My late father had one that he bought as a cheap runabout and I remember him saying that he hadn’t had so much fun in a car since he met my mother 😂. Rear wheel drive and cheap tyres and anything above 20mph and it was tail out heaven 🏴👍🏻
The one to have and the nicest of all of the Marinas with all of the chrome was the Mk2 1.8 HL/TC with the built in spot lights in the grill. I had a 1978 one CDS 443S in Tahiti Blue, blue vinyl roof and blue interior, an ex-company car and it was an excellent fast car for back then that I drove fast here around the country roads outside Paisley. These cars also had uprated anti-roll bars. Very reliable car and I looked after and serviced it and rustproofed it myself. I was keeping this car for good and was gutted when a woman drove out from a junction right in front of me without stopping in 1984 writing it off. These Mk2 HLs are very rare these days so impossible to get one never mind a Tahiti Blue one. The people who slag off Marinas - and Allegros - are just simply the numpties who respout the drivel that they have heard from Top Gear etc or their mates down the pub or people who bought unlooked after heaps and then blamed the car/manufacturer instead of their stupidity in buying the car or those who just never bothered servicing or looked after their cars or used cheap parts. Cult Models do excellent 1:18 scale models of the Mk2 Marina HLs but unfortunately not in Tahiti Blue - gave them my reg number in case they do another run in the future of new colours.
A mate at college, back in 1990, had one. Same colour. He had to keep bricks in the boot to stop the rear end bouncing around if I recall. It was pretty much on it's last legs but it got us to a few gigs!
Brings back memories. My first car was a Marina 1.3 Coupe Deluxe. Maroon paint with a Beige Interior. OUK 556R. It was originally my dad's car which he bought through the BL employee discount scheme. He was a paint rectifier at Land Rover for many years which probably explains why it later became two tone, Maroon on Top, Sandglow on the bottom! I ran it for a good few years until it finally fell apart due to rust and mechanical failure. I can't say it was the best car I've ever owned but I remember it fondly 😊
I started selling these new in 1976 and there was little wrong with them and warranty claims were low. All the BL models just suffered from the BL bashing that people liked doing at that time when industrial strikes were common. This was not the poverty spec model as that description belonged to the lower spec Deluxe model. Most Supers that I remember had cloth covered seats which I think became standard later on which improved the cars looks and comfort. The performance of the 1800 versions of the series 2 cars were ruined by the exhaust emission changes that were introduced at the same time. These changes strangled the engine reducing the engines performance rendering the car not much livelier than the 1300 versions. This was later greatly improved by the introduction of the totally new O series engine.
Oh the luxury of a 4-speed gearbox. I was up in Fife in my 1932 Morris Minor Two-Seater last week. I did 1000 miles in total. It has a 3-speed 'crash' gearbox, cable-operated drum brakes, and solid axles with leaf springs in each corner. Power comes from a side-valve 847cc engine producing an eye-watering 19.25 BHP, capable of propelling the little car (9ft 8in) to a Vmax of 53mph. I tend to pootle along at 40-45mph, which feels like 80mph!! 😂 Morris had a reputation for building solid, well made, and very reliable cars, before it all went terribly wrong with the tie-up with Austin in 1952. I've been watching the Marina Coupe restoration on The Crap Car Collective UA-cam channel. They're doing a really good job.
My Mum had the Mark 2 , so much smarter with the new bumpers, in my view! It was a very smart "BROOKLANDS GREEN" (railway engine green!) which looked nice against all the chrome. INSIDE was the same nice CHESTNUT BROWN as on this one. That looked nice too, as you looked out over the contrasting green bonnet! "Hey, wait a minute" my mother cried out - as she saw a nice neighbour of ours come round the corner. "Let's give Mrs. Braeman a lift!" "Ooh what a lovely car!" She said! It was still not old, and WAS shiny! Although she was a bit like HYACINTH BOUQUET ( designer print dresses, smart hairdo's), Mrs. Braeman wasn't crazy! Complimenting us once again , on our lovely car, Mrs. Braeman exitted the car, and politely waved! My mother said to me, "I didn't realise we had such a posh car!" SO THERE, to any detractors, THIS CAR IS " HYATHACINTH APPROVED!"
40 years ago we had a neighbour just like hychinth buckett: who's husband actually had a maroon marina 1:3 coupé T Reg) whilst he washed & polished it , she'd be Washing her doorstep & pathway & polishing her letter box ) they later traded the marina in for a new austin maestro VDP auto ) thanks for your comment I enjoyed reading it. I remember brooklands green marina's with chestnut brown interior's) they looked Great.
