Fast Marina Magazine

its probbly a silly question but all the recent talk of j/k plate marinas has got me wondering is there a list anywhere with the starting chassis numbers of marinas and there models?
i have a tc saloon on a k plate regestered on 03/09/71 chassis number MH4S9T0021759N and the other tag thats welded to the slam panel is SM4S012587Z i think its quite a early one as its got the reverse wiper layout and theres a diffrence in the panel below the servo and its got no windscreen drain tubes or holes.
i know it wont be like earliest tc or such but the history aspect allways intrests me

many thanks mart

If I remember correctly the chassis numbers started at 1000, so your car would be no 20759 off the production line. If you add up the UK Marina & Ital production, Aussie & South African, plus the Itals & vans built in China & Rumania & Turkey there were roundly 1.5 million members of the family and it seems to be mostly the Mk1s that went to careful private owners and have survived well today . Vans and staion wagons had their own separate chassis number sequence
I would like to know if any other Marinas that rolled off the production line on the same day or even week as mine survive, any immediete family sisters still extant, just curiousity that helps me enjoy my cars and being online more.....
In 1994 I went in my Mk1 TC to view another for sale but didnt buy, both April 1973 L reg but chassis numbers 185xxx(auto,grey dash trim) and 218xxx(mine manual,wood dash trim) were way apart, mine being just the wrong side of the tax exempt cut off
I think it would be a useful resource to make a database listing all Marinas we know of in chassis number order, and when we dont know the chassis number then a car should be listed in the best guess position based on color and registration -I think we would all browse such a list of 500 odd cars regularly..

The big problem with chassis numbers and registration dates are they can vary wildly from one car to another. Some lesser selling versions of cars can be sitting about for a good time before being launched, the 4 Litre R suffered this alot during its production run, many owners trading in their two year old models were often given a new car which had been built before their old one!
The TC, being top of the pile, was not I suspect, the fastest selling model in BL's range. Fleet markets would prefer to buy an 1800 SDL or 1300 SDL instead as they were cheaper, the result being many TC's being sold to private owners over buisnesses. I've talked to several BL sales people from 1972-80 recently and the concensious is that whilst the Marina did sell well, much of their sales were with cheaper versions in bulk orders while TC's could sit around for quite a while before being sold. Another interesting thing I've been told was that BL sometimes had difficulty making TC's because since it had more 'extras' on it, BL were more in the hands of striking parts suppliers.

[quote="XER905L"]If I remember correctly the chassis numbers started at 1000,

The first cars to come off the line were car number's 101. As all BL / BMC cars did..

Also late marina/itals some had pressed metal number plates instead of plastic ones.
I was told that cars with the pressed metal plates were cars bought through a discounted scheme for bl workers and their family's
unsure if this correct.
Best regards
Barry