Fast Marina Magazine

Well how familiar does this sound then,,,,,,,,

You've 90 miles left of your journey to get home and the T.C's is showing at best you have just under a quarter of a tank of petrol left,the first chance of fuel is well after that as the next filling station on route isn't 24 hours,oh why didn't you fill up when you had the chance,why did you put yourself under this unnecessary stress?

You got down to Winchester,before you filled up again,and Beaulieu is only 25 miles away from there,and you still had a little fuel left,didn't you? ..well you had a least a gallon and a half in the tank,so you should have enough to get you home right? and you have had to pay £1.11 per litre when you filled the car up instead of the £1.07 you pay back home,you chance it and risk it the T.C has managed the 225 miles journey before filling up again on 9.5 gallons that's nearly 24 mpg,give or take the guess at how much fuel is left,no worries,so you pay the £58.10 and you're sorted,you throw this receipt into the glove box with the first receipt for £56.60 when you first tanked up.

Well the motorway signs are showing that there's 90 mile left before you hit Sheffield but you only have less than a quarter tank of go-go juice left,and then one of the "why does this happen" there's a petrol station on the other side of Th carriage way that you can't get to so you have drove a little faster coming home more in the 60's than the 50's and the car has drank a a bit more than it did on the way down,but hey you'll be ok,you slow down a little to conserve fuel and you turn into Mr steady,hanging behind every HGV that overtakes you,but that gauge is still moving a little too fast for your liking,but you see the Next marker for home is coming up and you're about 60 in miles away,but still not to worry,you carry on in "Womble mode"

The gauge is now just above the red,and you're on the last section of the journey,you must have 20 miles left in the tank? so you give the gauge a tap,but this seem to make the amount left look worse,panic sets in what do you do risk running out of fuel on the motorway,but now you're getting desperate,only one thing to do come off at the next exit and get some petrol in.The next exit seem to take an eternity to come up and you're now crawling along but some how you just manage to make it off the motor way,as you leave the slip road your luck changes and a 24 hr filling station is sign posted.

With your spirits raised again you set sail for the magical liquid,but the filling station seem a lot further away than you thought,by now you are running on vapours,but then you see the wonders site of a Shell Garage only a stones throw away,but than disaster strikes,the engine cuts out and you can't free-wheel the car the last bit,but some how you manage to get half of it off the road,yet the end of the quest is in site.Popping the hazard waring lights on before you lock up,you open the boot to get the petrol can out off it,yes the one you should have filled up back in Winchester,but it's not there and then the penny drops,you used it to get fuel for the lawn mower at home,so after a screaming fit you bite the bullet and start walking,but now the filling station has somehow moved by some bizarre optical illusion or cruel twist of fate it's now further away than it looked when you were in the car driving.

After the 30 minuet walk to get there putting your life at risk on a narrow fast moving B road,you make it,the bored 17 year old cashier promptly sells you a new fuel can for £7.99 in green,when you wanted a red one,as the red ones are no longer sold, with all the charm of a fire in a childrens home,you pay for a single gallon of petrol at £1.16 a litre and you thought £1.11 was expensive! and start on the journey back,but this time it takes nearer to 45 minutes to walk as most of the return journey is up hill.When you finally get back to the car darkness has fell,but you add the gallon of fuel and on the third attempt the car starts up.with the lights on you drive back to the petrol station and add another £20 worth of petrol and spend another £5 on crisps,pop and Mars bars,then continue back home.

At 11.30 you arrive back in the house a good two and a half hours late,shattered and nearly a £150 down in fuel costs alone,your liver and kidneys are on shut down after the rubish you have consumed into your bdy,and the T.C has returned 22 mpg at best,you have a quick shower and a bite to eat before having an early night for work the next day,and you didn't use your mobile to let any one know what was happenind as you didn't want to trouble anybody,and yet was it worth it, well your going to the AGM aren't you?

Russ
Beckett Bros " i'm 25 miles from home now" :roll:

Russ! I thought you didn't own a TC????
To Expensive to run?
Well I never :shock:
Lets see some pics then!

Paul.

Hello Paul,Russ hasn't got a tc he has a GT,or had up to a few weeks ago,the t.c,i think? that he had before that belonged to marinabrian,and i don't think it's the fact that he thinks they are too expensive to run (his new car realy is heavy on fuel) but that the performace is bad for that type of economy at 12+ seconds 0-60 the cars are slow for the amount of petrol they use.honest he is one of the most generous bloke you will ever meet,just ask any one he is not one bit tight.

Alan

i think a lot of this tc stuff is just banter.