They were 10 years out of date at launch. The roughly comparable Cortina Mk1 had been replaced by twice, Hillman Hunter had been selling since 1966 and Avenger launched in 1970 and Vauxhall had the HC Viiva
Had 2 in the mid 80s Loved them did what they said on the tin, my dad bought the first one i had after me it went on to do well over 1000,000 miles never had the head off cant fault them!
The Australian market received a 2.6 litre E series in line 6 cylinder Marina. Quick off the mark but still very short geared. There's a HubNut review on one.
The gearbox was not quite the same on the 1.8. I ran a couple of 1.8's as Taxi's back in the day and the main failure I had was the gearbox . I could not originally source one during a busy Christmas period and all I could find in the scrapyard was 1.3 's which appeared to look the same. However I installed one and the main difference was the main input shaft was a smaller diameter in the 1.3 which I solved by putting a 1.3 Clutch into it which lasted all off six weeks before it blew up in a big way.
i was going to buy a marina but then bought an avenger 1500 as the seller could not find the keys. have decided that the avenger has more chic due to the styling details.
I had an Ital estate which had that same horrible dashboard. Who at BL thought it would be a good idea to angle the radio apature away from the driver and make one side of said apature curved so you couldn't install a removable stereo? (I had a high end 1980's car stereo, which i placed in a removable case, but couldn't use it in the Ital).
Unfortunately I concur with the stereotype. Having been a loyal BMC customer and needing a 4 door saloon to replace my MGB convertible, my first new car was a Marina TC; vintage 1976. I hated the understeer. Much relieved to change to Cavalier 1.6 in 1978 & loved it. To this day I can’t figure out how I failed to spot the flaw on test drive, but I did on the day that my own arrived. Looking back, I fancy a few after market mechanical tweaks just might fix, or at least, substantially improve the handling.
morris minors replacement. even used torsion bar front suspension, and a leaf sprung back axle. early ones even used same A series engines, on the 1.3. 🤔 👍
First time i was so scared i refused to get back in a car was in a 1.8 marina coupe. Not the fault of the car really more the drivers' lack of ability and understanding of how it cornered, if you got it wrong it could bite you! Despite that experience ive always liked the cars, they were everywhere growing up, but most rusted away after 7 years or so, as did just about all cars back then.
First car was a 1.8TC estate, 1976, in the same sandglow paint and brown interior. They were not great cars then, so not sure why people like them now. We also had a VW passat mk1 estate 1976, which was a much better car than a Marina.
There never was a TC estate and they were not meant to be great cars - they were good cars such as the 1978 Marina 18 HL that I owned that WAS a TC which was an excellent reliable and fun fast car back then. The TC only came in saloon and coupe form.
"They had the effrontery, the bare-faced cheek to call this a Super? I suppose they weren't allowed back then to call it 'Trotskyite Crap'. Maybe that's what the TC version stood for."--Jeremy Clarkson.
I had one new worst car I have ever owned ,any smell of frost and rear wheels would lose traction,but I did go to Scotland and back, same colour as that car, bad handling,problem with clutch , exhaust , fuel tank leak, funny thing I cannot remember selling it , but a shit car, Ital was no better.
I think a lot of the reputation comes from BL's woes. Poor industrial relations and poor financial woes. And it just looks a bit drab. At this time Ford had the ultra cool Escort, Cortina and Granada. Vauxhall had all the turn around future forward designs. Citroën were... Well Citroën. Peugeot and Renault were doing more reliable and practical cars. Fiat was stylish and practical. BL were just always on the backfoot. This was supposed to compete with the Cortina but ended up in the same class as the Escort. And an Escort is always going to win that fight.
Oh dear! Escorts and Cortinas and Granadas cool? Granada cooler than a Rover SD1 - Not many people would agree with you. Escorts were agricultural RWD leaf sprung not as good as the rose tinted believed they were especially the Mk2 Escort designed by a brick designer - The Allegro was far superior and more advanced than them and would have been more advanced if they had been built with the hatchback they were designed to have. The Princess was far more advanced than the Cortina especially when they Ambassadorised it with a hatch later on. The Escorts and Cortinas the company I worked for in the late 70s early 80's went through engines and gearboxes as if they were wear and tear items and our company would not change to another manufacturer because Ford just replaced everything under warranty and because Ford sold cheap to the fleet market to maintain their sales. That is why I have never bought Ford since and the BL cars I owned WERE very reliable cars - then again I looked after and serviced my own cars.
