158-882: The Morris Marina is a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive small family car that was manufactured by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1971 until 1980. It served to replace the Morris Minor in the Morris product line, which had first been built in 1948. The Marina was also sold in some markets as the Austin Marina , the Leyland Marina and the Morris 1700 . It was a popular car in Britain throughout its production life, beating its main rival,
316-457: A live axle . It featured torsion bar suspension at the front, leaf-spring suspension at the rear. An estate (station wagon) came in 1972, 18 months after the saloon and coupé, giving British Leyland a full-circle competitor for the Cortina and Capri. Five body styles were available all in all: saloon , estate , coupé , pickup , and van . For extra performance, TC versions were equipped with
474-487: A 121 hp (90 kW) 2600 cc E-series six-cylinder engine. This indigenous Marina variant was capable of 0–60 mph in under nine seconds. The Australian Marinas were built from CKD kits sent from Cowley in England, but used high levels of local content, including different running gear, axle, interiors, seals, seats, uprated dampers and mounts, uprated wheels and a higher grade of fit and finish. The Marina Six used
632-591: A DeLuxe wagon. The Lotus Cortina was also available, albeit in limited numbers. Ford in the United States imported both the Mark I and Mark II Cortina models. The Mark II was sold in the United States from 1967, achieving 16,193 cars sold in its first year. Sales of the Mark II in 1968 were 22,983. Sales in 1969 reached 21,496. Sales slumped in 1970, to almost half their 1969 peak, at 10,216 units. Ford USA dropped
790-676: A brushed aluminum and black boot lid panel on the GXLs, while the GT had a black-painted section of the boot with a chrome trim at either side of it. All prefacelift models featured a downward-sloping dashboard with deeply recessed dials, and coil suspension all round. In general styling and technical make up, the Mark III Cortina aped the Vauxhall Victor FD of 1967. The Cortina went on sale on 23 October 1970, but sales got off to
948-541: A company selling cars under numerous different brands across multiple market sectors it was looked on as too radical by the management of British Leyland and Triumph designer Harry Webster was drafted in to push the project forward. Roy Haynes soon left the company, and Harris Mann replaced him as chief designer. The British Leyland Board decided to build the Marina at the ex-Morris Motors plant at Cowley in Oxford , which
1106-468: A day. The Ministry of Aircraft Production took over the plant putting in managers from Supermarine and placing it under Vickers-Armstrongs (of which Supermarine was a part) supervision. After a major air raid damaged the Morris Bodies factory, the premises switched to the production of jerry cans , producing millions of these versatile containers for use during the rest of the war and following
1264-557: A different radiator grille), and rear-wing pressings that toned down the drooping beltline, lessening the "coke-bottle" appearance of the Cortina. Also, the dual round headlights fitted to the upmarket version of the Cortina Mark III were not available on the Taunus TC1. The MacPherson strut front suspension was replaced with more conventional double A-arm suspension (also known as double wishbone suspension), which gave
1422-475: A facelifted Marina) was the last Morris-badged passenger car, with production ending in the summer of 1984. The last Morris of all was a van variant of the Austin Metro , before the Morris brand was finally completely abandoned in 1987. After much restructuring of BL in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the former Morris plant at Cowley and its sister site the former Pressed Steel plant were turned over to
1580-482: A five-door estate. Although no longer than its predecessor, the Mark III was a heavier car, reflecting a trend towards improving secondary safety by making car bodies more substantial. Weight was also increased by the stout cross-member incorporated into the new simplified front suspension set-up, and by the inclusion of far more sound-deadening material, which insulated the cabin from engine and exhaust noise, making
1738-426: A further issue of ordinary shares to him, the car manufacturing businesses of Wolseley Motors Limited and The MG Car Company Limited. A separate private company, Wolseley Aero Engines Limited , was then formed to continue the development of his aviation interests. In 1936 Lord Nuffield sold Morris Commercial Cars Limited , his commercial vehicle enterprise, to Morris Motors. In 1938 William Morris, Baron Nuffield
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#17327719439321896-515: 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
2054-407: 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
2212-527: A large margin, the Marina did succeed in capturing a larger share of the fleet/hire market and this contributed to its high sales. However, its image remained as a rather dull, workaday vehicle. Marina production lasted almost ten years and in that time no fewer than 807,000 were sold across Britain, though it was less popular on export markets. By the time production of the facelifted Ital version ceased production in 1984, total Marina/Ital production had topped 1.2 million, making it BL's second biggest seller after
