*** A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME ***

[The original northen boy]

I had a very interesting chat with a person who had once (maybe even still has) very close links with the production unit of the BBC T.V programme Top Gear (i apologise for the somewhat cloke and dagger approach on this post but the reasons will become apparent)

The conversation revolved around the concept of a Morris Marina demolition derby that the show had or even were considering,where each of the presenters would each drive a Marina to destruction and trying to avoid piano obstacle placed in their way,but to add extra spice to the concept the Marinas would be three of the rarest models,Mumford,Suntour and GT (or equivalent) and then in final act of destruction the parts were to be sold back via Flea-bay to Morris Marina owners,as Top Gear saw this a double whammy.

A few of us who were at the Ecosse rally in Selkirk know of one owner who was contacted to sell their rare Marina to a mystery female buyer for a well over market price,on a cash no questions basis,my contact told me that there are production team and researchers members of the Top Gear team who are members of this very forum and monitor it's posts on a regular footing,and a topic they are interested in airing is that

Such an outcry was launched after the Marina burning and subsequent piano episodes,yet as Top Gear see it the group of people who have complained the most are mainly Marina owners who seem only to willing to break cars requiring limited work to make them road worthy again

Perhaps there's no truth in this and the Marina joke has ran it's course as far as Top gear is concerned,but i wouldn't hold your breath.

Clarkson and Morris Marina GT

Russ
Beckett Bros " the night has a thousand eyes" :roll:

[mikmik]

The way it is is this lads. They don't need an excuse to behave the way they do. And the reasons they give - outcry, breaking cars etc are specious lame excuses anyway.

They got a reaction, and thats all they want. So they will keep going til they get another reaction. If they don't get one, they'll invent one. They're like the boorish unfunny "cool kids" at school. Its just they have money to back it up now. A 5-year old can see how staged the show is, so lets not be surprised at anything they do anymore. Lets not be outraged by it.

My missus works in radio and I'm telling you, the media in this context will manufacture whatever reaction they want.

No matter what we do from here on in, we won't win. So let them on. and we will react only with silence.

we can't stop them destroying Marinas, but they can't destroy them all.

So f**k 'em.

[black tulip tc]

Well said, Mick.

[gary]

I feel very fortunate that I work nights and don't take much of an interest in TV in general,more even that I haven't even seen this bunch of retards smashing marina's
up.
These losers will do whatever they can to TRY and stop the viewer ratings falling.
It is upsetting the idea of someone trashing a car that so many people have very fond memories of and most of us on here are enthusiastic about.
We can't help but get annoyed about these antics,lets just focus on our own cars and look forward to enjoying them.
Gary

[JubileeNut]

I used to look forward to TG since I was a small lad, but over the last year I have lost interest in it.
Come to think of it 5th gear is pretty crap, just get fed up with Tiff going on and on and on. He thinks he is the best at every thing and even Tiff bends the rules to make him self look big. The rest of them on there are not much better either.
Sometimes I think these over paid so called stars need a reality check and not a pay cheque :roll:

It seems the more money they get the worse they are, its almost like they loose visibility of what normal every day life is like because of to much time in front of a pretend world they now live in. They then become irritating to Joe Bloggs.

There my one pound and fifty seven pence worth

[Alan The Exocet]

I think this happens only last week when Russ went in to do his bit on local radio,the person who he spoke to had come there for a job, perhaps to replace one of the djs who has been sacked earlier that week where he meet them,i don't think Top Gear want this to go away its good for there ratings cheep and get results,but i do seem to see a lot of cars either been given away or getting broken by owners,i know as everyone says you cant save them all but how bad is it when no one wants them,or don't want to spend the money on them getting them on the road and i bet they love that.
Top Gear don't help and put people off owning them and spending money on them,the lads i used to work with gave me some right stick about Marinas,and i know of a early k reg saloon that is going to get wrecked just because its a marina, look at the YouTube comments what some people have put to see the dislike of the car,i'm not bothered but it's no good for anyone who owns or likes them,and all the Top gear repeats that are on free view just enforce the idea you can do what you want to a marina.
Not surprised that they have spies on here more surprised if they didn't , seems that maybe even if nothing is said they will still carry on because the viewers like what they are doing .

[JubileeNut]

I must agree with you regarding the fact that so many cars get started by people and then they realise the money and time has run out and they try and sell a half finished project! That's normally the death to any car let alone a Marina. Unless it is very rare and worth the time to continue with a new owner!

Also people pop on here and advertise a half finished project and within a day say - well no one has showed interest in it, so its on Ebay now!! Great! If it was a complete car most of the time it will take longer than a day to sell (Etc if you are Larry ) as not everyone comes on here every day. Plus I feel doing this eases their consion about putting it on Ebay and it probably getting broken :roll:

I do understand that the last year has been tuff and that some had little choice due employment etc etc but this has meant the Marina has taken a blow and numbers have dropped I am sure as a result.

I guess the stupid over paid BBC will carry on as they don't know any better.