Fran Healy (travis) and Daryl hall( hall and oates ) 👍pepole would laugh at these cars now there going wow a surviour, them viynl seats are tight ive seen modern car seats go baggy
The worst car I ever had. I had a Mk1 1300 the car was 4 years old when I bought it and paid £1300 for it, it was a P reg. I kept it for 2 years and sold it for £75, the front end totally disintegrated with rust, terrible car a total rust bucket.
All cars rusted back then especially with lazy owners who never bothered to rust proof their cars or even servicing them was too much for most back then as well. VWs were total rust buckets as well and it was the Mk1 Golf, Passat etc that got VW banned for saying how reliable they were in their adverts because they were NOT. They were using the reputation of the air-cooled original Beetles etc that WERE very reliable but their water-cooled normal engined cars etc since then have always been bottom of the reliability charts. I never had any problems with rust on my 1978 Mk2 Marina 1.8 HL/TC and it was very reliable as well because I actually did rust proof and service my own cars.
@@williamwoods8022 Spot on right. I bought a 74 Escort, just 4 years old and it was showing serious signs of rot. They were all the same and that's why I painted or Waxoyled in and underneath my cars from then on. People would slag these cars off and then they would admit that they had never driven one.
Nothing like the Morris Minor floor pan only sort of carryover were the 1930's front suspension design but there were no components carried over just very similar design
My late father had one that he bought as a cheap runabout and I remember him saying that he hadn’t had so much fun in a car since he met my mother 😂. Rear wheel drive and cheap tyres and anything above 20mph and it was tail out heaven 🏴👍🏻
The one to have and the nicest of all of the Marinas with all of the chrome was the Mk2 1.8 HL/TC with the built in spot lights in the grill. I had a 1978 one CDS 443S in Tahiti Blue, blue vinyl roof and blue interior, an ex-company car and it was an excellent fast car for back then that I drove fast here around the country roads outside Paisley. These cars also had uprated anti-roll bars. Very reliable car and I looked after and serviced it and rustproofed it myself. I was keeping this car for good and was gutted when a woman drove out from a junction right in front of me without stopping in 1984 writing it off. These Mk2 HLs are very rare these days so impossible to get one never mind a Tahiti Blue one. The people who slag off Marinas - and Allegros - are just simply the numpties who respout the drivel that they have heard from Top Gear etc or their mates down the pub or people who bought unlooked after heaps and then blamed the car/manufacturer instead of their stupidity in buying the car or those who just never bothered servicing or looked after their cars or used cheap parts. Cult Models do excellent 1:18 scale models of the Mk2 Marina HLs but unfortunately not in Tahiti Blue - gave them my reg number in case they do another run in the future of new colours.
A mate at college, back in 1990, had one. Same colour. He had to keep bricks in the boot to stop the rear end bouncing around if I recall.
It was pretty much on it's last legs but it got us to a few gigs!
Brings back memories. My first car was a Marina 1.3 Coupe Deluxe. Maroon paint with a Beige Interior. OUK 556R. It was originally my dad's car which he bought through the BL employee discount scheme. He was a paint rectifier at Land Rover for many years which probably explains why it later became two tone, Maroon on Top, Sandglow on the bottom! I ran it for a good few years until it finally fell apart due to rust and mechanical failure. I can't say it was the best car I've ever owned but I remember it fondly 😊
To JohnPS
You say it fell apart from rust?
Ours had a garage, but we got certainly 10 years out of it first!
I started selling these new in 1976 and there was little wrong with them and warranty claims were low. All the BL models just suffered from the BL bashing that people liked doing at that time when industrial strikes were common. This was not the poverty spec model as that description belonged to the lower spec Deluxe model. Most Supers that I remember had cloth covered seats which I think became standard later on which improved the cars looks and comfort. The performance of the 1800 versions of the series 2 cars were ruined by the exhaust emission changes that were introduced at the same time. These changes strangled the engine reducing the engines performance rendering the car not much livelier than the 1300 versions. This was later greatly improved by the introduction of the totally new O series engine.
3:00 The contrast in hair volume is mesmerising.
Oh the luxury of a 4-speed gearbox. I was up in Fife in my 1932 Morris Minor Two-Seater last week. I did 1000 miles in total. It has a 3-speed 'crash' gearbox, cable-operated drum brakes, and solid axles with leaf springs in each corner. Power comes from a side-valve 847cc engine producing an eye-watering 19.25 BHP, capable of propelling the little car (9ft 8in) to a Vmax of 53mph. I tend to pootle along at 40-45mph, which feels like 80mph!! 😂
Morris had a reputation for building solid, well made, and very reliable cars, before it all went terribly wrong with the tie-up with Austin in 1952.
