People's opinion on the Morris Marina?

[Rob M]

May 8, 2016 20:27:40 GMT DrSebWilkes said:

For those ... all of you (?) ... who decided to get a classic car, how apprehensive where you of wasting your money? I suppose you all felt competent in fixing it and maintaining it.

Join the forum or find somebody who is on there.
Ask if the car is known to anybody on there.
Ask if anybody is local to the car
Ask if they or anybody else would be willing to give it the once over.
Alternatively, do what most of us do, go on a road trip and buy the car blind.
Scarily fun.

[DrSebWilkes]

Anyone live near Durham (or specifically, live near Darlington) and is willing to view it for me? I won't be allowed to go on my own to see it. Sorry at how complicated this is; believe me, I really wish it wasn't.

[philpy]

Its an old car, which WILL need tinkering with, prob nothing serious, but WILL need more attention than a £2000 corsa etc.... On the plus side if something serious goes wrong it will be cheaper than something serious on a £2000 corsa etc.
My concern, and please don't take this the wrong way is, I'm not sure you would have the skills, knowledge to keep it on the road? Which if you had to pay a mechanic would soon add up!

[PandaSelecta]

I would personally be looking at getting a car for a few hundred that needs work, and learning the skills needed to repair cars. At 16 years old, you're too young to drive it, so the car is just going to sit, and that's no good for any car. At least if a project car sits for a while, its not going to matter too much.

[porsche944]

Quite a few years ago a mate & I used to buy MOT failed cars, fix them up for MOT & sell them.
Two cars were head & shoulders above others in demand. Austin Maxis & Marinas. I also had 2 Itals as Company cars, a 1.7L & a 2.0HLS auto.
The MOT fails on marinas were invariably rusty sills & front suspension. Sills we had a local guy do for £25 a side or £40 both & generally the floors were good.
The front suspension was a major PITA as frequently it was partially or completely seized. Generally because it had never seen a grease gun. The 1300 was most popular but tended to lead a hard life as the Marina is a biggish car. The other issue we did a few of was clutches, generally not a problem but we caught a cold with one where the clutch fork was cracked. A s/h clutch fork on a fixed price job meant we didn't make as much money.
Another gottcha with the clutch is the slave cylinder fits in a loop on the bellhousing. The times I've seen people put the box back & the slave is dangling off, even my dad, who'd worked on cars all his life managed it. Oh how we laughed ;-)
The gearbox & back axle for some weird reason are Triumph based & sensitive to getting oil changed which no one ever did.
They didn't drive too bad, a friend had a 1.8TC with BL Special Tuning suspension & it went & handled well.
Oh & 0-60 on a 1.8TC is around 10 seconds, which of a period was pretty quick. Nearly 100BHP & under 1000kg.

[pistonpopper]

May 8, 2016 20:27:40 GMT DrSebWilkes said:

For those ... all of you (?) ... who decided to get a classic car, how apprehensive where you of wasting your money? I suppose you all felt competent in fixing it and maintaining it.

Terrified... Every time i buy a new car i am constantly wondering whats wrong with it? How will i fix it if, and when it goes wrong, and it will go wrong if you keep it long enough. I think i've had about 67 cars now, and worried about it every time, even when i bought a brand new car, i worried about that too, what if it goes wrong, how will i afford to fix it so on and so fourth. It's part of the journey, part of the fun, part of the experience! Just get good breakdown cover, you'll be fine! Also, my folks didn't really approve of my car choices either, they bought me my first car, and the other 66 cars i've bought myself, and whenever i say to them, hey i've just bought a... They put their heads in their hands in dispair, even if it's a car that they have owned! My Dad drives a Rover 75 estate which he likes very much, but he's always fancied a Jaguar. I hat two last year, an X-type, and an S-type, both times he said what have you bought that for, and put his head in his hands in dispair. I kid you not, if i bought an identical Rover 75 to my Dads one he would say, what have you bought that for, and then put his head in his hands in dispair! As has been already said, it's only money, you can always earn more! Whats the point of having a big pile of money under your bed that you're never going to use? The only value that money has is the experiences that can be bought with it. Without these experiences money is pretty pointless!

[DrSebWilkes]

Thanks to everyone for the responses.

So I phoned up someone in the Morris Marina owner's club and he wasn't convinced of this particular Marina and said I should wait it out.

[PandaSelecta]

If you do end up with a Marina, I hope you get a vinyl sticker of a grand piano to put on the roof

[PHUQ]

Bloody awful things.

