1980 Morris Marina Mk3, 1 previous owner from new, and FREE!

[braithwaite]

Yes, I got distracted and ended up with a Morris Marina. 

See my post within the V8 Ital thread here: The Burnout BL project

Anyway dear reader allow me to elaborate. Last year (2023) I attended the Morris Marina Owners Club Nationals Weekend, and contrary to what you'd be lead to believe by a popular motoring trio, I had fun, the club are great and I highly recommend them where ever I can. I was given the chance to drive a Marina TC Jubilee, a rare special edition of the 1.8 TC that came with extra trim, opening quarterlights and a subtle colour scheme.




This weekend of road trip and show and shine lead me to the conclusion I needed another more roadworthy Marina in my life to fill the gap of attending events while working on Yellow Peril (see above link). However cash being a little short I shelved the idea for the time being... 

Until I had the club magazine come through the letter box and saw an advert, with a couple of photos, which read something along the lines of:

"Free to the right home, Mk3 1.7L Morris Marina Base, Ziebarted from new and well maintained by original owner until parked on his drive 20 years ago. Not to be broken or banger raced. Contact the club chairman." 

So I did, and put my name into the hat so to speak, there were a few interested parties and the chairman went back to the owner to let him choose who he wanted to gift the car to, and I was lucky enough for it to be me! What a fine machine she turned out to be! 



This is parked up somewhere in Bedford having pushed it off the drive and onto the trailer! Stay tuned for more back story in the coming days.

Braithwaite.

[ovimor]

Fandabiedoshalicious....

Strike#

OVIMOR

[igor]

Shame you can't pop it in an envelope and post to New Zealand.

[Davey]

Very good, do continue.

[braithwaite]

Let me elaborate on the car and the collection adventure. Lots of words followed by photos! 

This is a 1980 Mk3 Morris Marina, making it one of the last Marina's before they went to the Ital, it has the 1.7L O-series engine, which went into the Itals, Ambassador's and Princess's as well as Leyland Sherpa's (which also got the 2.0L variant, which is just a stroked crank). It's Base spec (aka lightweight/race car spec) so has no chrome, no radio and the smallest hub caps that just cover the four wheel nuts and that's it, however having the optional extra of a tow-bar which included a passenger side mirror (phwoar!) and rear screen demist as well as being treated heavily to a Ziebart undercoating and cavity waxing. Dear reader, even the higher spec Mk3's didn't get a passenger mirror! It's a lovely shade of Poo Russett Brown with a biscuit brown interior, well it was... let me explain.

This car was bought new by a Mr. R. Cope, an Agricultural Engineer, from Oakley BL in Bedford (Car is now named Oakley). He collected the car from the dealership and the first thing he did was drive to Jersey for a holiday. From there on it was their family car, it towed their caravan, their daughter learned to drive in it, it was a daily driver. In 2003 it was retired and parked on the drive, replaced by a Maestro and a myriad of Vauxhalls. 20 odd years of British weather including that big yellow thing have taken their toll on the interior and window seals as well as some of the repairs it had through it's life. Through the years people often knocked on the door offering to buy the car, but Richard always rejected the offers, explaining he would get round to it one day. 

Eventually and unfortunately, Mr. Cope admitted defeat and agreed to get rid of the car, which is where I came in as previously explained. We arrived early and had to manoeuvre an 18ft trailer around some very narrow Bedfordshire suburban streets, not ideal but we managed. I didn't do much looking at it as it was free so even if it fell in half I was going to take it home. What I hadn't expected was boxes and boxes of spares, including a windscreen so those had to be squeezed into the tow car. 

With the car loaded, we headed off to visit some friends, 10 minutes in I noticed we were being chased by a Range Rover, I pulled over and expected some swears, but no, it was a kind motorist returning a hub cap which had parted ways from the Marina! So all 4 ended up ripped off and thrown in the car! 

The rest of journey went without issue and we were papped on the drive home! A pitstop in Cobham services to laugh at another stupid acquisition as well.















Once back I put the car into a storage unit as I already had other projects on the go. 