I've been watching the Marina Coupe restoration on The Crap Car Collective UA-cam channel. They're doing a really good job.
My Mum had the Mark 2 , so much smarter with the new bumpers, in my view! It was a very smart "BROOKLANDS GREEN" (railway engine green!) which looked nice against all the chrome.
INSIDE was the same nice CHESTNUT BROWN as on this one. That looked nice too, as you looked out over the contrasting green bonnet!
"Hey, wait a minute" my mother cried out - as she saw a nice neighbour of ours come round the corner. "Let's give Mrs. Braeman a lift!"
"Ooh what a lovely car!" She said!
It was still not old, and WAS shiny!
Although she was a bit like HYACINTH BOUQUET ( designer print dresses, smart hairdo's), Mrs. Braeman wasn't crazy!
Complimenting us once again , on our lovely car, Mrs. Braeman exitted the car, and politely waved!
My mother said to me, "I didn't realise we had such a posh car!"
SO THERE, to any detractors, THIS CAR IS " HYATHACINTH APPROVED!"
40 years ago we had a neighbour just like hychinth buckett: who's husband actually had a maroon marina 1:3 coupé T Reg) whilst he washed & polished it , she'd be Washing her
doorstep & pathway & polishing her letter box ) they later traded the marina in for a new austin maestro VDP auto ) thanks for your comment I enjoyed reading it. I remember brooklands green marina's with chestnut brown interior's) they looked Great.
I sold these cars new to some lovely Hyacinth Bouquet's. I think the brown interior was called "Sorrel" which was very popular.
Being from the UK I've always heard about these cars and think my dad even owned one back in the day, Nice video! Wish I was around back then.
Dad had one exactly like that as a company car, probably the same year too; sandglow and brown interior.
Those vinyl seats were red hot in the summer.
They were 10 years out of date at launch. The roughly comparable Cortina Mk1 had been replaced by twice, Hillman Hunter had been selling since 1966 and Avenger launched in 1970 and Vauxhall had the HC Viiva
Had 2 in the mid 80s Loved them did what they said on the tin, my dad bought the first one i had after me it went on to do well over 1000,000 miles never had the head off cant fault them!
The Australian market received a 2.6 litre E series in line 6 cylinder Marina. Quick off the mark but still very short geared. There's a HubNut review on one.
Back in the late 70’s the office I worked in had vehicles for staff to use to get out on site … my favourite was a Marina van!! 👍😊
The gearbox was not quite the same on the 1.8. I ran a couple of 1.8's as Taxi's back in the day and the main failure I had was the gearbox . I could not originally source one during a busy Christmas period and all I could find in the scrapyard was 1.3 's which appeared to look the same. However I installed one and the main difference was the main input shaft was a smaller diameter in the 1.3 which I solved by putting a 1.3 Clutch into it which lasted all off six weeks before it blew up in a big way.
i was going to buy a marina but then bought an avenger 1500 as the seller could not find the keys. have decided that the avenger has more chic due to the styling details.
Brilliant video 👍
Respendent in "Sandglow" & identical to my first car
Pretty sure that there wasn't a twin cam version. The TC versions were twin carburettors.
Correct twin SU carbs MGB engine
Correct, no Twin Cams.
My fathers Mk 1 “ P” reg had the old daSh but the reversing lights as per this model!
I had an Ital estate which had that same horrible dashboard. Who at BL thought it would be a good idea to angle the radio apature away from the driver and make one side of said apature curved so you couldn't install a removable stereo? (I had a high end 1980's car stereo, which i placed in a removable case, but couldn't use it in the Ital).
Unfortunately I concur with the stereotype. Having been a loyal BMC customer and needing a 4 door saloon to replace my MGB convertible, my first new car was a Marina TC; vintage 1976. I hated the understeer. Much relieved to change to Cavalier 1.6 in 1978 & loved it. To this day I can’t figure out how I failed to spot the flaw on test drive, but I did on the day that my own arrived. Looking back, I fancy a few after market mechanical tweaks just might fix, or at least, substantially improve the handling.
I prefer the other interior tbh. No idea why🤣 I like the sering wheel on it
morris minors replacement. even used torsion bar front suspension, and a leaf sprung back axle. early ones even used same A series engines, on the 1.3. 🤔 👍
First time i was so scared i refused to get back in a car was in a 1.8 marina coupe.
Not the fault of the car really more the drivers' lack of ability and understanding of how it cornered, if you got it wrong it could bite you!