Love mine to bits, kept it longer now than any other car I've owned, sold it & bought it back once and will never sell it again.

Get yourself over to the fastmarinamagazine forum, they are a good bunch over there and will offer an opinion on anything that comes up.

Parts can be a pain- panels & trim particularly difficult. The club does recon clutch hydraulics and brake masters on exchange, which is another trouble spot cured.

Handling a bit dubious as standard, but there's ways around that, depending on budget and inclination.

Disagree about gutless, the 1800 goes pretty well (really quite well in TC form) but runs out of puff with it being a 4 speed gearbox. Gearboxes are pretty much the same in both 1300 & 1800 different ratios but the same (Triumph derived) unit. No 2.0 Ital ever got a manual 'box from the factory but a few have been converted since.

They rust, in most places you can think of. Buy one that isn't rusty. Not the first one you see, unless it's not rusty. Nothing mechanical is particularly tricky with them, but yeah, stuff will break and it will cost you money- that goes for any classic car. The clutch will seize if you leave it standing. Various bits will go "boing", generally at really inconvenient times. People will either love it or take the mick, depending on age/ inclination/ arrogance. Chances are the latter will be driving a people carrier, or a German saloon on finance. Don't kid yourself that you'll never need to get the spanners out, but buy a solid one with an open mind and you'll enjoy it.

[DrSebWilkes]

May 9, 2016 18:36:11 GMT PHUQ said:

Bloody awful things.

Love mine to bits, kept it longer now than any other car I've owned, sold it & bought it back once and will never sell it again.

Get yourself over to the fastmarinamagazine forum, they are a good bunch over there and will offer an opinion on anything that comes up.

Parts can be a pain- panels & trim particularly difficult. The club does recon clutch hydraulics and brake masters on exchange, which is another trouble spot cured.

Handling a bit dubious as standard, but there's ways around that, depending on budget and inclination.

Disagree about gutless, the 1800 goes pretty well (really quite well in TC form) but runs out of puff with it being a 4 speed gearbox. Gearboxes are pretty much the same in both 1300 & 1800 different ratios but the same (Triumph derived) unit. No 2.0 Ital ever got a manual 'box from the factory but a few have been converted since.

They rust, in most places you can think of. Buy one that isn't rusty. Not the first one you see, unless it's not rusty. Nothing mechanical is particularly tricky with them, but yeah, stuff will break and it will cost you money- that goes for any classic car. The clutch will seize if you leave it standing. Various bits will go "boing", generally at really inconvenient times. People will either love it or take the mick, depending on age/ inclination/ arrogance. Chances are the latter will be driving a people carrier, or a German saloon on finance. Don't kid yourself that you'll never need to get the spanners out, but buy a solid one with an open mind and you'll enjoy it.

I thought I recognised you from that forum; I just signed up!

Thank you for the advice. "Bloody awful" means "interesting challenge" to me  

[luckyseven]

My old one (and me Some of my happiest memories have hair in them)



I can honestly say that was the most reliable car I ever owned And it's not often anyone says that about a Marina. I bought it cos I needed cheap transport to get out to the sticks for agricultural college and it was the absolute cheapest car I could find. I bought it for £320, sold it on to my sister's boyfriend three years later for £300. In that time the only money I spent on it was to replace the exhaust which had rotted out (and it was, like, fifty quid for the entire thing!).

In my ownership it received exactly zero maintenance, was never driven at any less than full throttle everywhere, was pressed into service as an agricultural transport vehicle, hauled around anywhere up to six people and three dogs, did donuts in the fields and was generally treated in an utterly shameful manner. Never failed to start, never broke down, never complained. The closest it came to drama was when I dropped a fag inside the gaping gap between the two halves of the steering column shroud and it caught fire. If I could buy it back, I'd do it in a heartbeat but unfortunately either my miss-use finally caught up with it or my sister's ex was even more mechanically unsympathetic than I was, because a year into his tenure it ate its crank bearings in a catastrophic fashion and got weighed in. Sad times

I often find myself trawling eBay for a cheap one. But don't tell anyone, it'd be embarrassing. Mind you, I had mine about thrity years ago and it was beginning to rust despite having been a one-owner, garaged car. Not sure the intervening years will have been kind to any survivors

[ettorebugatti]

Don't forget to budget for tools and spare parts. And expect to spend some money to get the car right after buying (why would one sell a car otherwise?)

But why are you specifically looking for a Lada or a Marina, just for the square 3 box design?

