MEET THE OWNER – DAVE MARSHALL AND HIS MORRIS MARINA 1700HL ESTATE

I bought it just before Christmas 2021, off the back of a post on the Marina Owners' Club Facebook page. The chap selling it bought it the previous summer, intending to do the bodywork, but has lost his storage. He'd had it parked at work for a fortnight, and they were getting a bit antsy about it being there. He just wanted his money back on it (£1,500), so I agreed to borrow the recovery truck from work and pick it up that weekend.

Dave Marshall already owned a Morris Ital, but was unable to resist this last-of-the-line 1980-model Marina 1.7HL Estate. “I have only driven the car about 15 miles so far, although that's further than I've managed before. It is trying to gas me with petrol fumes at the moment, though...” 

The Marshall Marina is a Series 3, introduced in 1978 and as advertised on television by Geoffrey Davies and Robin Nedwell of the ITV Doctor series. By early 1980, £4,957 could gain you the 1700HL Estate, with its radio, cigarette lighter, tinted glass, cut-pile carpeting, and seats upholstered in the finest velour available to humanity. The S3’s matt-black fascia and inset halogen driving lamps helped update the Marina’s design, while there was also a small front spoiler. The other major change was the replacement of the earlier 1.8-litre B-Series engine with the 1.7-litre SOHC O-series unit.

Such changes made great financial sense; refreshing the Marina’s design when British Leyland had limited budgets for major alterations. It is too easy to forget that between 1975, when they unveiled the 18-22 ‘Wedge’, and the Metro’s debut in 1980, BL’s Austin-Morris division launched no new models. To tempt the motoring public in the interim, there were ‘Limited Edition’ cars, facelifts and high-profile sales campaigns featuring The Two Ronnies. 

In 1979, the Marina was the UK’s fourth best-selling car, although Ford dealers might point out that the Cortina was the country’s most popular model, with sales of 192,184, as opposed to 62,140 of the Morris. What the Marina offered the fleet or private buyer was straightforward engineering at a very reasonable price. The 1700HL Estate was over £600 cheaper than a Cortina 1.6GL Estate, while there was no equivalent Vauxhall Cavalier S1 station wagon. 

The Morris Ital succeeded the Marina in the summer of 1980, and for the next two decades, both endured the sort of ‘jokes’ that even Blankety Blank would have rejected. Today, new generations of enthusiasts, and the sterling work of Morris Marina Owners Club & Ital Register, help keep them on the road. Dave finds his 1700HL Estate is: 

Actually, quite nice to drive. The long-throw gear lever takes a bit of getting used to after a modern car, but the non-assisted steering is light enough that you don't notice its lack of assistance. Because it's an estate, the exhaust note does echo around a bit more than in my Ital saloon, but there's quite a nice bark to it at around 2800 rpm. 

Of course, there are those ‘saloon bar experts’ (usually the sort of people who still make ‘Piano Jokes’) who decry the Marina’s road manners, but, in Dave’s words: 

The handling is nowhere near as bad as the armchair experts would have you believe. Yes, the Marina goes round corners, no, it doesn't handle like a sports car, but it wasn't designed to be. It's perfectly safe, predictable, and fun with the body roll that's inherent in an older car, anti-roll bar or not. As for reactions, bearing in mind that the only real journey I've done in it so far was in the evening and the light was starting to fade, I still saw two people do a double take when they realised what it was.  

Plus, “even my so-called friend, who actively hates my Ital, said he strangely likes the estate....”.

With thanks to Dave Marshall for his time

With thanks to Dave Marshall for the permission to use the images in this blog.