Rescued Ital in latest Practical Classics mag

[MarinaCoupe]

You'll recall before Christmas that I posted that there was a 1.7 Ital needing rescueing due to loss of storage. I know some of you followed up in it. The owner decided to sell it to Danny Hopkins of Practical Classics in the end.

Well its in the Spring edition of the magazine.

I wasn't terribly happy with the write up so wrote to Danny today, this is my email and his reply.

From: Hopkins, Danny [mailto:danny.hopkins@bauermedia.co.uk]
Sent: 16 March 2013 19:02
To: Chris Weedon
Subject: RE: Ital write up

I'll get my own back on them.

I discovered that the rear anti role bar had detached itself on one side the day after the shoot and a set of new tyres has significantly improved matters. I'll be driving it on the Morris 100 rally on 29th and it'll be taking me to work before then. I'm extremely fond of it.

Danny Hopkins, Editor
Practical Classics Magazine
Britain's Biggest Selling Hands-on Classic Car Title (ABC Audited)

01733 468000

PRACTICAL CLASSICS EDITORIAL
BAUER MEDIA
MEDIA HOUSE
LYNCHWOOD
PETERBOROUGH
PE2 6EA
________________________________________
From: Chris Weedon [c.weedon@ntlworld.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2013 5:50 PM
To: Hopkins, Danny
Subject: Ital write up

Hi Danny

I got my subscription copy of PC today, thanks for the plug for the club.

Your colleagues weren't very complimentary were they? Hopefully that was before you fitted the polyurethane tie bar bushes? If it handles better now perhaps you could say so in the next magazine, because it leaves an out of date message with the readership as it is.

If it's still rough handling, then it sounds like a lot of the bushes are v tired. Superflex can supply just about everything for a Marina or Ital in polyurethane if you have a budget of a couple of hundred quid.

Good condition front shocks also make a big difference to the handling, Sam Glover's rebuild of his Marina Coupe shocks the other year shows what can be done.

How about an article on 'How to improve suspension' and use the Marina as an example.

I'll happily talk it through if you want and as I live in Bedford, I could make it up to Peterborough with a bit of notice.

Regards,

Chris Weedon

[JoshWard]

'Practical Classics
After a week of Morris ital driving - the xj6 feels like it was designed by angels and built by Swiss watchmakers.' (from the Practical Classics Facebook page).

From the sounds of that he might not be warming to it much.

Knew I should have gone for it

[andy clee]

buy it off him then lol when can we see this car i have the april issue with the marina that was the fave over cortina and thats a car every one raves about long live the marina and ital

[PHUQ]

Having owned both, I can see his point! The Marina is a lot more fun though...

[locost_bryan]

'Practical Classics
After a week of Morris ital driving - the xj6 feels like it was designed by angels and built by Swiss watchmakers.' (from the Practical Classics Facebook page).

From the sounds of that he might not be warming to it much.

Knew I should have gone for it

Let's face it, the XJ6 was a great car , much better than anything out of Germany (in the late '60s and early '70s) . Bit like comparing your laptop's 15" LCD screen to a 55" plasma tele.

[JoshWard]

I once met a man who was a chauffeur all his life driving Jags and Bentleys etc and he said in a straight line the best car he ever drove was a Morris Ital 1.3 Automatic!

Of course the XJ6 is a better car, I just don't think it's great for a classic car magazine to be making unfair comparisons and then broadcasting them to the world, as I suspect some people wouldn't be able to see it was just a joke and then start to think 'Itals are crap' etc. They should be trying to change peoples' perceptions of the car not reinforcing negative stereotypes.

[PHUQ]

That's just typical of PC's writing style- most of Sam Glover's eclectic fleet are described in a similarly tongue in cheek manner.

Getting overheated about a light hearted- but lets face it, accurate comment such as that is going to do the club absolutely no favours at all- I think we are percieved by the outside world (thanks mainly to TG) as a bunch of cantankerous old duffers who do nothing but polish our cars and grumble. We all know that's not true but throwing a wobbly every time someone makes a negative comment about our cars isn't going to help!

