*** THE TOP TEN MARINA MYTHS ***

[The original northen boy]

:roll: Some people would have you believe all sorts of thing about the Marina well here are my TOP TEN MARINA MYTHS see how many you have heard :roll

#10 Nobody wanted a Morris Marina """""" Not true the Marina was the third best selling car in its day,selling over a million units and was produced form
1971-1984 (from 1980-1984 as the Ital) and exported as well.Not bad for a car no one wanted!

#9 Marina's were really Morris 1000 """"" "Not true the Marina was a replacement for the Morris Oxford the suspension was a derivative of the Morris 1000 but a derivative only,and yes they did use the "A" series engine (in 1300cc form) but as one of the best small engines ever why not.

#8 The ride is bad in them """" again not true the ride is on par with many of it's 1970's competitors,try a Vauxhall Cavalier from the same period and you can say what a bad ride is.

#7 Everybody knows they were rubbish,""""who Say's this the press or the public? The press always had a downer on British Leyland,and knocking BL was a comedy prerequisite in the 1970's,this rubbed off on many owners who unfairly critisized the Marina and was perpetuated by the media,speak to a Citroen mechanic form the same time an see what rubbish really was.

#6 Marina's don't start"""" yes they do very few starting problems even with the later "O" series engines even on a cold damp morning they start,for non starters you really need to talk Ford a problem that carried on onto some of it's models until the 1990's,WD 40 and Easy Start= Ford ownership arh the smell of damp start on a cold and frosty morning.

#5 Things stop working in them"""" well don't they in all cars? The electrical components are tried and tested,the dials and clocks go on for ever,the switch gear is solid,and more so on the Mk1 cars,the reliability on the electrical system is good and far better than the Italian stuff of the same period ( if you do have a problem it's simple to fix as the wiring is simple.

#4 Marina's don't handle """ well what do you mean by that,early cars were not that great but they got better as they went on,and remember these are not sports cars,you will not hurtle of a country road at 40mph or lose control coming of a roundabout,the handling is not dangerous or unsafe and better than the stories would lead you to believe,try a Ford Capri for handling and see what i mean (a 3 litre S on a wet day the Marina is on rails in comparison)

#3 The suspension collapses on them, well yes it does but only through complete and utter negligence and without maintenance,the front suspension component the trunnion needs to be greased a simple 2 minute job a fault with the owner not with the car, don't get alarmed the steering get unbelievable heavy well before this happens,this has never happened to me (and i have owned over 20 Marina's and Ital's) i have never met anyone who this has happen to either,i even know an old AA patrol Man who only went to one case of this in his entire 30 year career and that was down to zero servicing on the car.

#2 Marinas are rot boxes""" yes Marinas do rust but no worse than any other 1970's car and a lot better than some others,Italian cars roted before your eyes,Japanese cars were horrendous in the disintegration department and the French made products could give the other two a run for their money even the German products were rust buckets....all 70's cars are susceptible to rust,remember the Lancia Beta.

#1 Marina's are unreliable """"utter rubbish,the Marina uses the same engines as the Mini,Morris 1000 (a car now held in legendary status for it's reliability) Austin/Morris 1100/1300,Austin A30/A35, A40 in "A" series form and in "B" series form The Austin A40 Devon,Austin Cambridge/Morris Oxford and the MG ZA Magnette,MGA
and the MGB a car seen by many as the pinnacle of British sports cars (tell people your Marina TC engine is an MGB engine and see their reaction "wow i bet that can shift such is the MGB legend" the list goes on these were such good units that the carried on for many years Datsun made the "A" series under licence and used the engine in many of it's from cars from 1967 to the present day so good is the "A" series engine and the Datsun 1970's reputation for ultra reliability is form this engine and used in the Datsun Cherry,120Y,Sunny and so on and nobody ever says these cars are unreliable do they? and they all have the same engines in them although a little modified it's the basic "A" series" as used in you box standard Marina..so as you can see this statement is complete and utter rubbish,said by ignorant people who don't know any better.

Russ

Beckett Bros " and that's the truth" :roll:

[Kilroy]

No arguments here Russ.

And happy new year by the way...

Lets face it - Marinas are still here after 35+ years - isn't that a testimonial.?

Ask all the drivers who couldn't catch up to me - let alone pass me - what they think of Morris Marinas.

"Wot sort of motor you got in there..?"

"A Marina motor of course..."

Doh.!

[1GMARINA]

only through complete and utter negligence and without maintenance

Half of these problems can be explained by this very line, as with any car really. It does seem strange that despite the Marina managing third spot in the top ten best sellers of its day, and against some stiff opposition, it's seen as a car no one wanted. :shock: They must have offered buyer's something or else they would have gone and bought something else. There's a lot of cars that are quilty of using existing parts from their predecessors, nothing new there, just highlighted in big capital letters in the case of the Marina.

The poor old Marina suffers abuse in the same way the Allegro does. Everything has been blown out of proportion regarding the truth about these cars. They had their problems (what
car didn't in those days) of which no one can deny, but I do think that most of the bad press is made by people who hear a little and continue to make up the rest.


Steve

[billytits]

its no different to new cars today the last three fords i have had have all had problems that the service centre cant fix because it dont come up with a fault code give me my marina any day at least i can fix it the only mapping the coupe needs is on a long trip into the unknown

[ice man]

Back in the 80's my dad's £40 marina did 4 years / 54,000 miles with no crashes, brakdowns or any kind of failures, except for a back light that would sometimes stop working... only needing regular maintenance.

Today someone asked me why I got a Marina - a Forklift driver at work...