[The original northen boy]

Ay up Paul,

I think you have more or less summed things up,the Marina and even more so the Ital really fall victim to short term construction projects where either interest or capital run out often quite quickly,and so often the most basic of re-builds becomes unfinished,even if this is in the style of the make do and mend school of repair,i honestly understand that not everyone has the time,commitment or perhaps more importantly the finance to complete major projects,and keeping the car going and the model alive and to many owners above all is really the most important thing to them.

Perhaps one of the Marinas/Ital strongest points is it's ultimate weakness,i know this might sound somewhat of a contradictory statement but by that i mean the relatively cheap price even good condition cars can be purchased for against many other makes of similar car often this leads them to be viewed as very expendable cheap commodities,and dare i say this perhaps appeals to the poorer owner who wants a 70's nostalgia car on the cheap,and because of this has less funding to spend on any restoration that my be needed on it.This is i believe one of the reasons that so many Marina's and Ital's are still broken simply because their intrinsic value is limited (and to redress the Top Gear point already made,kept low by their constant undermining of the model,a cause now taken up by so-called car enthusiast via forums and their magazines,this is without cars falling victims as a donor car for other more popular models wher parts can be inter-changed)

Since i have become a member of this forum (just over 2 years now) i am aware of at least a dozen cars being broken by their owners (some were very savable and far to good to scrap or even traded on the £2000 trade-in allowance scheme) because of financial,storage or commitment issues i know we can't save them all and this seems to be a cry so often heard,but really i ask myself when cars can't be given away for whatever reason what message does this send out to the likes of a Top Gear influenced public or the "Grand Theft Auto" generation "? and simply this goes on to enforce the negative stereotype once more of "a car so bad people can't give them away for free!

So do i think this vendetta will carry on,to be honest yes perhaps now is the worst time in many years to be a Marina or Ital owner,if the conversation i had is to believed Top Gear still think there's milige to be had out of the joke no matter how unfunny it my be.

too good to scrap?

Russ
Beckett Bros "people say i'm the life of the party" :roll:

[mikmik]

Lads you can't really blame someone for not having the money to finish a car which will be worth less than you spent on it when its done.

Thats just economics, and the reality is that the car would've probably rotted without intervention anyway. Plus we all need spares.

My special is a prime example. I can't get people to work on it for me -0 they're too busy to save this POS, but I'm determined to save her. The problem is that its worth more as spares than as a complete car. Thats nobodys fault, and its true of so many old cars out there.

You can buy a rotten Spitfire for less than a good bumper is worth. if the engine went in MJP, (given that I'd have to travel to the UK and take back a replacement in a van) to be honest, my eyes would turn to my 1.8 special ( that needs 500 euro worth of welding and a 2k paint job to fix - and even then I'd have a tattyier interior than MJP ) and I'd sadly open my socket set...

Its just the spotlight is on the Marina and her owners because of Top Gear.

When I bought MJP, my bandmate was absolutely scathing about it - he still makes "jokes" about it. Like when I lost the keys, he said " Oh thats a good thing then". Only he laughed, no-one else.

Not because he knows a blind thing about Marinas - but because its the easy and accepted joke. Because of Top Gear. The only time he ever shut up about it was when I asked him to tell me whats wrong with a Marina...he mumbled something about Handing and then said its ugly. Well, i don't think so and there are uglier cars by far out there. It's like supporting man Utd - its the populist vote.

And if the Marina WASN'T getting a hard time - they'd be too expensive for most of us here to own and run. Try buy a MKI or MKII escort these days.

All we can do is continually and quietly challenge the preconceptions the way Russ did on the radio. if anyone says your car is sh*t - ask them why...its usually because that insufferable oaf Clarkson says so.

This is a man who ate whale meat and had puffin meat grated onto it like Parmesan. He's not ever going to be a conscionable, selfless and sensitive soul. He's a public scool oik.

Like I said before...f*ck 'em.

[The original northen boy]

Ay up mick,

Point taken the comments i made were not intended as critical indictment about financial constrains of anyone embarking on a Marina or Ital project i would never have criticized anyone for not having the funds to finish their projects though financial hardship that was never my intention if i inadvertently have i apologise for this error on my part ,for i am fully aware that each and everyone of us has a changes in circumstance from time to time such is life,and completion of a car project is well down the list of priorities for most people when faced with mortgage payments,gas and electricity bills and general living expenses the point i was trying to make and still am is that so many people and even members both in the Morris Marina owners club,Marina Ecosse and even this Forum seem (to me anyhow) seem to be far to willing to put very savable cars to the "gas-axe"

This again really give the cars critics extra ammunition, "in a the're really are that bad if you own members want to scrap them" mentality,i really do think that many buyers acquire the cars for very favorable rates runners still are about for £200 and i know of one outstanding MK2 1300 special that had both road tax and test that was given away freely (well for the cost of a small boxes of Cadbury's Roses) but i digress,perhaps this low cost of purchase leads the new owner into thinking that Marina/Ital spares can be bought for the same relative cost,and although cheaper than many models price often seem in line with cars that will have a far greater re-sale such as the Ford Escort MK1/2 and The Cortina MK1/2,so what happens so very often is that the potential cheap project to start with rapidly gets more and more costly and the finances soon run out,leaving half finished projects at best.I suppose the moral of that story is do your home work better.

