Morris Marina 1.3 Coupe Deluxe

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The Morris Marina was developed, launched and built during a period of great turbulence and difficulty for the British car industry.

Initially allocated the ADO 28 codename, the impetus for its development came when Leyland Motors merged with British Motor Holdings in 1968, thus forming British Leyland. Realising that there were no new mid-range cars in the pipeline, BL rapidly implemented a plan to develop a replacement for both the Morris Minor and the smaller BMC Farina models that could be produced as quickly as possible and would be on sale for no more than five years until a genuinely 'all new' product could be launched in its place. Set against a backdrop of weak management, industrial unrest, lacklustre design and an ongoing oil crisis, these were the rather unfortunate circumstances that led to the Morris Marina.

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. 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 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five years, the end for the Marina finally came in 1980 when it was replaced by the re-styled Ital which in turn was superseded by the all new front-wheel drive Montego.

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. Rarely out of the top-five UK best sellers and often vying for second place, such was its unlikely success, that it narrowly beat the Ford Escort to 2nd place in the UK car sales table in 1973.

First registered in July 1973, this Marina Coupe Deluxe had just two owners before John Saunders acquired it for the Stondon Collection in 1994 for £1,100 from a Mr J Bonfield – who had in turn acquired it from an ADT Auction in October 1990 at which point it had been sold with a warranted mileage of only 5,350 miles (copy invoice on file). Three old MOTs from 1990, 1991 and 1993 show that the mileage had only risen to 7,816 by November 1993, the mileage now reading 17,024.

The original Passport to Service book contains three stamps up to 3,679 miles in August 1975. A copy of an old V5 shows that the first owner was a Muriel Howard of Reading who kept it until the date of the ADT auction in 1990. Another invoice from May 1990 shows that the car was thoroughly serviced, recommissioned and the sticking clutch freed off, presumably to get it ready for sale after a long period of inactivity. The original owner’s handbook and a period RAC member’s welcome pack are also included.

In short, an exceptionally low mileage Marina that is sure to be of interest to any collector.