Fast Marina Magazine

Well here is a picture of a extremely rare find,in fact so rare that it's not supposed to exist,the item in question is a date stamped 1973 Leyland Special Tuning bonnet in aluminium,that right aluminium and not fiberglass,before i went to view this i had a quick word with one of the old salesman i know who worked at Kennings ( BMC/BL main agents) from the 1960's until the early 1990's and he told me that no Marina ever had a bonnet from the S.T side of the company that wasn't fiber glass,in fact the Special Tuning brochure reaffirms that point,and that the part cannot be from the sports division simply because they were not made,well at least one was.

The story unfold like this,British Leyland approached Laycock engineering [now Look (UK) ] In the spring of 1973 for a competition gear box for the Marina a very promising rally car at the time and the possibility of a 5 speed,O/D gearbox for the standard Marina cars,Laycock who had manufactured gearboxes and clutches for a long line of BMC/BL cars and had a long partnership together and must have been the ideal choice for such a project.Bl were looking for either a 5 speed gearbox or and over-drive unit on the lines of the Dolomite (O/D on 3rd and 4th gear) Laycocks brief was to keep the costs down to a minimum,this was to be achieved via the use of existing components,either assembled to make a new unit or a mixture of cobbled together parts to achieve the final item.

To aid the work,so that parts could be offered to for the research (and keep costs down) BL sent a car from Abingdon,this came via a full car transporter,that believed a selection of new BL cars to a local dealership and one slightly used rally ST coupe that a member of staff had to collect and take to the factory.At Laycock's the car sat in a workshop the bonnet was removed to help the draughtsman and engineers get an unrestricted view at the workings.After only a few months the project was abandoned,from this the car stood for a couple more months,until out of the blue and unannounced a similar car transporter arrived to take the coupe back to Abingdon,the collection was so rushed the bonnent was not fitted back on.

The bonnet sat around the work shop until the factory was closed in 1989 when it was taken to it's new home where it sat in an out house until now,so that's the story,and here's the picture.



The rust is only to the paint work,and the bonnet is definily alluminium,the paint is also original.

Russ

Beckett Bros "strictly original" :roll:

:? See what you mean about that colour Russ, i really don`t recognise that as a standard BL colour, i suppose it could be Cosmic blue but it looks a bit too bright for that, anyway what a fantastic find!...should look good on the right car mate

Excellent stuff Russ ! Btw .. Any news on when you're coming down to the island ??

Hi Russ, I know I am splitting hairs here, but do you mean the paint has rust marks where it has sat against something else?
Only Aluminium corrodes and paint don't rust! :?
I guess it weighs a lot less being Aluminium also?!!

If your not 100% sure just send me some filings (enough to cover 5mm square) and I will X-Ray it for you and give a print out of the Spectra! :shock: No I am not pulling your chain, I can do all that if you want

Or just use the cheap way and see if a magnet sticks

Got any better pictures? Is it still around? If so get it on a car quick

Paul.

Ay up Paul,
Just to clarify the bonnet has some brown crispiness to the front edge that has damaged the paint,this it wood seem is transfer from some bright bar it was layed adjacent to and has caused a slight reaction to the bonnet edges (this bonnet has been stored in the damp next to steel in an out house since 1989) I did the initial magnet myself and i got a complete "non stick" and a scratch test which gave the correct result, i was considering doing a little spark test but went against this as being too destructive.Thanks for your offer but i'm convinced the item is non-ferrous and more than likely aluminium or a least aluminum alloy (doubt if it's Magnox) And on the weight footing i would say at the least 50% lighter.

Yes the bonnet is still about i'll get some more photos on here tomorrow in a bit more detail and i'll see if i can get it weighed as well,and try to get you a sample of fillings for you to do the honors.

Russ

Beckett Bros "more to come" :roll:

Oh sorry Jim,
Hope to be over about April depending on work commitments,but if you need anything before then give me a nod.

Russ

Beckett Bros "just a little salty" :roll:

fantastic story and a fantastic find !!

Brilliant find,

I've got a fibre-glass ST one, it would be interesting to compare the weights.

A couple more comparison photos the bonnet is an exact replica i did some very basic weighing (courtesy of my bathroom scales) the weights are as follows

Standard steel bonnet 14kgs/31lbs
S.T Aluminium bonnet 6kgs/13.2lbs

The car was in Teal blue with white and red striping,sorry but that about as much as i know at the time being.







Russ

Beckett Bros "special tuned" :roll:

Thats a good weight saving

Get them dents removed by someone good at panel beating and you got a good bonnet! And you can put more pies in the glove box with out affecting that all important horse power

Now Then Paul,
we have evolved a little more now oop North and the discerning pie eaters that we are now arm ourselves with the plug-in hot boxes (via our cigarette lighter socket) so yes the weight ratio is all important every pound in vehicle weight saved equates to two medium mince and onion pies and a steak bake.

The reduction of weight of this bonnet is at least the equivalent of 56 medium steak and kidney's,or 34 large Meat and potatoes pies enough to keep a family of four going for almost two full days.

Thank you for your concern,things were getting desperate here that due to the snow vital supplies of gravy granules could not get through,even a single Oxo cube was fetching on the black market well over £5,thankfully the Army air lifted in much needed frozen chips,Farm Foods family BIG pies and Bisto gravy granules,so desperate was the situation some families were nearly forced to cook,One teenage mother was so frantic for help she was almost forced to feed her five children home cooked broccoli and parsnips,when asked about her ordeal she said "i was terrified the youngest Impreza-Tyson had finished the last of the chicken and mushrooms off almost three hours earlier,and were almost down to the last can of Red Bull,we were even low on potate spirals things were pretty bad.

To donate pies contact www.whoateallthepies.you_fatbastar.co.uk

Russ

Beckett Bros " with lashings of relish (Henderson if you please) :roll:

Great!

Russ,

No comment on the pies this end, I'm partial to a chicken Pukka on occaision. Our biggest problem with the snow was that all the good curry resturants were closed and I had to resort to chinese take-away.

The quality of the pressing seems exactly the same as the steel one doesn't it? Do you think that they slipped a sheet of ally in the steel bonnet press?

Looking at the underframe, is this ally as well or is it steel? I saw a Ford Cortina Mk2 bonnet some years ago, where the frame was steel and the skin was ally.

Ay up Chris,
Good question about the underneath bonnet strengtheners,that was something i must be honest i haven't checked that,i did a couple of "stick tests" on the top, but the under side never even dawned on me,i'll have a go tomorrow.

I wholeheartedly agree,and thought the very same things about how the bonnet came about,i would think that a cut-to-size sheet of aluminium arrived at the pressing factory and in between runs the aluminium sheet was subsidised instead of a sheet of steel,same press,same spec,just a different material used to the standard one.And perhaps even more than one bonnet was made as all the tooling was already set up,and indeed to make an aluminum bonnet in an existing set-up but be far cheaper and arguably more practical than making molds to make fiberglass copies.

Russ

Beckett Bros "still made of steel" :roll:

If the top's ally then I would guess the bottom frame would be also. Nice find Russ and very plausable theorys regarding the ally metal being slipped into the press in between runs.

Sean

Beckett Bros "Pressing ahead with Marina restorations"