Morris Marina 1.3S DL

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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, liking its honest design and simple engineering.

British Leyland had reserved the Austin brand for their avant-garde range of vehicles like the Allegro and Princess, its more straightforward models being earmarked for Morris badges. When BL merged their brands and got to grips with their product development programme, they were shocked to find that the cupboard was bare, the firm having to rely on the old Morris 1000 and Farina saloons to keep sales going until some new products could be rushed to market.

Codenamed ADO 28, the new car was to be 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 coupe 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. Rarely out of the top-five UK best sellers and often vying for second place, it was replaced by the re-styled Ital which in turn was superseded by the all new front-wheel drive Montego.

This late model 1.3S DL has had just three previous owners and over the last few years has received a very thorough body restoration and subsequent rust treatment. Once completed, it was never collected from the professional body shop and was put into storage so will need some minor recommissioning before use.

This essentially sound example is a rare survivor with only 35 1.3S DL models left on the road and only 720 Marinas still UK registered in total (the TV programme Top Gear having reduced this number by at least two in the recent past). Here's your chance to help save this rare model from extinction.