3 coupe 1700 would have been nice or even better a 1700TC or 1700GT or even a 2000 COUPE again TC OR GT model
When the marina was launched the saloon was for the family man and the coupe for the younger man.
BL lost the plot with the mk3 on this and marketed the 1.3 coupe as a ladys shopping car if you look in the sales brochure
What could have been!
Best regards
Barry

[Alan The Exocet]

Drove past a mk3 near Cleethhorpes today in a scrappie a metallic blue one L or HL looked bad and was on the top of a pile,will find out some more,might be good for parts,the bumpers were off it though also a nice ford Anglia in as well.

Alan

[tigon20]

I've been thinking about the dash lately and it was ahead of its time, not the way the radio veers off or the hazzards are a bit of a reach, but just the way the dash curves away to create more legroom for the passenger, alfa 159 and others as well

[The original northen boy]

Ay up Jason

I really must agree with you the MK3 dash still looks well even now,although heavily criticised at the time by the motoring press the design has stood the test of time excellently.The MK3 was very advanced for the year perhaps and this worked against it and to a lesser extent although the arrangement had been used before on the MK2 and although basically the same the MK2 looks a little less contemporary this is simply down to the use of older type details and gauges and switch gear and the use of non-illuminating switches (oh and the hard rim steering wheel)

The MK3 dash remained unchanged and carried on with the Ital up to 1984 when the cars production stopped,although disliked at the time the dash set up has worn superbly well,for something that for many jornalist was unliked,prehaps it was to far too advanced for the in the 70's and way to ahead of its market rivals who still were using the more conservative and tradition flat arrangement,the MK3 dash still looks and feels fresh even today.

The MK3/Ital dash

The MK3 dash might not be of the greatest quality,but the biggest fault with it is that you can only fit a standard period radio/cassette into it.

Russ

Beckett Bros "you always won every time you placed a bet" :roll:

[The original northen boy]

Can The person who pipped me today with the T reg MK3 Russet Brown saloon,send me their PM address or give me a ring at work.Sorry but i only saw your car and not the person driving it.

Russ

Beckett Bros "blinded by the light" :roll:

[locost_bryan]

Here's a thing.
As regards handling.
The Estate is heavier than any other body option.
The 1800 is the heaviest motor.
The auto is much heavier than the manual.
Yet my blue Estate - which has 1800 based motor, and is an auto - handles by far the best of all my Marinas.
Not sure how to qualify that....

Cheers all,
Kilroy

I would postulate that the auto wagon has a more rearward weight bias than other models, which should lead to less understeer. The extra body weight is behind the rear axle, and the extra gearbox weight is in the middle of the car (roughly). If you have all your work tools or whatever in the back, then you may even have the ideal 50/50 weight balance preferred for sports cars.

Bryan
Auckland NZ

[ralphtown]

All my Marinas have been Mk3s and I,m after another right now.

The Vermillion one reminds me of one I let get away about 6 years ago.

That was the same colour combination but had an auto box.
Strangely,the interior had faded to a very strange green colour but was a very nice car otherwise.
But,to my eternal shame,I passed it by.

RALPH

[The original northen boy]

Ay up Ralph
Good to hear that you are a fan of the ultimate in-CAR-nation of the Marina the MK3,as you have had them before i don't need to tell you of their benefits and good points,and as you are a man "who knows what's what" i shall leave it there as there's simply no need to say anymore.

Russ

Beckett Bros "our lips are sealed" :roll:

[Kilroy]

Yay.!
Mk3 for me - every time..!
Russ - right-on mate - its only the radio that bugs me in that dash. I have begun replacing the lamps inside the switches with LED's. Much less heat generated, and presumably a much longer life. Have tried some of those very bright blue ones - gives quite a spacy appearance to the old beasties.
In response to the postulation by Bryan there - yup - I reckon you're right on the money old bean.
The extra weight rearwards seems to counteract some of the oversteering tendency by helping the rear hang out a bit.
And yes - that bl##dy great lump of a BW65 is amidships and very low - so low I just stuffed another pan.... more on that later.
I may be wrong here - and I am probably one of few people to have B series engines in Mk3's - but it seems there is a noticeable difference in weight distribution between B and O series units. Could the alloy head make that much difference.? Both engines have manifolds that would have done well as ballast in the Titanic...
Preview from our recent road trip....

[ralphtown]

Before I had a Mk3 I used to get a lift in a Pageant Blue 1700 estate...driven by a crazy German.
He got us home in record time.

Bodiam to Hastings in a blink of an eye.

I had to have one after that.

I got thru 2 1300s 1 1700 saloon,with a dodgy 2nd gear,brown vinyl roof on a V plate and 1 1700 estate in white.

Great cars all of them.

I want one like the pale metallic blue one on the brochure or that wicked shade of metallic green,with black vinyl roof...HL or HLS auto or manual...not fussed.


RALPH