Fast Marina Magazine

I actually don't think my spares list is excessive, i mean i'm not just talking about the odd long journey on a Sunday here, i'm talking about the hard slog of everyday use ie driving to work everyday - 6am starts with the car covered in ice etc. Its not just myself i have to think of either, I wouldn't want to ruin my families holiday (which we've probably paid a small fortune for) through being stuck without a few basic spares. I know that our cars are basically reliable and i've only ever had that one breakdown (with the alternator) that i've not been able to fix at the roadside.
However i have had a throttle cable snap on me, fuel pipe split, and the float chamber both block and overflow (not since i fitted an inline fuel filter though, i'd recomend that to everyone). I've also heard of instances where rotor arms have failed too (the modern black ones aren't as well made as the old Lucas items). Its unlikely that the present day AA man is going to have these things on board his van so i reckon it makes sense to have a few bits with you just in case.

lol as you say your Lordship the AA / RAC man wont have the spares for our cars but i bet they know how to fit them if we can't be bothered lol , unlike modern cars which get towed to the dealership, i carry spare belts hoses points, rotor arm , oil, water and a can of petrol, again excessive? i don't think so prevention is better than cure and trying to find a motor factor on a sunday afternoon can be a pain so carry my own i also carry a small toolkit, and a battery jumppack although i use it mostley for the say nav and charging my phone (i must fit an accessory point in the cars ..one day lol prob when i get round to putting a stereo in them that works lol )

a 1.8 B.series engine will take you from lands end to john o,groats with no problem.

I generally carry a tow rope, but that's a hangover from having Land Rovers, when it was mostly there in case the opportunity arose to tow someone out and be smug (which it did several times)

Not quite sure that the modern AA/RAC patrol would be much use other than recovery with our cars, these people usually evolve from your basic garage mechanic, and as we know these days those mechanics aren't taught how to fix old cars, they tend to specialise in plugging a lap top into your data recovery port, (I made that name up by the way), telling you that your dilithium crystals have overloaded and he will probably need to eject the Warp Core,and it'll cost you 2 grand mate! You've only got to watch that plonker Ed China on Wheeler Dealers, he's as dull as a bag of Bollocks with old cars, look at the credits there's usually a real mechanic or a technical expert in there telling him what to do. :x
It obviously does pay to carry some spares, but I would advise learning how to do the basics yourself, it' gives peace of mind and keeps the money in your pocket rather than someone elses.

A word from the wastelands.

Here in NZ there are less towns along the way - at least any that could offer any form of assistance - although the natives are friendly and will do anything they can to help when approached pleasantly.
I have always noticed the perversity attached to breakdowns - in that they are not only unexpected - but that they always seem to involve the unpredictable.
Therefore - if they are unpredictable by definition - it is most unlikely that I will be carrying the correct part, or be able to fit it with the resources I have.
So I don't bother. I have a spare wheel, and a jack, and lots of optimism.

Two breakdowns involved damage to the auto sump pan. Doubt I would have considered that. Even after the first time.! A legacy of it being the lowest part of the car, and the car now being several inches lower than intended.
In both instances, I was able to find help, got towed to a workshop, had the sump welded up and was back on the road within hours. Brilliant.
One of those was in a forest on the west coast (isolated) on an easter sunday.! Walked several K's to a farmhouse (in the rain), used their phone, and a guy came 20K's and towed me back to his workshop. Welded the sump, filled the fluid, all good. Total cost NZ$180. Total time 2 hours.

I let the universe carry my spares..

lol you'd be surprised fella when my peugeot went wrong last year and caled the RAC out, he saw the Marinas and said wow proper cars that i can fix, thing is he couldn't do anything with the peugeot had an idea of what was wrong but copuldn't fix.. dealer jobby and £500 later it was working again, whereas if it had been the Marina he reckon about 20 mins and a few spares from my kit in the boot and i'd have been sorted, guess it would depend on the age of the RAC/AA man to be totally honest,he even told me they can make clutch/accelorator cables from scratch with parts in his van, unlike the "drive by wire" systems that some modern cars use, when they go wrong its a recovery truck...and usually a big bill..

Oh yes the RAC can definitely fix Marinas, I know that from experience!!

Although by the time he showed up I had worked out what the problem was anyway. They still carry basic tools and as Eamonn says can make up cables etc easily. In my experience a lot of the breakdown lads are into their cars (well they have to be!) so they usually can get a simple Marina up and running again easily.


Must admit I carry few spares. Pipe, wire, basic tools, connectors, can of petrol, tow rope (has come in handy, for the time when I stuck the Marina in a ditch...), oil, water etc but working at the side of the road nowadays is so dangerous with traffic etc, only takes one person to smack the car up the back when you are working on it at the front and you've had it. Although as you say Tony, at least carrying spares means if the RAC van hasn't got them they can fit yours! Although saying that carrying spares like points and condensors is pointless in my car, by the time I'd need them they'd be rusty from sitting in the damp boot (should just add my car is running electronic ignition, so theoretically is less likely to fail... I hope...)


Not quite sure I'd want to carry a clutch slave cylinder kit, it was a horrible job to do in the old workshop, let alone on holiday!! Mind you as you say Tony, you could take it to a garage nearby, get them to do it, without having to wait for the parts to arrive.... you've given me food for thought there.

As for rotor arms, get a genuine 'Red' one from here: http://www.distributordoctor.com/
Most of the red ones on eBay aren't as good (same problems as the black ones, just a different colour!)

Kilroy wrote:A word from the wastelands.

Here in NZ there are less towns along the way - at least any that could offer any form of assistance - although the natives are friendly and will do anything they can to help when approached pleasantly.
I have always noticed the perversity attached to breakdowns - in that they are not only unexpected - but that they always seem to involve the unpredictable.
Therefore - if they are unpredictable by definition - it is most unlikely that I will be carrying the correct part, or be able to fit it with the resources I have.

You don't have to be out in the wastelands. Murphy's law ensured the clutch cable on my shopping basket snapped on the wrong side of the big smoke (nearly an hours drive from home) on a Sunday. And no parts place had one in stock!