Anyone Here Drive Any of These ?

B

Bumpy

Senior member
 Whitby, Ontario, Canada
Like the title says:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/11123027/10-worst-cars-ever-sold-in-Britain.html


Back in '72, Four of us lads drove to Key West Florida during Spring Break, in an Austin Marina. That took the best part of 24 hours non stop from Toronto Canada.

Crossed the border via the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit , where the US Border control informed us that we didn't have enough documentation to be re-admitted back into Canada if they refused us entry. That could have meant living out our lives in a Marina on the Bridge :( ...

Three of us returned a week later.
Survived a 'loaded' cigarette prank which momentarily blinded the driver outside of Atlanta, and a small town excursion to pay a traffic violation somewhere in Tennessee. The police station was located in the Fire Hall.

Actually one of our gang's father owned a dealership. His regular ride was an MGB, but for Spring Break his Daddy loaned us a brand new Marina. Plus the Parts Dept. stocked the trunk with parts to back up questionable parts. Marinas weren't available in the USA at the time.

It was a tad cramped but we were young and flexible.

Survived somehow.
 
My old man had two Marina's back to back followed by a Lada Riva which meant my brothers learnt to drive in a collection of truly awful cars! Not that I faired much better, he had a Montego when it was my turn. Luckily I didn't inherit his taste in cars
 
Had a Marina as a hire car and pretty well like everything else that came out of British Leyland it was underwhelming verging on rubbish. :thumbsdown:
 
My first ever car was an allegro and it was awful in every way. But what can you expect for £25 lol.
 
mate of mine bought a new left hand drive Marina that was converted to right hand drive - was a lot cheaper than buying a UK model and was still covered by warranty :o

One of my early cars was a 1959 Commer Cob that cost me the princely sum of fifty quid !!







Pretty cool eh !!
 
I was unfortunate enough to be given a Morris Marina Ital as a company car back in the late 70's. For me it still is the worst car I have every had the misfortune to drive.
 
I had a marina estate in the late 70's (Orange with purple Or dark blue plastic seats iirc ) bought it as a runaround while my Capri was off the road.
On black ice I slid into the back of a Capri that was sporting a tow bar. The ford somehow had managed to stop at a zebra crossing, I hit the back of the Capri at about 5 mph (if that) the ford was unmarked no damage at all.

The Marina needed a radiator, front bumper, grill, bonnet and 2 wings basically the front just disintegrated.
Got it repaired and chopped it in for a 2300 Magnum Coupe.
 
Hang on a minute - a lot of the British cars were naff then. . .

I had three (never learnt) old Vauxhall Vivas when I first passed my test - all of them rusted to toast over two years - dreadful - cruised at 50 and pushed to 60 along the A1 IF they didn't break down. All easy to fix though.

I had a 1500cc Allegro with the quartic wheel (flattened bottom and top) - very odd to use but a real conversation piece and very novel at the time - as was 5 gears!!!!

I had two Marinas - yes they broke down, understeered like mad and kept blowing their bypass valves but both had the most comfortable seats I've ever come across on a car.

The Marina was built for the fleet market - easy to maintain and comfortable for long journeys. Lots of business for scrapyards and I learnt a lot from having to keep these cars on the on the road.

I had another late Allegro - four headlights, foglights, deep rich red and a yellowy cream brushed draylon interior - a very comfortable car and quite well spec'd for a car at that time - hell it even had a central pull down arm rest in the back (only ever seen them in a jaguar and the like!).

They really were dreadful though and it's easy to take for granted how reliable and long lasting modern cars are - used to have to carry spares with you at all times in the 70's!

I think things started to change with the VW Golf and the Japanese cars such as Nissan Bluebirds - smooth reliable and comfortable.

I'd rather be on the road today - though we didn't have speed cameras then!

:driving: :thumbsup:
 
As above most Brit cars were crap back then, I had a Marina 1.8 for a while which I got for dirt cheap. It was a low miler 2 year old previously owned by a builder so was covered in stone chips on the outside and cement on the inside, I took it home, gave it a full re-spray and recarpeted it. Did me well for about 2 years but it was boring as hell and the handling was abysmal. It was certainly no worse than a lot of other Brit offerings at the time. My old chap had a Vauxhall Viva which was so underpowered it was a joke. Bro in Law had a Triumph 1500 which had a camshaft knock and a dodgy gearbox. I stripped the engine for him to cure the cam knock only to find the cam ran straight into the block - no bearings! BL at it's best.

I moved on to MGs after that and had a Midget and two MGBs - a Roadster and GT. They were ok but compared to some of the stuff coming out of other parts of Europe and Japan it was ancient technology, the writing was on the wall for BL. After the MGs I had VW Karmann Beetle then a couple of BMWs, a 318 which was written off by a Ford Sierra running up the back of it while I was stopped at lights. With the insurance payout I bought a 320 which was a lovely car but I sold it to fund the Karmann and the missus ran the family cars for years until I retired and bought another one of my own in 2010.
 
paulgs1000 said:
They really were dreadful though and it's easy to take for granted how reliable and long lasting modern cars are - used to have to carry spares with you at all times in the 70's!
Click to expand...

Remember it well and having to work on the damned things every weekend just so you could get into work the following week to afford the spares you would need the coming weekend!
 
i had one of the ex fiat commy blok yugo 55's

its was a great car for a 17 yr old. almost indestructible even after a few serious bumps it would still go! i did have to replace the engine after the big ends went and i couldnt go above 80 for any time as it overheated but tbh i knew nothing about cars so didnt even try to fix it, just carried on playing rally driver on the back roads
 
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