Morris Marina Coupe.

It's got to be the 1800 twin-carb though hasn't it? I remember looking through the Leyland motor show catalgue and being impressed that it could do 103mph! and sixty in under 12 seconds.

I suppose the 1800 twin carb would be good, but the one I had was the 1300 engine, not very fast but I just loved it.

I had a mustard coloured (could that be sand glow?) coupe marina, 1300 auto, absolutely great little car, I banger raced it quite successfully, no-one could believe the fact that it was just a 1300 auto, out against granadas and cortinas. Sadly long gone, I saved the engine for a while, but eventually weighed that in too, sorry. However I do know of a blue coupe in regular use, the elderly owner can't be long for this world, so if it comes up I'll post about it here

mrcheerful

mine was the mustard colour but it's official name was Sand Glow

Do you want to be a little more specific in your requirements.... we might need to narrow the search a bit ;-)

You should ask in Mr Mann's shop from Little Britain.

"Margaret....."

I think the 1300 was more robust than the 1800 engine - my father in laws car just went on and on, I seemed to keep getting blown head gaskets and knackered pushrods/rockers for some reason and yes, the valve clearances were regularly checked etc.

Yeah, it has to have brown velor seats and a brown vinyl roof, but no dents or rust in the body work

lol

1300 was an A-series, despite what some may say I've always found them bulletproof. 1800 was a B-series, nice enough engine, but not as strong as the A-series. Not that I recall any problems with my parents' (and in-law) Marina engines of either size. Suspension was always the weakest link (goodbye!).

Must say I had a lot of fun with my orange '76 1300 coupe; I could do a head gasket in 45 minutes on that!

-

->Yeah, it has to have brown velor seats and a brown vinyl roof, but no dents

->or rust in the body work

There are a couple on ebay at the mo, they probably have both rust and dents !

At least the 1300 went around corners, whereas the 1800 had a distinct preference for ploughing straight on.

Geoff MacK

Hi Guys, as my previous post about a Morris Marina Coupe has caused quite a stir amoungs you all, I thought I would relay my experiance with my first car.

I bought it for £475 from a bloke with a mask and a black horse, I think his name was Dick. It ran ok and sounded reasonably quiet according to my brother in law who was advising me on the purchase. "It's an A series engine it'll run forever" he said. One week later on the M62 just about where the new Junction 8 is now, the engine threw a rod through the side and it came to an abrupt halt. One quick call home and I got my brother in law to toe me home. needless to say the from there on in I had a sharp learning curve on A series engines and how to fit a new one. Things didn't get much better after fitting the engine as a few months later the clutch went, then the head gasket then the piston rings. The new engine was almost as bad as the original but without a big hole in the side. I managed to fix the engine replacing all the parts and finally had a really great running motor, then somebody ran into the side of it. Didn't really have much luck with it but still had some great times in it, me and my brother used to go everywhere round Warrington in it and sometimes he would drive it round the block even though he was only 16. One of the things I remember the most is how hot the heaters were when blowing down in the foot well.

I ended up selling the car to a bloke my dad knew, he drove it for a couple of weeks before one of the back wheels came off and bounced through a solicitors window. I guess he didn't have much luck with it either.

Although the car was a real headache when I owned it, I still remember the great times I had in the car, and how easy it was to fix. I now have a Peugeot 406 Coupe 3Ltr V6 engine that has got nothing a novice can fix in the engine bay, I've still got all my tools for fixing the old Marina, but nothing to fix with them. I just hope I can find one like it to spend my spare time fixing rather than having to fix it so I can get to work.

Really enjoyed reading the other posts, keep this thread going.

John

opps posted to the wrong thread.

J

But back in the days when I had a Marina coupe I could go to the local scrappy and get slightly rattly or smoky engine for £25, or a good 'un for £40! As it was all I could afford as a student, I had more than one £25 engine...

You certain it was a 1300 auto? The 1800 auto was quite lively being so light. I'd have expected a 1300 to be a real dog - given that Mini autos with this engine used the AP four speeder to try and counteract transmission losses.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "speedy" saying something like:

LOL! Are you sure the car wasn't sentient?

Yep, it must have been the engine that got away from the factory having been blueprinted !!!

mrcheerful

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "mrcheerful ." saying something like:

There was sometimes quite a difference between supposedly identical 1300 engines. I worked for a company that had a fleet of Marina cars and vans and one or two of the 1300s went like stink, while most of them were just as you'd expect them to be.

The 1800s though, a bit nose heavy and reluctant to steer very well (you could really feel that boatanchor), but ok in a straight line; all the same, a major difference to the Rootes (Arrow series) offerings of the day as far as handling went.

You can 'blueprint' as much as you want, but for a 3 speed auto you want torque. ;-) And that comes from cc.