FLTd - Why Dya get a Merrr eeenaar then???
me - Because I love 'em
FLTD - Why they are rubbish arent they (Statement of FACT)
me - No its great, especially for drifting ! :mrgreen:
FLTd - They haven't got enough power for drifting ?
me - its not bad - 85 hp standard...
FLTd - 85Hp - I've got more horsepower in... erm ... my little finger

Then he drove off into the distance.

It seems to me that only people who are closed minded / without a mind of their own hold a predudice against certain cars... usually with ill informed incorrect opinions

It's a shame because it clouds their vision and when they look at the restored examples they cannot appreciate the beatiful lines of this simple bread and butter british built car... well, it's their loss!

[Uncle Frank]

As usual Russ, a well written and honest point of view, for years i have been defending Marinas against many of those very points :roll: , having owned in excess of 30 Marinas over the past 30 years i can honestly say that not one of them has ever let me down on the road, a couple may have played up once or twice, but they always got me home.
Like you i believe that the most common cause for problems with the Marina is bad owners...not the cars!, lack of servicing and basic maintenance will always make for unreliable motoring, in ANY car, why is it that in some peoples minds an engine that has powered some of the most popular and memorable cars in histoy suddenly becomes "unreliable" when it is fitted into a Marina?...it`s still the same engine for christs sake so why should it be any different?...the answer is simple really..it isn`t unreliable at all and nor is the car, as Russ so poetically put it, it`s a myth!

[The original northen boy]

Before we start i'm forgetting my manners,a belated Happy New Year to everyone

and a Happy New Year to my Kiwi mate Kilroy hope your're well in the Southern hemisphere.

Well thanks for the reply Frank,as with yourself and i'm sure many others of us we are constantly up against this wall of inaccuracy and blatant misinterpretation of the very basic facts surrounding the cars.
These false comments still linger on today,a recent conversation with a younger client of mine he went on to say these lines,(after the Top Gear episode i might add)

"You have a Marina don't you?"
"Yes i have three",
"what do you want three of them for,thre're s***e
"Why have you owned one?"
"No but there're s***e"
"Well who Say's that?"
"Well everybody knows there s***e (myth #7)
"Well who's everybody?"
"Everybody (myth #7) they are rot boxes (myth #2) that don't handle (myth #4) and are always breaking down (myth #1) they were c*** cars that nobody wanted (myth #10) because they were s***e (myth #7) that nothing worked on them (myth #5)
"They sold over a Million,and they were made and exported for 13 years,
"Yeah but there still c***" (myth #7)

The conversation was going nowhere so i brought up a picture of "Nell" the pick-up on the computer and said what do you think of that car?

"Is that a Marina then ?" (he hadn't even seen one before even after apparently watching Top Gear)
" Yes that's my Marina pick-up at that time the photo was taken she had a 1998cc stage 2 engine in her the same engine as an MG"
"well that one looks pretty cool geez and i bet it went well with the rad engine,swe-eet!,yeah i'd have one dude,swe-eet really swe-eet"

"sweet indeed"

Russ

Beckett Bros "just so swe eet" :roll:

[Lazak]

Very nice topic here in portugal the people think the same about it :roll: And yes they stay like :shock: when I say that´s the same engine as the mgb... there were many marinas here too, althought they are quite rare now... I think mine is the only 1800 coupe SDL in portugal

[ayrshirelad32]

Well said Russ as usual well thought out arguments and points.Perhaps Russ you should ask u r pals on Radio Sheffiled if u can get a slot on a certain tv show.Put them in their place or someone in his place

[The original northen boy]

Ay up Mike,

We talked about this the last time i was on Radio Sheffield,i would be more than willing to be a guest on the JC show (Top Gear) to fight the Marinas corner,but the producers of the program i'm sure would prefer a more perceived type of Marina owner,a creepy Charles Hawtrey character,who collects science fiction comics,and lives in a squalid bed-sit that smells of cats and TCP,dining totally on a diet of packet noodles,and take away pizza.

So no i can't see it to be honest,and could you imagine anyone being allowed to get the better of "Saint Jezza of Super-car"? the Beeb would remove any such content and consign it to the cutting room floor,look how the show is so blatantly scripted,you can get the punch lines a week in advance,all the ad-libs are well rehearsed and delivered on Que or edited to appear that way.

What we talked about the last time i was on both on-air and off-air was the broadcasting of the Howard Pressman show from the car park of Radio Sheffield,and Howie and Jamie (the shows producer) and perhaps some of the other radio presenter would test drive one of my Marinas,just to see if the stories about the car were true,the "Loaded with cars show" would be welcome to come along and the shows presenters as well,i wonder if Richard Hammond would come if i told him i can get industrial strength tooth whitener at cost?

If you would like to see the Marina car park challenge or be apart of it you can contact Howie on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/radio_sheffield

Russ

Beckett Bros "video killed the radio star" :roll:

[ayrshirelad32]

I am sure if that did happen Peg woild love to have a bit off stardom on the radio.Pegs owner has a great face for the radio

[The original northen boy]

A face for radio eh Mike,
you could expand and become an act and do "radio magic,radio ventiloquism and radio juggling" the world of show biz awaits you.

Russ

Beckett Bros "read the small print" :roll:

[ayrshirelad32]

EEEHHH no me thinks i will keep my light under a very small bushel and let u keep the lime light Russ methinks

[The original northen boy]

Well Mike as the saying goes about "fame and fortune" well i don't want the fame but i'll take the fortune thank you kindly.

Russ

Beckett Bros "and dear dear Larry" :roll:

[ado28]

If your Ital was to appear on national TV then it would need to be all one colour. Us Scottish folk do have standards

Sean

Scottish bro of the Beckett Bros "a multicoloured Lemon swap shop" :roll: