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Mr. Burmingham never really noticed the Marina ‘until my dad bought a used 1.3 saloon in 1975.’ That Morris proved so reliable that four years later ‘he insisted on me buying a 1.3 Coupe to replace a rusting Mini’. Alas, it did not prove to be ‘so good a buy, so I didn’t keep long’.

However, by 1980 a company car was issued to Rick’s father and so ‘he gave me his 1.3 saloon with 58,000 on the clock. I squeezed a further 90,000 miles out of it, having to source a scrap yard engine for it at about 120,000 miles. By that time, I was working in the parts department at a BL dealership, so Marinas et al. were always on my radar!’.

And so during the 1980s and 1990s, Rick ‘owned half a dozen Marinas when they were cheap “throw-away” cars’. He always found them to be ‘pretty good cars and not worthy of the criticism often levelled against them.

One of those was a Mk.3 1700L automatic – the nicest one I’d driven despite it being very rusty and having a serious fluid leak from the gearbox’. By 2019, Rick ‘decided to re-visit my relationship with the Marina range’, and his version of choice was ‘a 1.8 with twin carbs and automatic transmission’.

This particular combination was only ever available on the Series 2, which debuted in 1975. There was a new range of trim options, from the 1.3 De Luxe – ‘A smart and sensible choice’ - to the HL (four-door) and the GT (two-door).

Both flagship models featured many handsome and exclusive external trim features, including tinted glass (‘for privacy’), driving lights and ‘halogen headlamps to help you speed back from late night appointments’. Copywriting of the 1970s often displayed a panache so often lacking in the modern world.

Rick thinks his Morris Marina 1.8 HL Series 2 ‘epitomises the 1970s’ with its metallic “Jade Green” paint finish, factory-fitted mink-coloured vinyl roof and seats trimmed in “Almond” velour upholstery. Better still, NNN 295 P boasts the finest ‘brown plastic dashboard with fake wood inserts’ available to humanity.

Forty-five years ago, this fine vehicle would have been your passport to a world of glamour, intrigue and the best parking space at the A303 branch of the Little Chef.

Inside, the fortunate customer gained a tachometer, a clock, a folding rear armrest and a cigar lighter for your Rothman’s King Size. These fittings were only natural in a Morris with ‘handsome looks that will attract favourable comment in the most expensive company’.

The message from the brochure was clear – with the 1.8 HL you could mingle on equal terms with Triumph Dolomite Sprint owners at that sales conference in Basingstoke. Such a list of equipment also meant that a top-of-the-range Marina had much the same showroom appeal as a Ford Cortina 2000E.

To look at NNN today is to appreciate the well-proportioned lines of the four-door Marina. Roy Haynes’s styling arguably dates better than the Cortina Mk. III, whose “Coke Bottle” looks were time-locked in 1970.

The Morris also looked somewhat more up to the minute than the Hillman Hunter GLS which in 1975 seemed akin to Freddie and The Dreamers appearing on The Old Grey Whistle Test.

One major challenge facing BL was the Cavalier, which made its bow in the same year as the Marina Series 2. However, your local Morris dealer would have probably told a fleet buyer that they were ‘made in Belgium’. At that time, a company car still tended to be British-built.

This was a major factor in the Marina enjoying greater corporate appeal than a Fiat 131 Mirafiori or a 610-Series Datsun Bluebird, which ensured its regular presence in the “Top Ten Best-Selling Cars” list.

Leyland only made the Marina 2 until 1978, when it was replaced by the Series 3 – as advertised on ITV by Robin Nedwell and Geoffrey Davies -

Rick’s quest for a 1.8 HL Automatic was, therefore, a challenging one, especially when he discovered ‘that fewer than five remained on the road in Britain’. But in September of last year, he found such a car and, amazingly, it was ‘not too far from home – I jumped at the chance to buy it’. The mileage was less than 29,000, as confirmed by the history file. 

NNN had changed hands several times and ‘spent several periods off the road’.  Rick also noted that ‘some bodywork restoration by a previous owner, plus new front wings and a re-spray’.

Today, Rick finds his Marina ‘a great car for my needs. It is comfortable for my 6’5” frame and still has plenty of legroom for rear passengers.

The boot is cavernous, and the BMC B-Series engine with twin SU carbs (same as in MGB) sounds lovely, especially with the slightly unrefined Borg Warner auto-box shifting through the cogs rather obviously!  It always makes me smile’.

Since joining the Burmingham household, the Marina has amassed approximately 1,000 miles, and ‘all flexible fuel pipes were renewed last month’. The total mileage is now 29,400, and the HL looks as good as the day it left the dealership.

Any sales representative fortunate enough to be given the keys to such a car back in 1975 would have been mesmerised by the coachline and the twin door mirrors. British Leyland claimed the latter was ‘a boon, especially in continental travel’.

Above all, the metallic green Morris is’ just a little bit different and somewhat overlooked when compared to its 1970’s British competitors. It is good value today - useable Marinas can still be purchased for half the price of the equivalent Cortina’. Not to mention the pleasure, to quote BL, of owning ‘an executive express’ with ‘A touch more class’.

With Thanks To – Rick Burmingham

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