MEET THE OWNER – DON WAKENSHAW AND HIS LEYLAND MARINA SIX

One of the rarest versions of the Morris Marina was never available in the UK. 1973 saw the Australian-built Red Six debut, with power from a 2.6-litre version of the E-Series engine. Today, Don, who resides in New Zealand, owns a very rare example of one of BL’s most intriguing models.

Australia production of the Marina commenced in 1972, and, unlike its British counterpart, it featured the 1.5-litre and 1.75-litre E-Series engines. The decision was made on primarily economic grounds as BL thought neither the A nor the B-Series units would meet the Australian Design Rules. By the following year, the Morris badge was dropped in favour of a Leyland identity while the advertising stated: ‘Made in Australia for Australians’. This roughly translated as ‘Please Don’t Buy a Holden Torana’.

And there was also the Red Six with ‘all the good little things of the Japanese with the toughness and power of Australian cars’. In fact, just 2,852 examples found a home in 1974 and the last locally-built Marinas were registered in 1975 - a casualty of Leyland closing its Zetland plant. The corporation moved the tooling to South Africa, where the ‘Austin Marina’ made its bow later that year.

The Sixes were available in De Luxe or Super forms, and the range also boasted a red-painted engine and exhaust pipe. Sadly, none of these details helped the latest Marina appeal to GMH, Ford, and Datsun and Chrysler customers. One problem was the three-speed manual transmission; Don observes, “apparently the gearbox is a Chrysler Valiant unit bolted up to the Leyland engine”. Nor did the standard cross-ply tyres enhance the handling…

Yet, the Sixes are now the object of considerable fascination. Mr. Wakenshaw acquired the Leyland four years ago, and he finds it “a delight to drive with a smooth engine”. In his experience, the transmission “takes you a few changes to get used to the gear’s floor change movement as it is a long a notch movement from 1st to second. However, I have found you can quite happily drive the car just using second and top in the three-speed box - I have never driven a car with so much torque!”.

As for road manners, “once you get used to the handling, the Six does corner very well – a bit of pre line up is required if you what to push the car to its limits. The only thing that I find that does bother me is the noise of the air passing over and through the car, so to cut the noise down, you just have to drive a bit slower. But of course, it makes it exciting to push the car to its limits!”.

Don further notes, “Pulling away can be due very rapidly, especially if you miss out on the clunky gear movement of using first. The thing I really like about the Leyland Six is how you can just drive over the steepest hills and mountains, and you have not got out of top gear!”. Or, as the brochure promised, ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’.

With Thanks To: Don Wakenshaw

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