The converters : Mumford Marina Convertible

The Marina coupe had the potential to make a very attractive convertible, but it had a fundamental flaw…


The open-top Marina

Crayford devised this conversion based on the 2-door Marina coupe following an approach by Plymouth-based BL dealers Mumfords. The coupŽ’s rakish lines should have lent themsleves to an attractive drop-top car, but Crayford’s hands were tied by an unusual decision which had been taken on cost grounds by the newly-formed BLMC when originally developing the car: it used the front doors from the four-door model, rather than having the extended doors normally specified for 2-door variants.

As a result, Crayford had to devise some way of bridging the unusually long rear side windows, and their chosen method was short on aesthetic merit. In order to keep the replacement (removable) rear side window as compact as possible, a fixed rectangular window was inserted directly behind the B-pillar, and the rear quarters of the hood featured a particularly broad expanse of canvas (as can be seen from the above photograph), which must have created an almighty blind spot with the hood raised.

Mumford Marina (1)

Keith Adams

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