Hi Alan!
I just thought from what Russ had written he had a TC!!!??

I Also know that he mentions petrol and consumption a lot etc regarding TC's I was amazed he had one :shock:
I must be mistaken!
But this trip must have been recent as the petrol prices mentioned are todays prices so now confused! :?

I used to get 22 to 25 MPG out of my 1275 GT mini with twin SU's But I expect it was a bit quicker!
I still get about that out of the car I drive now as it is mainly short trips to and from work! Longer trips are better but still expensive to run and makes no real difference how fast you get to 60,they still suck the fuel in :roll:

I am afraid I am one of those people who fill it right up every time as I am 110% confident it will get used, so having to stop more often for £20 fill ups to me is a waste of my time!!
Plus I am more likely to cut down on food before I take a bus or train
If I had a more economic car I would be a bit uneasy and probably have to bang a small hole in the tank to help

I am also convinced my exhaust fumes are helping the plants in my front garden grow, as I rev the engine I swear I can see the growth happening before me!!
When this happens I find the time flies by!
OR it is because I have passed out again due to the fumes but I can't remember everything :P


Paul.

Paul i'm confused too now you mention it :?

Good evening Paul and the Exocet.

Too clear things up,i have used today's fuel prices simply because i can't remember the price of go-go juice when this incident happened (and i have used T.C when it should be T.C engine )

No Paul i have not had a T.C saloon or coupe for a good few years the last one that was in my care belonged to Brian,to be really honest i'm pretty much just the MK3 and pick-up now i do like the earlier cars but as the saying goes "each is too there own" and i prefer the road manners and the looks and drive experience of the later cars as opposed to the earlier ones,but this is all good clean fun and make for some healthy inter-mark rivalry,as "variety is the spice of life" as they say.The T.C cars sound wonderful,and the trusty "B" series engine will chug along forever but,i and many others on the forum and in the club are disappointed with the "MPH-for-MPG" as the 1700 "O" series and the "A+" will do the same speeds as a T.C car but far more economically.

If you get chance to see the "Top Gear Marina Special" you can see "Nell" the pick-up in fully modified tune (the green pick-up just before her was also owned by me also) now that was a car that drank fuel "would pass anything apart from a petrol station" out of the Northern boys who have or have had T.C cars or still own them,without a doubt all will level the same criticisms against the cars,poor fuel consumption for the performance.

I have owned a MK1 TC coupe,a MK1(a) T.C coupe,MK1,MK1 Saloon,MK1(A) automatic,HL MK2 saloon and 2 MK2 GT,plus T.C engines in the pick-up and all have been poor on fuel,leaving you to ask why have i had 7 of them ( and i regret too say this 2 were to break) the GT's because they look well and the HL because i liked the colour.I don't think i would be as down on there performance if many more people admitted to the limited performance of them,i still hear talk of the T.C's performance as though it was a "Muscle Car" hence why so many drivers who haven't driven one are disappointed when they do,the legend of the car out strips the performance.

And as we finish i my be the new owner of the car mentioned in the "Time running out for T.C saloon" and drop an "A+" engine in (but saying that this car is in economy tune already) so no shouts of hypocrite alright. Please enjoy your cars and don't let anything i say put you off them,your money and your choice do what you will,just keep the faith.

Russ

Beckett Bros "Thank you for coming home,sorry that the chairs are all worn" :roll:

I have only driven the one tc car it was the harvest gold one of Brains,and i was really disappointed with the cars performance after what i had heard about them,but haven't had enough to do with them to give an opinion on the fuel consumption.

Alan

P.s like the story very true and funny and i can liken it to once or twice when i have ran out of petrol (but not in a Marina)

Only ever ran out of fuel twice. Both times on German Autobahns - apparently fuel consumption is a bit worse at 140mph... :mrgreen: (Not in a Marina BTW)

Ay up Paul,
I am trying desperately,to up load picture from the scanner onto the computer,but they are coming out no larger than a postage stamp,and i shall put some on of the others from the collection that i have amassed over the years.

The only two variations of the Marina or Ital i have never owned are an estate or a convertible,although i once collected a Harvest Gold Mumford from the Wirral and drove it to the Isle of Wight for Frank,this was a very tidy original car (I wonder if it still exists?) the car drove excellent,albeit with the roof up and apart from the fuel it used on the near 300 mile journey the other outstanding feature was the heater,an excellent one,it really through out the heat (and again why do some of the Marina heaters roast you alive and others although fully working struggle to clear the windscreen?)

Working on the scanner problem photos to follow :roll:

Russ

Beckett Bros "Get you kicks on route 66" :roll:

Russ - you colourful old bugger.

