1972 Marina 1750TC Coupe 50,000km - good value?

[locost_bryan]

Turners Auctions have put an estimate of $NZ3,000-4,000 on this 50,000km one lady owner 1972 TC Coupe (NZ new Aust 1750). Looks to be in great condition (pity about the chocolate brown colour!).
http://www.turners.co.nz/Vehicles/Pages ... crpage=sea

Any comments on the price? I have a budget in mind somewhat less than $3k, but who knows what might happen at an auction...

Bryan
Auckland NZ

[Kilroy]

Bryan

Price is way over the top.
I would think $1500 for this car would be the market max right now.
Could do a lot with it....

[locost_bryan]

Great minds think alike

$1,000 - $1,500 was the price I had in mind - should be able to get that past the finance committee.

Looks to be in really mint condition - would be reluctant to fiddle with it much. Perhaps just tweak the suspension - sway bars, telescopic front shocks, maybe lower a little. Stow the original wheels in the garage and fit some of those minilite replicas... 8)

Where have you sourced sway bars from? Any wreckers that are a good source?

Cheers,
Bryan

[Kilroy]

Most of my Mk3's came with the sway bars already fitted.
Not sure if the Oz assembled cars have provision for fitting the same setup though.
The mountings are just behind the radius rod bush location, plus there are spare holes in the suspension lower arms.
If you can get a look at the car it should be easy to see.
Cheers

[locost_bryan]

No sway bars as standard.

OZ Marinas website http://www.leylandp76.com/marina/index.html has a Modern Motor road test (1973 iirc) of an experimental "TC Plus" that had a Selby front sway bar, and I have pics of a Marina Six with front and rear bars, but pretty sure it would be aftermarket.

Lynx (Australia?) http://www.carburetion.com/LynxManifolds.asp also made manifolds for Weber carbs for the E-series :-
NOMAD (an Aussie-only Maxi predecessor - a BMC 1300 with a Maxi-style hatch and 1500 E-series)
M013 NOMAD 15-1750 1 X DHLA
M017 NOMAD 15-1750 2 X HS4 SU
P76
M155 P76 6 CYL 1 X DCOE/DHLA
M156 P76 6 CYL 3 X DCOE/DHLA
MARINA
M200 MARINA 2 X DCOE/DHLA

Don't know if any of those manifolds would still be available, but the M156 P76 3xDCOE for the 6-cylinder E-series would look grouse under the bonnet 8) , and fair honk too. :twisted:

[MarinaCoupe]

Whiteline Suspension in Australia used to list Marina front and rear ARB kits, there could still be some about a shelf somewhere.

[XER905L]

This car looks very nice indeed, with all the paint and trim intact as it left the factory as an early build car fitted with some UK parts rather than the later all local content production .I have no idea how much NZ$1 is worth but if it is good underneath GB£1000 -£1500 would be reasonable for such a rare early car if it appeared on ebay.uk.
I spent 33 months in Australia 1988-1993 with my eyes open for Marinas and I only ever saw 2 of these Mk1 TC coupes, both in white.Even way back then, most of the survivors were 4 door cars fitted with the deep chin front panel that allowed fitting of the 6 cylinder motor even if most had 1750 E series .Aside from the prototype Aussie V8, this is likely the rarest model from the Leyland catalog 1972-75 even if the 2622cc cars are preferred by most drivers today
The photograph is taken in bad light, perhaps the car is really a non metallic bronze rather than chocolate -perhaps a search of the colour charts will reveal a more attractive shade than these crisp but poorly lit pix!
I hope you decide to buy it

[locost_bryan]

I have no idea how much NZ$1 is worth but if it is good underneath GB£1000 -£1500 would be reasonable for such a rare early car if it appeared on ebay.uk.

About 3 of yours to 1 of ours

NZ$1,500 = GBP600
NZ$3,000-4,000 = GBP1,100-1,500

[locost_bryan]

The photograph is taken in bad light, perhaps the car is really a non metallic bronze rather than chocolate -perhaps a search of the colour charts will reveal a more attractive shade than these crisp but poorly lit pix!

Muddy browns were popular on Aussie cars in the early '70s. Will drive out to the auction place this arvo and check it out.

Looks to be in better condition than the Coupe I had 20 years ago.

[XER905L]

The photograph is taken in bad light, perhaps the car is really a non metallic bronze rather than chocolate -perhaps a search of the colour charts will reveal a more attractive shade than these crisp but poorly lit pix!

Muddy browns were popular on Aussie cars in the early '70s. Will drive out to the auction place this arvo and check it out.

Looks to be in better condition than the Coupe I had 20 years ago.

Mazda worldwide , and Ford Australia favoured a peculiar ´curry runs´ shade from mid 1970s well into the 1980s,and this shade was also used on the last VW superbug Beetles, type 3 squarebacks and fastbacks that were assembled downunder but I have no memories of any brown Marinas!

[locost_bryan]

Can't say I've seen one in brown before, either. Cream seemed to be one of the most popular colours for Marinas in NZ - my old one was cream with a brown "Starsky and Hutch" stripe (down the side and up the "C" pillar, but not over the roof!).

A lighter shade of brown was popular on Valiant Chargers. Featured in the "Hey Charger!" ads, and on most of the enduarnce race-winning Chargers in NZ.

Suspect that restorations would have been repainted in more desirable or contemporary colours. Some of the purples from the early '70s look very nice today.

Cheers,
Bryan

[locost_bryan]

Had a look around and a short drive.

The car has some rust spots :-
- rear of drivers guard in front of the windscreen
- leading edge of the left front mudguard (dodgy accident repair?)
- under the trim below both side windows, at the leading edge of the chrome trim, behind the B pillar
- panel below the master cylinders (spilt brake fluid has stripped the paint, now has surface corrosion)

Despite the low mileage, paint is showing it's age and the interior is a bit shabby.

Engine sounded good, ran smooth, no smoke. Drove ok, although the clutch was suspect, but unboosted brakes were ok. Very heavy steering - heavier than I remember, but might just need a good wheel alignment.

Sounds like they've had a lot of interest in the car. While I was there, a former NZ Motor Corporation mechanic was looking at it while I was there. He had crewed on the two 1800TC coupes that had competed in the 1974 Heatway international rally, and knew come of their interesting.

[marinacoupe+rust]

How did i miss this!

You mentioned it in the other thread but I had no idea what you meant, that is VERY nice!

Looks to be in about the same condition as mine was when i got it, but mine had 125000 miles and is deregistered.
I agree with those above that you should only be paying 1000 to 1500, they havent picked up much classic value here yet.
I would go for it, tidy original examples like these are almost impossible to find, and you wont regret it 8)

Cheers,
Chris

[locost_bryan]

Hopefully the salesman was just full of BS when he claimed he'd had lots of interest (8 phone calls) and that all older English cars were selling for double what they expected (Mk2 Escort 1.3 4-door for $3,800/GBP2,000). :x

A little concerned about the rust on the drivers mudguard and along the base of the rear side windows. My current ride has rust around the front and rear screens - one of the justifications to SWMBO (along with the 285,000km) for finding a replacement.

Will go along to the auction and see what happens....

Cheers,
Bryan.

[XER905L]

I hope you win the auction
heavy steering sounds to me like seized trunnions - maybe that car hasnt been near a grease gun in 5 or 10 years!