The final point i would like to raise,which i once devoted a complete topic to was as i see it,the very dangerous trend the breaking of less popular models to further what are seen as the most desired ones,the Ital really succumbs to this.I choose the Marina because i want to and not because i have too,i'm i a fortunate position to many who need their car as their everyday transport thank fully i do not, why a 31 year old car that may despise and ridicule? simply because i like them,i know i will never get a fraction of the money i have spent on "Nell" (the pick-up) back (in fact how often dose that happen with any car?) or intend to spend on her i do it because i want to simply it's my choice and my money to do with as i want.

I would never want either the MMOC,or Marina Ecosse to become organisations built on a financial standing or social hierarchy,and i still believe today what i did when i first joined the world of all things Marina all those years ago and that is that the cars are only a catalyst,that common interest that links like mined individuals together.

Russ
Beckett Bros "a diamond car with phu-latinum wheels" :roll:

[mikmik]

Well put as usual Russ, and i wasn't having a go at you mate, by any means!

Thats a good point about the lesser models being sacrificed for the mor epopular.

There's a guy here who has the only base model 1.3 MK2 Cortina in ireland for exactly that reason.

Now...I'd LOVE an Ital!!

[Marinanut]

Now...I'd LOVE an Ital!!

Andrewwita was selling his on the 'Bay a couple of weeks ago, he may still have it.

Knowing the way the TV and radio Media lose all track of what is 'popular' and keep outdated and boring programmes running forever (ie Heartbeat, Last of the Summer Wine et al), I have a suspicion that Russ' tale could have been a 'fishing trip' to see what the reaction would be off this site. The Top Gear Marina/piano 'joke' has pretty much run its course - even by the end of last series the 'joke' wasn't seen as funny by many people and rumbles of 'spitefulness' were starting to appear on other forums. What appeared to put the mokkers on their vindictiveness was the utter and total balls-up they made when attributing a quote to Club Members, when it had been lifted from a completely different site where the quoter had absolutely nothing to do with us and got a right royal bollocking from me - he has apologised. But, TG defamed the Club/Forum/Members/Owners.... and promptly shut up.
I can guarantee their usual high-quality research will drag up some other utter garbage at some point, but the only thing we can do is plod on and ignore them. One day they will grow up......

[Alan The Exocet]

The Top Gear thing seems still to be about all down to reruns on Dave and Dave deja vu i suspect,but it really kicks off when the stuff is new and first shown on the show,i don't think the lady that told this was in the least bit making anything up,Top Gear have got a cheap target,and they know this and are willing to milk it for every drop they can squeeze out.Perhaps the gag has ran it's course,but even when the BBC has ran an idea into the ground they have still plugged on with it Last of the Summer wine,Game On and the Reginald Perrin remake (can i say Ashes to ashes) all have gone on far to long so i for one wouldnt be suprised in the slightest if the Marina theme reappears again.

Alan

[The original northen boy]

This will be hopefully be my last post on this subject,but i cannot see the whole "Marina = rubbish equation" going away the consensus seems to be a " just let them get on with it" approach and really i suppose there isn't a lot any of us can do about it,so the acceptance aspect is a reality by circumstance.

The point i seem to be labouring is that very real and negative aspect that unless the Marina/ital (British Leyland) profile improves the continued destruction of these cars will continue and i see as a the even more worrying trend that i have already mentioned of existing owners breaking cars not because they are needed for vital spares to prolong further their main car from a complete basket case Motor,but because they are so often relatively cheap or even free (i have been given a tax exempt MK1 saloon completely free and have also not been able to give cars away) so why not many might think! this forum is littered with such events,i would goes as far to say that more Marina's and Ital's are scrapped than out of storage cars coming back onto the road again,the accepted figure that was given in the now infamous "Rarest car in Britain" (source Auto Express) [August 2006] stated a still on the road figure of 745 this figure has dropped to 678 (+20-) [as of October 2009) *** according to one classic car organization.

The statement you made Mick about the fella who has the only base model Ford Cortina MK2 1300cc left in Ireland goes someway to prove this point,really are we becoming our own worst enemy? will more and more cars become MK1's Marinas and that being perhaps being taken a step further to the creation of nemours T.C facsimiles albeit with the addition of some of the latter more desired accessories fitted? I know Top Gear cannot destroy every Marina or Ital but they are getting a damn good helping hand by our own ranks.Not only has the Marina and Ital,got to fend off Top Gear,the Midget,A30/35,MGB,and Minor owners to name but a few but a Marina Fifth Column though not in a clandestine operational manner they still present a very worrying trend,as the old Yorkshire saying goes "that's mi ten Bob's worth"

Russ
Beckett Bros "they smile in your face" :roll:

*** figures quoted do not included car that have been SORN,research based on annual road tax duty renewals,