Fast Marina Magazine

I know perhaps this item should have been placed on the classified section,but i have taken this step to reach a wider audience of Marina/Ital owners.

I have tried the best i could to distance myself form this car (for reasons that will become apparent) but have relented under the idea somebody might be ambitious enough or have the funds to undertake such a project.

The seller is a gentleman called Grahame Wright,who lives in the Castleton area of Derbyshire (about 20 miles from Sheffield) Mr Wight has no computer or mobile phone and does not wish his details to be published on site,By his own admission,and i'm sure he won't mind me saying this "he is a man that does not suffer fools gladly or tire kickers" he is very much to the point for that matter so beware!!!.

Due to Mr Wrights wishes he did not want photos taken of the car either,so i will relay the condition the best i can remember.
The car is a 1978 G.T coupe the colour is a re-sprayed metallic Damask Red the overall condition is poor-to-very poor,both front wings are rotten,the front scuttle panel has severe rust so has the front valance,both foot wells have roted away and the inner sills and floor pan is in a similar condition,the door bottom have all rusted away,and the outer sills have gone the same way.

I would suspect the entire braking system would require replacement,and much of the suspension,along with all four tires,the boot floor is in a poor state both boot wells have dissolved and boot floor to the rear valance would need new repair sections.

The interior is complete and without any burns to the seats yet this would require a extensive professional clean to remove the build up of dirt and animal hair that the car has amassed since being layed-up around 1990

The thing that make this car special apart from the fact it's a G.T is the fact that a Datsun 180"B"SSS engine and gearbox has been fitted the engine boast a twin set of matching 40/45 DCOE Webber/Japanese style carburettors fitted to a 5 speed Datsun gear box,there are bills for work carried out on the head and and camshaft that total well over £800, plus bills for every job carried out, and MOT certificates and all the old tax discs up to 1989 and there are four new and boxed Blistien gas ajustable shockers on the back seat,as well as other parts (water pump,fuel pump,fan belt,engine service items) these are inclued in the sale.

Mr Wright would like offers in the region of £1000 or a near offer if this was cash.
He informs me if he cannot get the price he wants he will scrap the car,rather than let it go for (in his words) "pennies"

If you are interested you can get more details off me via my P.M

Russ

Beckett Bros "the choice is yours" :roll:

£1000 am I missing something here

:? erm a Marian with a datsun engine and needing at least 1000 spent on it before you go anywhere must off missed something Russ.Erm why not take the engine out and sell it seperatly?

Mr Wright would be better off scrapping the car. By all accounts it sounds very poor Russ and it lost it's GT status when it lost its heart.

Gentlemen i thought my in-mail would be overloaded with potential buyers.
surely it can't be the fact the car requires,

:? Vasts amounts of work,
:? the cost is unrealistic,
:? the project is to large,
:? Mr Wight is a hard person to deal with,(very hard)
:? the car is no longer a Morris Marina,but a Morris "Bluebird"
:? you are not mentally backward
:? you can do a lot better with the £1000 (or near cash offer)

Come on you potential buyers this is a chance to bag a rare car,you know you want it,don't you?

Russ

Beckett Bros " Cheap at twice the price (honest)" :roll:

I must agree with your statement Sean,when you start to transplant alien engines into your car,you do rob the car of its soul and the very thing that make that car what it is (be this good or bad)

I understand that you can do what you want to your car,the choice is yours and you are free to spend your money how you want to,but i do think that when you do start on major changes,such as complete engines and transmission systems your car be it a Marina or Mercedes there is a danger of either turning the vehicle into a kit-car or showing the world that the cars were inferior/under powered/or a collection of all that was wrong with that model,hence the reason for such drastic changes.

I for one went down this path,i did try to keep to all British Leyland/B.L stock,but turned my pick-up into a some what different vehicle to what had rolled of the production line in 1979.

The biggest criticism i have heard leveled at this type of conversion work is (and to my own efforts) " is that if you do that amount of work to your car you don't want that car in the first place" in this case the person who carried out the work wanted 180"B" SSS and not a Marina G.T so why didn't he buy one some might ask?


