What did you do to your Marina today?

[1972TCCOUPE]

Had to pay for a tax disc! These 1974 cars should be tax free as well.I can live in hope.

[PHUQ]

That reminds me - the club was going to look into what the cut off chassis numbers for 1973 builds were, is that still planned? I need a trip to Gaydon anyway as my friend wants to research his very late Dolomite's build date.

[MarinaCoupe]

It's all in hand. The new date won't come in until 6th April next year, so we'll publish the chassis numbers in the Spring magazine.

[JubileeNut]

It should include all Jubilees I would think, as they were all built and in the show rooms at or around the same time, just some were registered later I think Even though some are early build and some were later build.
I know my local garage had to keep it covered until the launch date according to my uncle who bought it.

[PHUQ]

Brilliant, cheers Chris. Mud was registered Feb 1st '74 so fingers are crossed here!

[locost_bryan]

Saying that the 309 isn't the most refined car, it uses the 1294cc Simca engine which dates from the early 60s, 3500rpm at 70mph.

I had a Chrysler Alpine with the 1442cc version of that engine. Great long distance cruiser, and not too bad on the twisty stuff. The 4-speed gearbox was a bit weak, and I had a piston collapse . Should have got it replaced with the 1600 and 5-speed from a later SX, rather than give it an expensive rebuild.

Ozzy with his 3.89 Borg Warner diff, on 185/70x13 tyres, will be doing 3500rpm at our 100kmh (62mph) speed limit. On lower profile 185/60x13 tyres, he'd only be doing 94kmh (58mph) at 3500rpm On Kilroy's recommended 205/60x13 tyres , 98kmh (60mph).

[JoshWard]

Definitely something to think about for the coupe which will be tax exempt One problem- my girlfriend needs a car and she wants to drive that so I may have to keep using the 309
In the latest Understeer there is a copy of an old Autocar article that states the 1.3 Marina is quite capable of cruising at 80 (I usually sit at around 50-60 in mine!)
I wonder if something similar happened to my coupe as happened to Paul's Uncle's Jubilee. It was registered in April 73 but is an M reg, why would it be registered as an M in April but couldn't hit the road until August It's definitely an early-mid 73 car! Unless the registered date was the build date or something

[MarinaCoupe]

Garages would take delivery of cars and use their local Tax Office allocation of new numbers to register them. They then claimed a bonus payment from the manufacturer based on the registration of the car. It still goes on, except now they have to register the garage as the first owner, where they could leave the owner blank on the old paper reg doc until the car was sold.

Paul V thinks that all Jubs were built by the factory in one batch in early 1973.

[JoshWard]

Thanks Chris, that could certainly explain it

[locost_bryan]

Mowed the lawns. Not with a Marina , but had to move Ozzy's seat stack to get the mower out .


Took the opportunity to have a good look at his seats, and they're not as bad as I thought. Driver's seat squab has split and torn along the outer seam, passenger's seat has a couple of small knicks on the front edge, and the rear seat back has rotted across the top (UV damage due to the hole in the ozone layer ). Will give them all a good scrubbing this weekend .

Was the seat slider "handle" originally painted? Ozzy's have got a bit of surface rust.

[Martec]

I gave the Marina a work out this afternoon and towed a biggish trailer to Melbourne, picked up a 1500Ltr tank and came home.

All unexciting except for the artic that came up beside me and the moved across into lane one - hard shoulder for me then!!!! When I pulled out and overtook him he gesticulated at me and it was my fault?

Brian

[crashbang]

Put some better headlamps bulbs in 120% brighter and now upping the crap light switch and starter switch new rubber on the way for the front wheel 185s it think

[locost_bryan]

Gave Ozzy's original seats a scrub . Photos in the Readers Project thread.

[PHUQ]

Had to go out today (hence not being at the AGM), but have managed to make a bit of progress on the TC over the weekend.

- All glass is now in including winders, along with door seals and locks (one key does both doors and the boot! Crazy!).
- The stainless trim is back on the doors
- Back lights are in (although the seals are very brittle and one bit of trim snapped so that one need to come back out).
- All the doorcards & parcel shelf are in, and are in pretty good condition, if a bit faded.
- Seats have been thoroughly scrubbed and now smell less damp/ mouldy/ dusty. Floor has been cleaned, I'll slap some paint on it next weekend & order a set of carpets next payday.



My flash is missing an R!



Door shuts are surprisingly good now the seals are in



Back seat is quite torn along the top edge, but at least they've cleaned up OK. Rear quarterlights have been out & put in without tucking the headlining in, so they need to come out again. Seats will get some suitably tasteless covers to hide the scars...



TC doorcards cleaned up fairly nicely



The tattier of the two grills (the other is pretty good & will go on the estate) was minus the red detailing, so my good lady got her paints out (she does narrowboat "roses & castles" style paintings so is pretty good at such things). Since there was some paint left we decided to carry on and do the badge too. I rather like it.

[MARINAMAN480]

Thats looking good matt did you stand too close whilst red lining was done and done toes of your socks

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