death of my mk2 morris marina

[littleburner1]

hey guys so you know how I was selling my mk2 morris marina well I swapped it for a 2004 ford Mondeo. to a guy who tried selling my morris marina well it looks like there was more wrong with it than I knew.

here is what I saw 2 weeks after the car was sold he asked me to come and have a look at my morris and truth be told if I had knew what I know now I would have never sold her to anyone.

he took the headlight grill off and there was a lot of news paper behind each one
the cross member was more botched repaired than a dell boys ship, rotted

apparently 4 people come to him to buy the car from him and each one said no after seeing the holes after they had poked them though with fingers

I loved my morris marina a lot thinking she was going to be sold and passed on but the poor guy I bought her from before his mechanic must have took him for a ride because when I first bought her the exhaust had a massive hole in so im now getting worried about so called mechanics fixing classic cars with what they think are suitable repairs.

so I have a been driving a death trap for the past year even though I loved the car and the hot summer days it has made me think twice about getting someone I don't know repair a car I would rather have the work done somewhere where I can see the work being carried out.

I am sad to see her do to the car god in the sky but she sure was a looker.

I have a bonnet, propshaft, gearbox if anyone wants to PM me also have a few other little bits and bobs for the morris marina.

[JoshWard]

Rotten headlamp panels are common, most Marinas need them changing by now.

It's only when rot really takes a hold in the chassis rails that a car is beyond saving in my opinion although it all depends on how much time/money/space/skill you have available to repair it.

[stuthegasman]

I had the same problem with my coupe, 1 elderly owner been looked after all it's life by the garage over the road which was also a body shop, looked fantastic in the ebay pictures but because it was 250 miles away I bought it without going to see it.....big mistake it's not a complete rot box and is solid in all the right places and had 12 months mot (by the same garage that looked after it !!) I have had to sort out the spare wheel well etc in the boot both rear arches and rear of sills as these had just been filled over the rust and loads of stone chip applied, both front Apost bottoms which meant cutting the bottom of the front wings off, 1 headlamp panel looks suspect but the n/s is ok, but by the sounds of it yours is certainly nothing an enthusiastic amateur could not rectify, does not need to be a showroom restoration as long as it's solid and well protected...at least I know it's right now, get it back and have a go or try it for sale on here someones sure to want it....looks too good to scrap...

[Viscount Orange Biscuit]

it's not just old cars that get bodged i always do a HPI check before buying any car (not always correct but at least you have some comeback if its found to be "not correct" later) and for old cars never buy without viewing, although I bought both my Marinas unseen but was from users on this forum and i spoke to them for quite a while about the cars and what they needed, and i was very happy with both purchases, but with ebay and the like its always a case of buyer beware, offer a small non refundable deposit until you've viewed it, when i sell on ebay i usually sell before the end i don't put a buy it now price on the car but anyone can view the car before the end of the auction and if they are happy and want a buy it now price i add it while they are with me and let them buy there and then, had 100% happy buyers doing it that way, if they decide to wait till end of auction and bid then, I'm OK with that Too but had a couple who then wanted to buy the car at a higher price than the auction end, but its sold to highest bidder on the day or BIN.
If you don't know the seller or much about the cars, always take someone with you who does, there are Marina people all over the UK on here and I'm sure they would be willing to view with any potential buys and give honest opinion of the car rather than the rose tinted glasses that we all seem to put on when buying lol .
sad to hear of another Marina death but sometimes its for the greater good

[MGBV8]

It's always a good idea to get someone to have a look for you if you can't view yourself.
I bought my marina totally blind but I wasn't particularly bothered whether it was a project or solid and I only threw a monkey at it anyway. I just wanted something that could be put on the road relitively quickly so I could work out for myself whether I liked them or not. As it turns out, I do. Big time!

I think the key is to be patient. The right car for you will come up but it might not be quickly and it might not be close so you should be prepared to travel. Or, if you're not prepared to travel, you have to accept that when the transporter turns up there might be a wreck turning up. To some degree you also have to be prepared to compromise. I set out looking for a GT Coupe but I soon learned that finding one was going to be next to impossible. I ended up settling for a 1.3 SDL - but it was still a coupe which was the main thing for me.
Realistically, getting the model you want with the right engine is the biggest part of the battle. Anything can be fixed with enough time and money thrown at it.