2370-461: A major automotive manufacturer. In February 2016, it was reported that the number of Marinas still in use on UK roads was 295, although this figure does not count examples which are SORN . As of December 2019, there are currently 374 Marinas on the road in the UK, with a further 498 currently SORN. The Marina was a conventional design, a fully unitary spot-welded body (no sub-frames were used except on
2528-466: A minimum. British Leyland's Special Tuning department (which primarily handled development of BL's works' motor-sport cars and technical support to private entries using BL products) produced a variety of upgrades for the Marina, which were (technically) available on road cars through special order. Amongst the S/T products were a kit to adapt the front suspension to use telescopic dampers (eventually fitted to
2686-522: A much-needed 4-seat version of the car. White and Poppe , who made the engine, were unable to supply the volume of units that Morris required, so Morris turned to Continental of Detroit, Michigan for the supply of a 1548 cc engine. Gearboxes and axles were also sourced in the US. In spite of the outbreak of the First World War the orders were maintained and, from mid-1915 a new larger car,
2844-553: A new grille with integrated spotlights and a redone interior, the 1750 became available with the automatic while the manual 2600 was dropped. This face-lift version was called the Marina Series III. The new padded dashboard was of a unified swept design with an integrated binnacle for the instruments, and had been used in British Marinas since the 1975 face lift. The 1.3 motor was offered from 1976 until 1978, but
3002-403: A particularly slow start because of production difficulties that culminated with a 10-week strike at Ford's plant between April and June 1971, which was at the time reported to have cost production of 100,000 vehicles, equivalent to almost a quarter of the output for a full year. During 1971, the spring rates and damper settings were altered along with the front suspension bushings, which reduced
3160-407: A planned launch in 2021 under the re-launched Morris Commercial marque, well over 30 years after the Morris brand had disappeared. WRM Motors Ltd began in 1912 when bicycle manufacturer William Morris moved on from the sale, hire, and repair of cars to car manufacturing. He planned a new light car assembled from bought-in components. In this way he was able to retain ownership by keeping within
3318-617: A poor seller, and they were not exported to the US after 1975. The Marina was also marketed in Canada as the Austin Marina, in two-door coupé (coupe) and four-door saloon (sedan) forms, from 1972 to 1978, using only the 1.8-litre engine, fitted with US-style heavier bumpers and emissions equipment. Sales ceased when the 1.8 was replaced by a 1.7-litre engine, which was not emissions-certified in Canada. While its simple rear-wheel-drive layout and mechanicals appealed to many Canadian drivers,
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#17327719439323476-471: A proper moving assembly line and creating Europe's largest integrated car plant. But Morris and Lord fell out, and after 15 years Lord left in 1936—threatening to "take Cowley apart brick by brick". Lord moved to Austin and they were to meet again in BMC—Morris, as Lord Nuffield, its first chairman. Lord succeeded him. As of 1 July 1935 Morris Motors acquired from W R Morris, now Lord Nuffield, in exchange for
3634-578: A separate MG factory was soon established south of Oxford in Abingdon, Oxfordshire . Having admired Budd's all-steel bodies Morris founded The Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain Limited in 1926 as a joint venture with Edward G Budd Manufacturing Company - Budd International of Philadelphia, USA. Pressed Steel's factory was located over the road from Morris's factory at Cowley and supplied Morris and many other motor manufacturers. Morris withdrew from
3792-454: A separate front sub-frame to support the weight of the Big Red engine and different front torsion bars as well as a pair of rear radius arms in an attempt to improve handling. Base model featured a 3-speed manual gearbox – sourced locally from Borg-Warner – to meet local content requirements. The Borg-Warner automatic was, however, the variation most popular in the local market. Surprisingly,
3950-431: A sharp corner. This was a particular problem with the more powerful 1.8 and 1.8 TC cars, which were unfortunately the models the press were most likely to test, though the 1.3-litre models, having a lighter engine, did not suffer from the problem to the same extent. Early production Marinas were fitted with the original front suspension, although a different lower link-arm (trunnion) was fitted quite quickly. The best estimate
4108-552: A staple of the Capri and Granada ranges. However, 2.3-litre Cortinas never sold particularly well in the UK. The Cologne V6 was much smoother and delivered more refined power than the Pinto, but the V6 models were more expensive to fuel and insure, and were only slightly faster, being about 0.5 seconds faster from 0–60 and having a top speed of about 109 mph compared to the 104 mph of
