The 1970 Marinas...

[JoshWard]

A bored evening and a pile of press photographs has left me wondering...

What happened to all the 1970 built Marinas that were used in the launch photographs? Well it appears they were sold on afterwards, perhaps to members of the public or more likely factory workers?

So it was off to the DVLA to check out what happened...

1.3 DL Saloon- sadly I couldn't look this up as I can't see the reg number
1.3 DL coupe- WOH 491J- date of liability 31 01 1984
1.3 SDL saloon- WOH 497J- date of liability 01 04 1984
1.3 SDL coupe- WOH 492J- date of liability 01 07 1988
TC Saloon- WOH 500J- date of liability 01 07 1983
TC Coupe- WOH 495J- date of liability 01 02 1984
1.8 SDL saloon- WOH 499J- no longer on database
1.8 DL saloon- WOH 498J- no longer on database
1.8 DL coupe- WOH 494J- date of liability 01 08 1984
1.8 SDL coupe- reg not visible

This sequence leaves us with WOH 493J and WOH 496J.
WOH 493J is listed as a red 1.8 with date of liability as 01 08 1984, so presumably this is the 1.8 SDL coupe
WOH 496J is listed as a blue 1.3 with date of liability as 01 10 1987, so presumably this is the 1.3 DL saloon


ALL cars were registered on 15/12/1970


So then... where are these cars now? Has anybody ever seen one? Several were scrapped after the formation of the MMOC, were there no efforts to find and preserve any? (I'm guessing much more difficult in pre internet days! No access to DVLA database etc)
Mind you I am always surprised at the number of Marinas in photos of old MMOC meets that are no longer with us, I guess there just weren't enough enthusiasts to save as many examples as possible?- especially in the days of Marinas as being old bangers. Which arguably is still a situation we are in today, I have seen forum members' cars sold and banger raced or neglected by owners.

It's safe to say both the 1.8 DL and SDL saloon are dead, but what of the others, could at least one of them be tucked away somewhere? Is it possible to contact the DVLA to see if cars have a current registered keeper or not? I believe I have heard of someone doing that but can't be sure....
Or the close dates of liability could mean they met the same fate as many Marinas in the mid to late 80s.

Like I said, I was bored this evening Food for thought though, wonder how many J plates are left now? Can you tell I'm really getting into the early cars?

[vermillion]

I have a guy lives about 200 yds from me who has what we think is possibly one of the earliest j plates known Josh but the guy is very private and doesn't like to talk too much about it although I saw the car about 10 years ago and it was a bit of a wreck then. The last time that I spoke to him he had lost the key to his garage but I did pass on the vin number to Frank

Gary.

[JoshWard]

Oh well at least with it being so close to you if it ever goes for scrap you'll be able to stop them in time

I seem to remember Frank's J plater having a chassis number of about 2500. I wonder what the chassis numbers of these WOH 4**J cars were, being registered (and therefore built) in 1970 could they be the very first Marinas? Later press cars wore WOK plates didn't they?

I really wish I had bought 5055 (the flame red 1.3 saloon) when I had the chance a couple of years back Oh well there's a few 71 cars owned by a couple of the Norfolk Marina lads so maybe if I pester them one will come up for sale, although they are all K plates!

As an aside it is interesting just how long cars could sit, Ducky was first registered in May 72, but has a chassis number lower than a friend's car registered in March 72 (Ducky is just below 75,000).

[ado28]

Talking about chassis numbers, my 10cwt is chassis no 3018 and was once (as I understand) the oldest survivor. Is this still the case or is there an earlier 10cwt kicking about. I think Frank would be the man with this knowledge.

[ClaytonSpeed]

WOH 107J - was originally a 1.3 DL iirc. It was on the cover of Autocar (1971). It was then taken by Special tuning and turned into this:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1344930029.939973.jpg (12.45 KiB) Viewed 5443 times

The FIRST V8 S/T Marina. Now residing on my drive:

Hehe


www.fastmarinamagazine.com - Check out my V8 conversion in Readers Projects.

[JoshWard]

The reg numbers don't seem to be in order of manufacture date, i tried out WOH 399J as an experiment and it came up as a 1.8, registered on 4th Feb 1971 so even though it had an earlier plate it isn't a 1970 car.

Sadly WOH 107J isn't listed anymore, it would be really interesting to find out what the first car off the line was and it's reg number (and also what the first pre-production car was!).

[balmy]

I know Joe Warren has a really early car. I'll check with him but I know it was made in first couple of months of production.

[ClaytonSpeed]

Josh, why don't you write something up for the MMOC mag?


www.fastmarinamagazine.com - Check out my V8 conversion in Readers Projects.

[JoshWard]

Good idea, it would certainly widen the possibilities of finding out what happened to these cars and maybe discover a few other early cars out there. I will hopefully get round to it soon, as I'm also going to do a writeup on Ducky.

[Marinanut]

Donkey's years ago, when I was editing the MMOC Club mag, I got a letter from a guy in Cumbria who claimed to have seen and 'H' reg Marina saloon in his local scrappy but didn't cotton on to the reg until a day or so later, when that part of the yard had been reduced to razorblade ore....

[JoshWard]

Now that is intriguing as the latest that could have been registered is July 1970?

Guess that could even have been a prototype for the production cars!

[MarinaCoupe]

I recall a photograph a couple of years ago with some Marina prototypes with square headlights and H plates at MIRA. So definitely 1970.








Chris
www.marinacoupe.co.uk

[JoshWard]

I guess you mean these cars


I think I've also seen one with the number plates visible although can't find it now. They look VERY Hillman Avenger-esque with those square lights!

Also found this nice shot with a lot of the press photo cars together


There's also this shot which I just found that is rather interesting, this is the second version I have seen. The original shot has TC coupe WOK 144J and DL saloon WOH 498J, this one seems to have been edited later on, if you look around the TC's number plate the original white plate (as in the WOK 144J shot) is slightly visible.
Retouched once the K registration plate came out?

Sadly I can't find the original shot online right now. ARonline had loads of photos, which seem to have disappeared
I wonder if the WOK cars were 1970 made as well?

Eamonn Fountain has scanned an original press pack onto his website:
http://www.eamonnschevy.com/page23.htm
All photos appear to feature the WOH cars except one clearly visible coupe 'JOC 277J'
This plate is not registered so whether it's a dummy plate or the car is scrapped we will never know.