Fast Marina Magazine

Yes that's Harry in the photos! Be nice to see some pictures of the rebuild now if possible!

Please paint it the correct colour when it's time.

I will post some pictures of the resto so far next week (am away at the moment). I will be painting it in the original colour. I haven't researched the colour code yet but an ancient touch up stick found in the car says sunburst from memory.
Harry has fitted Walford trunnions so I guess that improves the suspension geometry as mine must be quite an early car. I didn't drive very quickly when I picked it up from the auction as there was a horrible scraping noise when on the slightest left lock. This proved to be no more than the rh mudflap scraping on the ground! I also recall severe clutch judder pulling away. I will be replacing all rubber mounts etc but any tips to cure would be appreciated. The clutch looked in good nick but I will replace that too.

The original colour was Blaze.

It is possible to fit later trunnions onto early legs, it does result in a hell of a lot of negative camber though so the shock absorbers need to be spaced out to suit. So it's possible it has also been fitted with later legs and shock absorbers.

Clutch judder can be caused by a number of things. Gearbox mounts quite a common cause, as is a worn propshaft centre bearing.

It was originally Blaze as Josh said. Top colour.

Great stuff! Glad you found the forum, good luck with the resto. Looking forward to seeing the progress.
Are you keeping the vinyl roof or going "bald" with it?

I rather like the vinyl roof, it sets off the paint and it is in excellent condition. So I will probably keep it. Were these not fitted to mk 1 TC's?
Is there such a think as an originality guide available to buy as I would like to keep it as near standard as possible?

Vinyl roof was only fitted to the last of the TC’s along with tinted glass, cloth seats with head rests and other bits and bobs. Being a very early TC I think you should have the painted roof

Early TCs also had a hand painted coach line, rather than the stick on type. The Coupe version was a hockey stick and ran up behind the side air vents.

There's no 'originality guide' as such, when it comes to early cars I guess I am one of the 'originality advisers' though

I haven't seen it in the flesh so this is only from photos. I can say if you want to turn it into a TC Coupe which looks just as it did when it rolled off the line in late April 1971 you'd need to:

Change front valance (has later type fitted)- near impossible to find sadly!
Full respray into original Blaze orange (I think it's Vermillion at the moment?)
Remove vinyl roof
Remove MK3 mud flaps
Replace rear badges (last pics I saw it had MK3 'Morris' and 'Marina' badges on the back)
Fit correct TC tail pipe trim
Replace possible incorrect front suspensiond- it should have had early type legs, shocks and trunnions. Early suspension on a TC is great fun

So it's up to you how far you want to take it really. Some easy stuff there like badges, but some bigger jobs too.

Changing the suspension to early suspension, would be “entertaining” to say the least. I have driven Chris Kirman’s genuine early TC Coupe, they are all but lethal on 145/80 tyres on any corner at moderate speed.

I saw it at a nationals a couple of years ago when it won best Mk1.
It is Vermillion and had the later badges on then.

Should have 155 tyres on an early 1.8

BL did issue a special revised trunnion for early TCs and they were recalled to have them fitted. Seems like quite a few slipped through the net though.

Is it not possible that its first owner could have special ordered it with the vinyl roof? I personally like that colour with the vinyl roof, sets it off nice and reminds me of my GT.

Possible, but more likely it was fitted later when vinyl roofs became all the rage. There were companies fitting these on your drive, in the 80s they switched to glass sunroofs, security window engraving etc. etc.

I spoke to a guy in Liverpool about 15 years ago who said he was fitting nothing but vinyls roofs full time for about five years until they started to drop out of fashion.