Ian Elliott In the recent thread about 2-litre Itals/Marinas, the subject of V8-engined Marinas was brought up. If I have rambled about this in any previous AROnline submission, I apologise, but here goes: Stuffing V8s into small, unsuspecting family cars is a long-practiced amusement of the hot-rodding fraternity, and the more unlikely the starting point, [...]

Unashamedly created as Cowley’s Cortina, the Marina was to lead Morris – and more importantly, British Leyland – into a new decade of Ford bashing… However, it missed the bus in terms of size and engine range, and because there was no budget to replace it, the Marina remained in production for far too long… [...]

In this gallery, we take a look at some of the names used to sell various versions of the Morris Marina in overseas markets, plus one that didn’t quite make it… Of course, as those of you who have visited the BMC 1100/1300 page in this gallery will already know, the Marina featured here was [...]

The O-Series was designed to act as the company’s mid-range engine mainstay for the late 1970s and beyond. If at first you don’t succeed… The formation of Austin-Morris from the ashes of BMC in 1969 allowed BLMC’s product planners to focus on the demands of the middle market, without worrying too much about the more [...]

The B-Series engine started out as a humble 1.2-litre unit that powered the Austin A40 Devon. Over time, it was developed – and developed – and developed. Middle-market mainstay After the end of World War II, Austin and Morris continued to rely on pre-war engines for their mid-range family cars. Out of the two companies, [...]

In 1967, Joe Edwards of BMH managed to secure the services of Roy Haynes from Ford as a stylist at the new BMH/Pressed Steel styling studios at Cowley in Oxford. Haynes had previously successfully styled the Ford Cortina MkII and he applied the style of this design to his new project, ADO28 – what was [...]

The Morris Marina was conceived in a hurry, but designers consoled themselves in the fact that it was only going to last five or six years… Here we reveal pictures of the ADO77, and discuss why it never came into fruition. Missing Marina THE trouble with developing and launching a car in a hurry is [...]

During the development of the Marina, it was decided that the Cowley plant in Oxford needed an overhaul – the result was that the production line was completely gutted, giving the plant the capability of producing some 5000 cars per week. These photographs were taken to demonstrate just how much of Cowley was all-new, and [...]

Taken from the first-ever issue of What Car? magazine This 1973 test makes fascinating reading, and is a great insight into how road tests used to be. The repmobiles compared Comparison between the Maxi, Marina and rivals Ten years ago the average man in the street would have been happy with a Mini, Imp or [...]

The car known in the UK as the Morris Marina was sold as the Austin Marina in a number of overseas markets, including the US, Canada and South Africa. USA Canada South Africa South African Marina brochure Marina brochure supplied by John Shepherd

A question that is often asked by Marina enthusiasts is why-oh-why did the Australian version of the car use the Maxi E-Series engine, instead of the B-Series, as used in the UK. We posed this question to ex-Leyland Australia Operations manager, Merv Sheather and former Leyland Australia Parts Manager, Phil West. The answers were enlightening… [...]

Mumfords of Plymouth offered several variations on the Marina theme: the convertible, a natty caravanette version, and this – the Utility. The all-year round Marina Side view of the Mumford Utility. The estate-from-cdv conversion was quite a popular phenomenom during the 1970s, and it is not difficult to see why when one views the low [...]

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 [...]

Outwardly, it looked like an Ital with a nicer looking front bumper, but underneath, it sported a new chassis. The Huandu was built in Western China and proved fairly ubiquitous in its own part of the country… The following account was written for this site by Erik van Ingen Schenau, of the China Motor Vehicle [...]

Keith Adams Just like washed out Bank Holiday weekends and warm beer, there’s something quintessentially English about the Two Ronnies. So who better to advertise that most English of car ranges, the Austin-Morris line-up from 1981. Would you be persuaded to jump into an Ital after watching this little advert? I probably would, but then [...]

Too close to call? Two doyens of the British family car market slug it out in the first of a new series of road tests… First published in Classic Car Weekly in August 2005, KEITH ADAMS pitted the Hillman Avenger against its arch rival from Cowley, the Morris Marina. It was a close call… Introduction [...]

Keith Adams WITH THE number of BMC/Leyland/Rover cars on our roads diminishing rapidly, we take stock of the successive companies’ ten most popular cars during the post-war years. Some of these numbers are going to shock you, simply because the cars are so rare on the road now. In fact, even the latest car on [...]

In 1980, the Marina was restyled for the new decade by Harris Mann. The production engineering was carried out by Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Ital Design styling studio, and BL sought to capitalize on the Italian connection by naming the new car the Morris Ital. The Ital suffered the ultimate indignity (for a Morris) of being built [...]

Available in standard and elevating-roof versions, the Torcars Marinas offered a choice of practical vehicles for outings and short breaks. The text and pictures below have been taken from the Torcars brochures. Suntor Marina Founding member of the Torcars range, the Suntor model offered a fully-lined, spring-loaded elevating roof and a wealth of built-in cupboards [...]

Unlike in the vote for the greatest car, the matter of who is the winner of the wooden spoon in this poll was not a clear cut issue at all. Three cars were in the running: the Allegro, the CityRover and this, the Marina (and its facelifted sister, the Ital). It has to be said [...]