Chris' initial reply wasn't unjustified but whinging about the comparison to the Jag, really? And if they are the two cars he has parked outside his house it's perfectly valid to compare them!

I notice no-one complained that the Marina beat the Dolly Sprint in last month's shootout

[balmy]

That's just typical of PC's writing style- most of Sam Glover's eclectic fleet are described in a similarly tongue in cheek manner.

Getting overheated about a light hearted- but lets face it, accurate comment such as that is going to do the club absolutely no favours at all- I think we are percieved by the outside world (thanks mainly to TG) as a bunch of cantankerous old duffers who do nothing but polish our cars and grumble. We all know that's not true but throwing a wobbly every time someone makes a negative comment about our cars isn't going to help!

Chris' initial reply wasn't unjustified but whinging about the comparison to the Jag, really? And if they are the two cars he has parked outside his house it's perfectly valid to compare them!

I notice no-one complained that the Marina beat the Dolly Sprint in last month's shootout

Good post

[JoshWard]

I'm not complaining at all, I know it was just a throw away light hearted remark but there are enough people out there who seem to have it in for the Marina/Ital and their owners already thanks to the likes of TG, so remarks made about the cars need to be made carefully in case they are misconstrued. Nobody is throwing a wobbly and nobody is whinging
I just think negative comments should be kept to a minimum if the car is to be portrayed in a positive light in order to counteract negative perceptions that some still hold.

A few Ford people didn't seem to like it

[MarinaCoupe]

As long as Danny comes through with his update in the magazine, that's OK by me.

What is good is that we've got a magazine Editor driving one of 'our' cars, so it will be mentioned each time they review their own cars. It's the month by month drip feed of the car being mentioned that will help the cars image.

Amongst the various comments by the other writers, words like concours, best car here were used so its not all downside.

[PHUQ]

Thing is though Josh- they aren't particuarly good cars! Not as bad as the popular press would have you believe, but the fact is, as cars go, there are much better!

Insisting that we only ever have positive publicity is likely to have the opposite effect- it's a bit like door- to- door salesmen (or religionists, charityists, whatever), while they are stood on your doorstep prattling on about how fantastic their product is you humour them. As soon as the door shuts you either let out a string of expletives or laugh, then go make a cuppa and forget about it.

The way to change our image is to get out there- both in the media and on the road and showground- with a varied selection of cars and show that they (and the owners ) can scrub up quite nicely, and be good fun to own and drive while not needing Mk1 Escort sized bank balances. We (well- you lot, my car is a shed!) are doing a pretty good job of this, on balance- keep up the good work!

[JoshWard]

and show that they (and the owners ) can scrub up quite nicely

Speak for yourself

True I hadn't thought about only having good publicity would be a bad thing.

I'm well aware they aren't the best cars in the world, I just thought it would be a good idea to try and hide that fact! I think it's one thing the club have always been good at acknowledging, whether it be in the appearance on the 'old' Top Gear, the BBC regional news shoot that Ben was in or the recent article by a local (to me) magazine about the Marina and a club member, which I have to say was one of the better pieces I have read about the Marina. The journalist who wrote it is an ex Marina owner so he actually knew the cars weren't all that bad which helps

Certainly the best way to try and change the opinion of other classic car owners is by 'battling' it out on the showground with a good display of cars. One thing I have noticed in the Nationals report is that the standard of the cars gets higher every year.

[Barmy]

i see we have a new member SLOW ITAL reckon it's Danny Hopkins?

[ClaytonSpeed]

i see we have a new member SLOW ITAL reckon it's Danny Hopkins?

Just checked and it's not. I know who it is though

Ben

[SLOW ITAL]

SLOW ITAL is a certain yellow hl which is a body shell at the moment,
Thats why its a bit slow.