Oh - alright then - you're not really old....

I can truly commiserate on the story you relate - my only saving grace has been that the fuel gauge on the blue estate (read 'thirsty..') still has another gallon after the needle enters the red.
Not sure why this is so, but it has always been, and I treat it as reserve...

Here's my version of your story.

We are travelling home from a rather fantastic weekend's flying display of WWII aircraft at a place called Wanaka - where they stage the southern hemisphere's largest such event every two years.
We are in our favourite car - a Marina whose fame has spread far and wide - and which has far surpassed all expectations of stamina and durability - so we choose to go the long way home.
This entails crossing the Southern Alps to the wild and desolate West Coast on New Zealand's South Island - a place not renowned for frequent fuel stops - or any other form of social niceties - real pioneering country this.!
But hey - there is a smattering of traffic - so we would be able to flag down another motorist for help if things went really bad.
Unless.
We took a 'back road'.
One of those unsealed snake-like little roads that twist and turn and lead to the back blocks where civilisation only happens by prior arrangement.
In triplicate.
In forests of native bush, where the rainfall is truly legendary.

It was in such a place, on such an occasion, that I chose to take the blue estate - with partner and my teenage son - so reasonably laden we were - slipping and sliding along roughly formed and often badly cambered gravel tracks - in the abundant rain.
At some point, the car began to lose transmission - quite suddenly, and on a reasonable incline.
I let it roll backwards for some distance until I saw a patch of clear ground on my right, and allowed gravity to take us there.
I recalled an instance where we had grounded rather heavily, so leaned out my door and peered under the car.
Red fluid dripping from the auto sump.
Dang.
It is Easter Sunday.
We are miles from anywhere, in the bush, in a useless car.
It is pouring with rain.
Some miles back we had passed a shearing shed with many sheep standing in the rain, and lights burning.
I would have to get back there.
We had a council of war.
I left the other two with the gun (we use it for target shooting..), and instructions to play safe.
With the strummings of 'duelling banjo's' in my head (ever seen the movie 'Deliverance'?), I headed off in the rain, following the trail of oil that was spreading out in the steady deluge.
2 or 3 miles later I came to the woolshed. I raised two occupants. They had no phone, but told me that if I went further and took a side road, that I would find a farmhouse that had a phone.
I did.
The female householder was very friendly and phoned the garage at 'Kumara' - a small town back on the main highway at the far end of our 'shortcut'.
As luck would have it - they were open.
Public holidays meant more traffic and the chance to make a dollar.
The mechanic agreed to come out and tow us back - although he seemed unsure of our actual whereabouts.
The farmhouse woman kindly offered to drive me back to the car, and I was only too pleased to accept.
Only minutes after we got there - a 4 wheel drive vehicle turned up, and we prepared to undertake the 40k tow back to his garage.
I have this idea that towing autos is not altogether healthy - but we had no alternatives.



The bedraggled and sodden crew prepare to attempt a 20k tow to the nearest town.
We transferred the other two to the 4 wheel drive, and began the trip. It was kinda tricky keeping the wire rope tight in the windy terrain, with lots of ups and downs thrown in.
Once we reached the highway, things were much easier, and we completed the adventure with no real problems.
The estate was pushed into the garage and raised aloft.
We dropped the sump off the auto and surveyed the damage.
The leading edge was split open where we had made contact with serious bits of terra firma, but after a bit of hammering and copious welding, it seemed we had closed the air vents.
Back on and fill with fluid.
Yes - we have a result - and a brief run of the engine proves we actually have wheels driving.
Back on the deck and we are relieved of a meagre $70 - thats for towing, welding and 4 litres of fluid on Easter Sunday.
Amazing.
I think I need to live in this place.
The whole process had only taken 1 and a half hours from the time I reached the farmhouse.
Magic.
What a fabulous lesson for my son.
From disaster to salvation in a few hours by applying common sense and relying on the good that exists in all people.
I was humbled by the experience, and once again - astounded by the tenacity of the Marina and the Borg-Warner 65.
I could not have manged such a quick recovery if this had happened in town on a weekday.!

Great Story K,

What a result you had there,and still it's nice to know in the fast paced modern world of,"dog eat dog" decent folk still exist,and people still do good turns for one and other.I'm a great believer that you never know when you might want a favour in return,in fact i would say i'm more than a little sympathetic to the idea of "what goes round come round"

Well on the theme of tried and tested cliches,you know what the old saying says? "nice things happen to nice people

Russ

Beckett Bros "i used to be such a sweet sweet thing" :roll:

My current favourite:-

Things always turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out.

Works for me...