Russ

Beckett Bros " the quest to be an individual" :roll:

Is this bloke taking the pi55 ? 1000 pound for what sounds like a heap of shite and he doesnt want people to see photos either ?! He'll get about 200 quid for scrap if he is lucky - I never understand people who say they would rather scrap a car than let it go for not a lot of money - they wont get very much money scrapping it ! Bloke sounds like a dickhead

This fella is somewhat of an odd ball,he told me i could say what i wanted about him " has he couldn't give a monkey's about what any one thinks"
And went on to to give me this quote "say what you want,do what you want,i couldn't care less as long as i get my money"

To be truthful i wasn't bothered about putting details on here as the man is so obnoxious,but thought someone might cut a deal with him and salvage some useful items (foolish i know)
I spoke to Sean, about this character and Sean had had similar experience with a bloke on the same lines as Mr Wright,show the world is full of them.

Russ

Beckett Bros " there's one born every minute" :?

Datsun? One of the main reasons I own a Marina is because it was built in the correct country!
Totally agree about the comments now the engine has gone. Wouldnt matter to me so much in a standard saloon or coupe (well it wouldnt matter if the replacement engine was a proper engine in a standard saloon or coupe) but in a rare GT it does take away the soul.
It's not even a GT now, just a Marina (well what's left) with a jap engine and a badge. I could put a v8 badge on my BSA Bantam but it'd still be a 175cc two stroke...
As for the price, mine was only a hundred and needs far less than that amount of work...

Good God.... alright, I've got a Dolomite overdrive box in my GT (basically the same gearbox) and an MGB axle (as per vans) but at least its still all BL and I would certainly want a decent amount for it IF I ever sell it..... Blokes a twunt. :shock:

This is the wrong place to sell what is basically 500kg of rust and plastic packaging containing a Datsun motor and box.This should be advertised on a Datsun/Nissan forum. I owned a 1979 Datsun 200B for 3 years and drove it 60,000km with no trouble except a stuck carb float - basically the same engine and box as being offered here without the high performance bits - what can I say, its a great engine and gearbox, and I would like to own one fitted to a late 1970s Bluebird stationwagon in future but I expect there are none left in europe now.....but in a Marina, no way.....

I think a lot of these sky high prices are purely and simply down to the now legendary "Rarest car in Britain story" and as we have touched on the problems this causes with Flea bay,and the related links causing a knock-on- effect to both perspective sellers and buyers alike,because the gezzer thinks he will make a fast buck based on the belief that people will pay well over the odds to attain a particular car or part based on it real or precieved rarity value,and it's very common,that when this target is not reached, out of the "their not having it for nothing school of thought" the solution seen by the seller is to destroy the item,in practice "the cutting off one's nose to spite their face" This man is from that school.

Russ

Beckett Bros "and that's my last offer"

There is a Hospital not a million miles fromkillie Russ I t is called Alisa.Where people how shall we say short off a spanner or two go.Maybe that where the Morris Bluebird or whatever it is should go.I cannot see the point in doing what has been done to the car if it is so rotten.Would have been better spending the money getting the chassis and body done then the engine.A waste it seems

Sad to say but the car is really fannied up and scrapping whats left would be the best solution. Keep the log book as thats worth more than the metal! :roll:

Gotta agree with most of the sentiments so far expressed.
If you want more power from your Marina - there are many ways to extract it without resorting to Datsun engines.
In fact - there must be far more documentation regarding the modification of British made engines than any others on the planet.
Despite that - I have invented a few of my own which elicit some quite extraordinary torque from the ancient B series lump - and torque is a truly lovable feature.
If I had an unlimited budget, I would now be exploring the science of gasflowing and cylinder head technology - but alas, it has not yet come to be, so I await true enlightenment.
Its on the way though.
The plan is unfolding even as we speak - so I feel that major horsepower is only a heartbeat away.
I shall not ignore the humble O series either.
I have taken the liberty of cutting an O series cylinder head in half to ascertain the thickness of the casting - and shall thus be able to order the best gasflow technology to be applied to a virgin unit.
Add the occasional sidedraft carb and we may see some liberation of latent grunt from these underdeveloped units.
Gosh - it makes you want to go out and wave a Union Jack or two...
Ever be strong.!
Kilroy