Surviving MK1 1.8 DL saloons

[JoshWard]

Now that maestego's MK1 1.8 DL saloon is slowly being torn apart I was wondering if anybody knew of any others out there?

The more I think about it the more I'm sure that I haven't come across any other surviving ones. I'm beginning to worry we may be losing the last one.

Howmanyleft says there are 30 licensed and 26 SORN but that will also include MK2s and I suspect the majority of them are SDLs or TCs incorrectly recorded as Deluxes on the DVLA database (still haven't been able to think of a reason why so many were recorded as such!).

[maestego]

yes it may be the very last,Howmanyleft i've checked and found if you break it down i found there are only 8 left....4 are on the road and 4 sorn that was last year...the body shell is not going to the crush thats getting stored away unless i'll find a buyer for it in the mean time...a sad day

[JoshWard]

Yeah it breaks down to 4 1972 models and 1 1974 model, the rest (23) are unknown year of registration.

That doesn't include the 26 on SORN.

Your saloon wont be part of those figures anyway as it was last taxed in 1996 and doesn't appear to be on SORN?

If you had offered it up for sale as a complete car as I suggested a few times there would have been a greater chance of it surviving in one piece I would probably have bought it myself but it's missing too many bits for me to take on now. If only I had kept all the bits from my 1.8 then it could have been rebuilt with those.

[maestego]

just a few parts are missing(door outer handle's and rear shocks with all mountings) thats it the rest is there for now...

[ado28]

The General and myself cut up a 1300 Mk1 DL a few years ago

[JoshWard]

I'm guessing it's not all in one piece though so it would be difficult to transport.

I've got quite a few door handles and a couple of sets of rear shocks as well

Got any photos of her as she is at the moment? I need another project car like I need a hole in the head but this one needs saving.


Fortunately 1.3 DLs seem to have survived well compared to 1.8s. From memory I have got about 5 MK1 1.3 DLs recorded. Only two 1.8 DL coupes and this 1.8 DL saloon though.

Not surprised you cut one up, noone seems to want them/care about them. Not surprising really as it's only natural when wanting a weekend car to get the top of the range model, hence why most people want TCs and most people in the Dolomite world want Sprints, same goes for RS Escorts, Cortina 1600Es etc etc. Base models always seem to have the worst survival rate, look at how many Mumfords are known to survive despite the very low production run!

[maestego]

i think mine is the only one i've seen...seen alot of 1.3 and tc and more coupe's

[locost_bryan]

Fortunately 1.3 DLs seem to have survived well compared to 1.8s. From memory I have got about 5 MK1 1.3 DLs recorded. Only two 1.8 DL coupes and this 1.8 DL saloon though.

Do we know how many 1.8 DL were made?

Could it simply be that few were made (and therefore quite rare anyway )? If someone bought a DL because it was cheap to buy, would they be more likely to opt for the 1.3 to keep the insurance and running costs low? And if they opted to spend more for the 1.8 engine, would they perhaps have stretched a bit to go up to the SDL?

[JoshWard]

Possibly. From old pictures, videos etc it seems DLs once upon a time were possibly the most common Marina variant, presumably due to fleet buyers.

As you say anyone buying a cheap car would probably have plumped for the 1.3.