Morris Marina 1.3 Coupe Deluxe

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Developed and built during a period of great turbulence for the British car industry, the Morris Marina has had a bad press over the years. Much of the criticism has been justified, but the vast majority of its 807,000 British customers got along with it just fine and liked its honest design and simple engineering.

Rushed into production to replace both the Morris Minor and the smaller BMC Farina models, the new car was aimed squarely at competition from the Ford Escort and Vauxhall Viva. Destined to use a new E-Series engine that never came to fruition, in the end it was fitted with the well proven A- and B-Series engines mated to Triumph-developed transmissions to speed up production.

Available in 4-door saloon, estate and elegant coupé body styles, within 11 months of its 1971 introduction the badly overcrowded Cowley factory had built its 100,000th Marina, a nightshift having been employed to meet demand. Lasting far longer than its planned five years, the end for the Marina finally came in 1980 when it was replaced by the re-styled Ital which in turn was superseded by the all new front-wheel drive Montego.

First registered in February 1974, this Marina Deluxe Coupe is showing only 14,626 miles on the odometer. Clearly repainted at some point in the past, it formed part of a private collection for many years.

More recently, it has been recommissioned for the road with a bespoke new exhaust, new fuel pipes, new battery, coil and starter motor. Also fitted with a new clutch assembly, it has a current MOT until June this year. In basically good order throughout, it looks like a super opportunity to acquire a 1970s low mileage entry-level classic.