If so. A Volvo 700 series from the eighties might be worth a look. It is more of a robust car.
To start a car hobby is easier with tinkering with the mechanics than tearing half the car apart

I guess a Ford Cortina Mk2 is already out of the price range, but that was coming from the same designer.

Styling wise Marinas do have potential.

[vitessetony]

Love the coupe very charger esqe front end. Nice work!

[Porsche]

You should join this forum and ask the people who know Marinas inside out. www.fastmarinamagazine.com/

[shagracer]

after reading this thread, i saw this in an Asda car park

1972 MORRIS MARINA COUPE 1.3 SUPER DELUXE by shagracer, on Flickr

there are two more photos of it, just click onto the pic

[oddball]

That is a nice coupe!

My first car was a 1.8 Marina coupe in 70s purple! Back then it was just a cheap old banger. Thing is, it was no worse than the various other cheap old bangers that my mates had.

To the original poster....if you fancy an old car, get one. That particular Marina looked a bit pricey, I think. If you are worried about spending your whole budget on buying a car and not having anything left for repairs, maybe consider something a bit cheaper? One of the good things about an old car like a Marina is that it will keep its value. A modern car that is sold for two grand will still depreciate, and if anything major goes wrong it will be instantly worthless!

As others have said, rust is the hardest thing to fix so try to find something with as little rust as possible. All old cars will have some! Get yourself a few basic tools and have a go at maintaining and repairing the mechanical side. It really is the best way to learn.

Oh, and the thing about the oil leak? Unless it is Japanese, all 70s cars will have an oil leak. That's how they were made...

[vitessetony]

If a BL car doesn't have an oil leak it means there's no oil in it!

[DrSebWilkes]

I just hope, so much, that another will come up without rust in my price range, before August (thanks time pressure!). I get so anxious about my obsessions and the worst part here is relying on luck; I hate that!

Sounds really fun anyway. Hopefully by August, I can join this prestigious club of cool people that own great motors (where great is not indicative of price, but conducive of character).

[steveg]

My Dad had a late 1.7 estate as a works car. It was abused terribly, not that it was badly driven but it had a huge roof rack fitted, used to tow a pretty heavy trailer and was always well loaded up with tools.
Things that suffered most were the rear axle and gearbox, think it had a new clutch as well. The engine was very good though and the only problem with it was when an alternator bolt sheared off. There were probably other things but as I was about 10 and the time I can't remember much now !

In a lot of ways it was a better car then the Mk3 Cortina he had before. That suffered from a strange starting fault and used to get push started quite a lot !

As said rust is the biggest problem the mechanical bits are relatively straightforward to fix.

[MkX]

I'm not a huge fan of the Marina which is purely based on looks.

They're not a terrible car neither are they a great car. You're not going to get trouble-free motoring with any classic; they will soak up your free time & your money, (at roughly the equivalent rate that a nearly new car will depreciate).
Because they weren't a brilliant or characterful car people didn't look after them / restore them so they will soon be getting quite rare.

£2K should buy you a sound one.
The gold standard, (as with any car), is that elusive one owner, low mileage, always garaged example.
Basically reasonable mileage & least rust is what you're after. Low number of owners, service history, low mileage or previous restoration is a bonus.

With appropriate maintenance, you should be able to use it as an everyday runner.
It will keep up with modern traffic but won't stop as quickly as it.
Most Classic Car Insurers don't like you using your classic for everyday & often expect you to own a modern everyday car.

If you find a Marina without significant rust that will probably be down to it having been garaged for most of it's life, if you don't garage it and start to use it in wet & on salted roads in the winter the bodywork will quickly start to deteriorate.

You can eliminate the major cause of period unreliability, (condensation in the distributor effecting the spark), by swopping over to electronic ignition.

Someone has described the mechanicals as 'robust' they weren't - they were nothing more than average.
If you buy a car with, for example, 70-80K miles on it, (depending on litreage, service history & boy racer vs. Vicar ownership), you could be looking at a new engine within a few years. Affordable parts aren't a problem.

Someone else has said that if you bought a more modern car you'd be just as much at risk of breakdown, I don't think that's the case. If you spent your £2K on a 10 year old Corolla you could get that low mileage, one owner, f.s.h. car that's always been kept in a garage & you could expect at least a decade of reasonably trouble-free motoring. 

If it was my money I'd buy the classic!
I'd join the AA / RAC / Green Flag.
If I was looking at BL, personally, I'd probably plump for an Allegro / Maxi or Austin 1300 over the Marina.
Whichever way you jump, don't rush, do your homework. Pass over 10 cars to buy THE one.