Morris Marina - Popularity

Popularity

The Marina's public life did not get off to a good start. The rushed final stages of design and production, especially in regard to the suspension, meant that many of the press fleet cars had an incorrect front suspension set-up whereby there was no camber change when the car rolled, which in turn produced "almost heroic" levels of understeer: Autocar reported that the car they were driving ended up on the wrong side of the road when taking a sharp corner. This was a particular problem with the more powerful 1.8 and 1.8TC cars, which were unfortunately the models the press were most likely to test, though the 1.3-litre models with their lighter engine did not suffer from the problem to the same extent. Early production 1.8 Marinas were fitted with the original front suspension although a different lower link-arm (trunnion) was fitted quite quickly. The best estimate is that about 5,000 cars with the original suspension were sold to the public: many, though not all, had their front suspension set-up retrospectively corrected by dealers and before September 1971, less than six months after launch, front suspension "uprights" were being modified on the production line. The Marina was never intended, or designed, to have particularly exciting or sharp handling, but the early problems led to less-than flattering road test reports and it was undeniable that the Marina's handling always tended towards understeer, which for a rear-wheel-drive car was unusual, and body-roll. What Car?, in a very typical review, described the understeer as "noticeable", but called the car as a whole "unobtrusively well designed".

More comprehensive suspension changes were made with the Mark 2's introduction in 1975, which added anti-roll bars that calmed the earlier car's wayward tendencies. In 1982 the Ital changed its Marina-derived front lever arm shock absorbers for telescopic shock absorbers.

Despite heavy criticism from the media and motoring press, the car's lack of technical sophistication let it be keenly priced. The Morris Marina was a very popular car in Britain, and was among the country's best selling cars throughout its production life, peaking at second place in 1973—only surpassed by the Ford Cortina. In many ways, the car fulfilled its design goal of being an unpretentious, high volume, mass-market car for average-income families and business people.

The deliberately simple and 'old-fashioned' design of the Marina was intended mainly to appeal to company car and corporate fleet buyers. This market was dominated by Ford with the Escort and Cortina. BL's Austin products, with their advanced front-wheel drive and suspension systems were more expensive to buy and more costly to maintain, and so suffered poorer sales in these crucial markets. The Marina's front-engined, rear-wheel-drive, live-rear-axle layout was identical to the Ford products and most other mass-production saloons of the day. Although Ford remained dominant by a large margin, the Marina did succeed in capturing a larger share of the fleet/hire market and this contributed to its high sales but also its image as a rather dull, 'workaday' vehicle.

Marina production lasted almost 10 years, and in that time no fewer than 807,000 were sold across Britain, though it was less popular on export markets. Whilst intended as a 'stop gap' design until a more up-to-date replacement could be developed, the problems faced by British Leyland in the mid-to-late 1970s meant that the Marina remained in production essentially unchanged other than some light facelifting and interior changes, as the competition moved ahead. Coupled to the continuing quality problems suffered by the car and the increasingly poor perception of BL cars as a whole, this sealed the Marina's poor reputation despite its high sales.

Over the years, it has frequently been described by journalists, authors and motoring critics as one of the worst cars of all time.

The relaunching of the then decade-old design as the Morris Ital only added to the image of an outdated, outclassed, and poor-performing vehicle.

A survey conducted by Auto Express magazine in August 2006 revealed that just 745 of the 807,000 Marinas sold in Britain are still on the road — that number is fewer than one in a thousand. This made it officially the most-scrapped car to have been sold in Britain over the previous 30 years. A few of these were later destroyed for comic effect by the BBC television series Top Gear. The low survival rate is due to a combination of factors, chief amongst which is the Marina's relatively poor rust-proofing. Like other 'ordinary' family saloon cars of the period the Marina did not gain the status of a classic car whilst large numbers were still in good enough condition to encourage preservation. The Marina also made a good 'donor car' for several other British Leyland models. The brakes and suspension from a Marina were/are often used to upgrade the Morris Minor, whilst the A- and B-Series engines were used in a wide variety of other cars. The 1275 cc A-Series, for example, made an easy performance improvement for a Midget or Sprite, whilst the twin-carb B-Series engine used in the TC versions of the Marina fitted the MGB without any modifications needed (and the TC engine carries a slightly higher power output). Factors such as these meant that elderly Marinas were more likely to be stripped for parts to upgrade more popular models than be repaired or restored.

There are Morris Marina owners' clubs in the UK with members keen to preserve the few remaining examples on Britain's roads.