Despite that experience ive always liked the cars, they were everywhere growing up, but most rusted away after 7 years or so, as did just about all cars back then.
Mot garages loved then guaranteeded lots of work every year
1275 A series had a lot more issues than the smaller A series or B or O series.
First car was a 1.8TC estate, 1976, in the same sandglow paint and brown interior. They were not great cars then, so not sure why people like them now. We also had a VW passat mk1 estate 1976, which was a much better car than a Marina.
There never was a TC estate and they were not meant to be great cars - they were good cars such as the 1978 Marina 18 HL that I owned that WAS a TC which was an excellent reliable and fun fast car back then. The TC only came in saloon and coupe form.
"They had the effrontery, the bare-faced cheek to call this a Super? I suppose they weren't allowed back then to call it 'Trotskyite Crap'. Maybe that's what the TC version stood for."--Jeremy Clarkson.
Them stalks are off something else
I had one new worst car I have ever owned ,any smell of frost and rear wheels would lose traction,but I did go to Scotland and back, same colour as that car, bad handling,problem with clutch , exhaust , fuel tank leak, funny thing I cannot remember selling it , but a shit car, Ital was no better.
I think a lot of the reputation comes from BL's woes. Poor industrial relations and poor financial woes. And it just looks a bit drab. At this time Ford had the ultra cool Escort, Cortina and Granada. Vauxhall had all the turn around future forward designs. Citroën were... Well Citroën. Peugeot and Renault were doing more reliable and practical cars. Fiat was stylish and practical. BL were just always on the backfoot. This was supposed to compete with the Cortina but ended up in the same class as the Escort. And an Escort is always going to win that fight.
Oh dear! Escorts and Cortinas and Granadas cool? Granada cooler than a Rover SD1 - Not many people would agree with you. Escorts were agricultural RWD leaf sprung not as good as the rose tinted believed they were especially the Mk2 Escort designed by a brick designer - The Allegro was far superior and more advanced than them and would have been more advanced if they had been built with the hatchback they were designed to have. The Princess was far more advanced than the Cortina especially when they Ambassadorised it with a hatch later on. The Escorts and Cortinas the company I worked for in the late 70s early 80's went through engines and gearboxes as if they were wear and tear items and our company would not change to another manufacturer because Ford just replaced everything under warranty and because Ford sold cheap to the fleet market to maintain their sales. That is why I have never bought Ford since and the BL cars I owned WERE very reliable cars - then again I looked after and serviced my own cars.
Fran Healy (travis) and Daryl hall( hall and oates ) 👍pepole would laugh at these cars now there going wow a surviour, them viynl seats are tight ive seen modern car seats go baggy
The worst car I ever had. I had a Mk1 1300 the car was 4 years old when I bought it and paid £1300 for it, it was a P reg. I kept it for 2 years and sold it for £75, the front end totally disintegrated with rust, terrible car a total rust bucket.
All cars rusted back then especially with lazy owners who never bothered to rust proof their cars or even servicing them was too much for most back then as well. VWs were total rust buckets as well and it was the Mk1 Golf, Passat etc that got VW banned for saying how reliable they were in their adverts because they were NOT. They were using the reputation of the air-cooled original Beetles etc that WERE very reliable but their water-cooled normal engined cars etc since then have always been bottom of the reliability charts. I never had any problems with rust on my 1978 Mk2 Marina 1.8 HL/TC and it was very reliable as well because I actually did rust proof and service my own cars.
Yes you are right terrible car , like an idiot I bought one new ,sucker
@@williamwoods8022 Spot on right. I bought a 74 Escort, just 4 years old and it was showing serious signs of rot. They were all the same and that's why I painted or Waxoyled in and underneath my cars from then on. People would slag these cars off and then they would admit that they had never driven one.
Where was the piano
My Grandfather had one brand new 1972 absolutely crap ! When he died nobody in the family wanted it????
Its funny i prefer the mk1 this is acceptable the ital is garbage i like the maxi always have but i detest the princess and ambassador
The Ambassador was a big improvement over the Princess, but still a big, wallowing, barge.
Based on the Morris Minor floorpan , if i remember correctly.
It wasn't based on the Minor's floorpan, but it did have the Minor's suspension.
You don't remember correctly.
Nothing like the Morris Minor floor pan only sort of carryover were the 1930's front suspension design but there were no components carried over just very similar design
Don't know what to say really........... but while you need comments, absolute s***e I suppose.
Sorry maar ik vind dit een afgetrapt hok... 😶