These are the pictures I got of the car before heading up to buy it:















I didn't know what to do with the car being such a unique story and definitely wasn't going to allow it the same destiny as Yellow Peril which is why I just dry stored it over the winter. Doing this did lead to a bit more adventure though which I shall talk about in the next instalment.

Ya boy Braithwaite.

[dodgerover]

A 1.8TC write off was the favourite starting point for building a Marina pickup with a brand new shell which would then be registered on a brand new plate - the final ones were very early A plates if you spoke to the local DVLA office nicely

[braithwaite]

I realise I've not really dated this, but I picked the car up in September 2023, shoved it in storage when I got home, and left it. I didn't even know if the engine was free, and I was getting messages from Marina club members asking about it, so armed with a spark plug socket, some 20w50, an endoscope and a big effin adjustable spanner I popped up to the unit to have a poke about properly my latest project. To my surprise the engine freed off by hand, the bores looked as though the car had been run last week. I didn't want to risk any damage so poured some oil down the bores and let it sit anyway. While in the lockup I decided to root around the car and see what else was there, to my surprise, every tax disc since new was in the glovebox! 



The one from when it was new was my favourite and it appears the car stopped being taxed in 2003. Bit more rummaging and the dealer pack from when it was picked up was also in there, and all looked new! 



It was full of all sorts of leaflets and some of the best bits I'll put pics below:









Then while rummaging under the seats to remove the awful covers I found this gem!





I obviously won't be using it but it's a wicked display piece and I love it and can't believe how good the condition is! 

Knowing the engine was free enough to be turned by hand I had a phone call from the Chairman of the MMOC & IR and an invite was given to allow this car to be the barnfind car on the club stand at the 2024 NEC restoration show, with the plan to be renew what we can with hand tools and look to do a first start in 20 odd years, I wasn't going to pass this up! Stay tuned for the next part where I prep for the NEC! 

[braithwaite]

Me again dear reader.

March came flying round in no time and after a discussion with the Marina club chairman and knowing what was and wasn't possible at the NEC I did some preparation the weekend before, including oil change on both the engine and box, as well as some pre-emptive lubrication of components I knew would be coming off.





With those bits done I set about adding some 'barnfind'. Basically collecting a bucket of dust from the barns and garage at home and taking a big fan into the garage where the car was stored, misting the top surface of the car before shaking the bucket and creating a massive dust box, I then shut the door and left it until the Wednesday before. 

Wednesday: I clocked out of work as fast as I could and drove down to collect the rental trailer from Compass Trailers near Lewes, they are better than fantastic and I can't recommend them enough, they do servicing and hire but most of all are very friendly and great value for money! I then got to the lock up and dragged the car onto the trailer.



Got home and did the last bit of prep and packing, which resulted in me going to bed far too late, if I recall it was somewhere around midnight... 



Knowing what the M25 can be like and not wanting to be late for me unload slot at the NEC I set off bright and early, on departure I realised most of this dust I'd spent ages gathering and applying to the car would probably blow off on the drive up there, but hey hoe, is what it is. I stopped a couple of times en-route just kill time as it turns out the M25 was clear for a change, my favourite stop being a quick photo opportunity in the British Motor Museum carpark, yep I'm that kind of saddo! 



Anyway, got there unscathed and with the stall set up and the car in the air it was time to get ready for the long 4 days that would await! 



I'll elaborate on the Restoration show in the next post!

Braithwaite out!

[igor]

Gis yellow Allegro.

[braithwaite]

Day 1 of the NEC Restoration show (Friday) was focussing on the engine, I'd drained the fluids at home for ease, I'd rebuilt the carb ahead of time too. Jobs done were service the dizzy, change the cambelt and fit a new club supplied tensioner as well as change other service items before giving the battery a turn over. 



The Club chairman and myself thrashed away like men possessed as we knew the original owner was coming specifically to see the car and hopefully the first start, however a misplaced fuel hose, my fault, meant the engine got extensively flooded to the point we had to take the carb off and mop out the inlet manifold and remove the plugs and crank it, not ideal... but the original owner Richard, and his wife came and had a long chat with us and posed for a photo.



Day 1 had been a mixed bag of highs and lows but we'd dodged a bullet and hadn't hurt the engine so Saturday we were going to get this car to fire up if it killed us! 

Cheers all, Braithwaite