Marina launch 1971.

[Clan Chieftain]

I was in a garage today and we got talking about the marina and this chap who is older than me said that the launch model had bolt on wings. Is he correct ?

[Kilroy]

Wow.!

A flying Marina....

Wouldn't have thought it had enough power.

[Clan Chieftain]

Moving swiftly on.......................... :shock: :shock:

[vermillion]

Nice to see that the sense of humour hasn't wavered after all you've been through recently Kilroy

[jiversteve]

Nice to see that the sense of humour hasn't wavered after all you've been through recently Kilroy

Agreed.

[Uncle Frank]

..Nice to see you can still crack a joke Kilroy .
To get back to Larrys original poser...did the first production Marinas have bolt on wings...i would say definately not, the original press release details i have, clearly shows the car as we know it now, fully welded monocoque construction, to be honest the cost of re-tooling to convert from bolt-on to weld on would have been prohibitive that late into the process.
The only dead giveaways i know for spotting a really early car are the following...
1. The triangular stiffener plates above the steering rack gaiters in the engine bay have access holes pressed into them and you can see the rack gaiters clearly through them.
2. The windscreen wipers park to the right and the motor is on the left inner wing mounted upside down.
3. The front lower valance has the full lip around the lower black grille.
4. The fuel line runs up the right hand side of the car around the front of the inner crossmember and up to the carb.
5. The trunnions (lower links) were higher up the link than all the later cars.
6. The glovebox in the dash is made of a cardboard mix material instead of plastic.
7. The joint at the top of the roof to the windscreen pillars is lead loaded smooth, as is the one on the rear by the vent, up to about 1973.
There are bound to be one or two other differences i have missed Larry but these are the ones i can think of off the top of my head

[JubileeNut]

Regarding breather for the tank, what about Jim's TC coupe which is newer than a Jubilee but has the breather behind the seat :shock: :?

[Uncle Frank]

:? Sure you are not confusing Jims TC with beckys Blue 1300 Paul?, must admit i`m not 100% on this one but i only remember seeing that on pre `73 cars

[JubileeNut]

Get Jim on the blower
But I may have confused it but sure it was Jim's TC

[mk2 golfer]

my breather is like that too Frank (1972 mk1 1800 saloon), don't know about the other things cos wouldnt know what i was looking for tbh, can you post some pics of earlier and later early ones please as a reference / guide thingy, just so as I know what to look for, thanks

[Uncle Frank]

I could be wrong on the breather thing chaps, all i know is the early cars seem to differ between models, some have the standard breather up by the tank neck, some have the hoop arrangement behind the seat, they did have trouble with tanks spitting fuel out the neck right up to the last mk3`s :roll: , so i will remove that from the list of differences to early models as it seems it was not unique to the very early cars, (which was what this strand was originally about)

[locost_bryan]

Frank, what was your definition of "really early" - pre 1973, or just 1971?

I have some pics of a 1972 1750 TC coupe, which was assembled in New Zealand from an Australian kit with the body pressings from England. Will see if I can spot any of the differences.

This was at the time when NZ assembled all the variants, with Estates and commercials sourced from England, and coupes and saloons sourced from Australia. Which gave a rather complex mix of components :roll: - 3 engine series in 5 capacities, 3 axles, 3 wheel PCDs, 2 wiper arrangements. :shock:

[Uncle Frank]

Bryan, most of the things listed seem to be on the very early cars only, definately on the `71 cars and some of the `72 cars, i have even seen a couple of `73 cars with some of these features, but these are usually `73 cars built in `72, so i would say the definition of an early car would be built before `73...if you need a cut-off point

[locost_bryan]

Bryan, most of the things listed seem to be on the very early cars only, definately on the `71 cars and some of the `72 cars, i have even seen a couple of `73 cars with some of these features, but these are usually `73 cars built in `72, so i would say the definition of an early car would be built before `73...if you need a cut-off point

Frank, I must be on too many forums full of rivet counters.

For the non-experts like me , would does

lead loaded smooth

mean, and how can I tell if it's been done?

[Marinanut]

If there is a visible joint between the roof panel and the tops of the windscreen pillars, and a seam from the rear vents to the rear window, its not been lead-loaded. If they are baby-bum smooth, they have. Simples.