Im Maurice from New milton in hampshire, ive owned many cars in the 20 years ive been driving, most of them Marina's and Itals. At present I have 2 marina coupes, a 71 Teal blue TC and an uprated limeflower SDL 1800 .
You have to blame a 1980 silver 1.3HLS Ital for introducing me to these rather fine and much underated cars. We all know their faults but we cant let these cars disappear. We all know we shall have the last laugh!
I first saw the Teal TC in a nearby village, it was a bit ropey and had a mk2 1300 grille but being real anorak i realised what she was, the only thing i couldn't fathom was the N plate and no vinyl roof? I left a note, name, address etc and waited. 6 weeks later and £100 she was mine. The owner thought his mate was having a laugh and only rang me out of curiosity when his wife, the main driver wanted to get shot of her. "Always starts, no matter what" he told me, even after 6 months outside after their holiday to Oz, "had to jump the Sunny ZX with it" he added. The same weekend i bought another coupe, a limeflower 1300 for a tenner, i wasen't popular for craming the drive with 2 more cars, sorry Mum.
Now i'd only been used to the 1300 by then, but what a giggle the TC was, axle tramp galore, and to stun the lads in their 'breathed on' 1300 escorts at the lights or up any hill. She even gave a Scirroco GTX a run for his money from Salisury to Frome!!
The TC has a fasinating history as it was first registered in Aug 1971 in Jersey and then in 1975 was repatriated and given the N plate. An old boy in Ringwood owned her from then, she had 9500 miles in 1975 and he kept a hand written log of her until 1990 when the gearbox failed at 53K. He parted with her to be stored in a Ford garage until 1992, when another gearbox was found and sold to the owner i bought her from. I had her plate changed by the DVLA for an age related one, well i would have preferred the K but i got a J, and ive seen K platers with rack boot holes and mine hasen't got these so she cant really be a J, but nevermind! The odd thing about her is she has a few strange things like the inertia reel belts and no bumper unridders, (the old boy confirmed this).
In 1995 i resprayed her outside the house in a day after having new wings fitted, but never really finished her off and she got laid up only for me to, horror of horrors, buy a succession of XR3's, thats another story best not told here!
The RACEY picture was taken when she was borrowed by BBC Top gear magazine for a shoot on 70's sporty saloons. Unfortunately only this picture came out, and no-one saw the article containing her with, the Avenger Tiger, Vauxhall Viva GT ( I think) and some 70's pop stars, Dollar and Racey. The BBC had taken her to Bognor, and commented that she picked up quicker than the accompaning GTI golf, but 'squealed round corners', that put a smile on my face, shame about the article.
XR's turned into Volvo 360's, another car much overlooked, and Volvo estates, Rover 600's, Rover 800's and now a 1995 XJR Jaguar. In all that time ive always kept the TC thinking id get round to her one day but there's always been something else to do!
Now its warmer and im happily married, the bungalow refurb is nearly done ive got time to get back to the Marina's, Yes!
The SDL coupe came my way 4 years ago now with the intention of giving the 1940cc engine back to her previous owner, well he never came to collect it so its gone back in, with a new clutch. I also had to sort out the rack, as he'd half got it on and made a pigs ear or it. The plan now is to get it tidy, MOT'ed and sold to an enthusiast who can enjoy her. Although she has a lot of 'rally' markings sadly she has no heritage. With the overboard engine she has quite a pick up and should be great fun, drifting anyone!?
The Teal Tc looks very sad for herself but im hoping to completely rebuild her and keep her as original as possible. If i keep going at this rate i should be ready for next years season and im really looking forward to it.
All the best with all your Marina and Ital projects and i will post a few more pics of my progress and old cars in due course.
Regards Maurice