4266-445: A subtle 'Coke-bottle' waistline as a reference to its predecessor - along with a lowered boot lid height which achieved the marketing department objective of larger windows giving a better view out and a brighter feel to the cabin, but at the expense of body weight, which was increased, albeit only marginally, by about 30 lb (14 kg). Ford claimed an overall increase in window area of some 15%, with "40% better visibility" through
4424-544: A twin carburettor engine similar to that in the MG MGB for extra performance. These could be fitted with a body kit from BL Special Tuning that added front and rear spoilers , alloy wheels, extra lighting and other details. A 1.5-litre diesel version, using an engine developed from the B-Series, was offered in a few European countries where the tax rates favoured diesels. With no more than 37 or 40 hp on offer depending on
4582-432: A very obvious afterthought" on the 1964 Mark I Cortina was felt to have aged much less well than the car's ventilation system. Also in 1964, front disc brakes became standard across the range. Ford Cortina Lotus was offered only as a two-door saloon all in white with a contrasting green side flash down each flank. It had a unique 1558 cc twin-cam engine by Lotus , but based on the Cortina's Kent OHV engine. Aluminium
4740-681: A wooden dash, a vinyl roof, a blacked out tail panel, semi-high back front seats, centre console with floor shifter and clock, Australian Capri full wheel trims plus special stripes and badging. A 3.0 L Essex V6 engined variant was developed privately in South Africa by Basil Green Motors , and was sold through the Grosvenor Ford network of dealers as the Cortina Perana; two similar models (fitted with 3.0 L and 2.5 L Essex respectively) appeared later in Britain and were known as
4898-782: Is owned and operated by BMW, who use it to assemble the new MINI . The history of William Morris's business is commemorated in the Morris Motors Museum at the Oxford Bus Museum . Post-Morris cars to have been built at Cowley include the Austin/MG Maestro , Austin/MG Montego , Rover 600 , Rover 800 and (for a short time) the Rover 75 . Following the bankruptcy of the MG Rover Group in 2005, three competing bids were launched aiming to acquire
Morris Marina - Misplaced Pages Continue
5056-403: Is that about 30,000 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
5214-575: The Austin Allegro and Princess , the former of which occupied the same small family car segment as the Marina would. Specifically this meant that Austins use the groundbreaking transverse-engine front-wheel-drive layout developed by Alec Issigonis . It was thus decided that the ADO28 would be badged as a Morris. The Marina would use a conventional rear-wheel drive , live rear axle drive-train as found on other popular mass-market cars such as
5372-539: The Austin Maestro and Austin Montego in 1983 and 1984 respectively). By this time Leyland had abandoned the idea of separate Austin and Morris ranges. There was not enough money to develop a full range of rear-wheel-drive Morris cars and an equivalent front-wheel-drive (FWD) Austin range, and FWD was increasingly accepted across the market. There were changes, however, albeit small ones. A facelift in 1975 gave
5530-542: The British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), and subsequently, in 1975, the nationalised British Leyland Limited (BL). The Cowley complex remained the second largest single facility in the BL empire (after Longbridge ), but BL's history was a turbulent one – BMC was close to financial ruin, and the newly installed Leyland management failed to turn its fortunes around. With the replacement for
5688-542: The Cortina Savage and Cortina Cheetah , which were available with 1600E trim in all three body styles, while their South African stablemate was offered only as a four-door saloon initially with GT and later E trim. The Cortina was Canada's second-most popular imported car during the 1960s, second only to the Volkswagen Beetle . Canada had two- and four-door sedans, the higher-performance GT sedan, and
5846-463: The Ford Escort and Vauxhall Viva . This strategy was also intended to improve sales in BL's export markets. Commonwealth markets such as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand were large buyers of BL products, but the innovative BMC cars were considered too fragile and complex for use in such countries, as well as being fitted exclusively with small, low-powered engines. As a result, the Marina
6004-519: The Ford Escort , to second place in UK car sales in 1973 and taking third or fourth place (behind the Escort) in other years. The car was exported throughout the world, including North America, and assembled in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia. A total of 1.2 million were built. According to various sources, the Marina ranks among the worst cars ever built . The 1980 replacement for
6162-524: The Leyland Marina name. From that time a restyled grille was used on all models. The Australian Marina, which was sold in sedan and coupé forms only, used the OHC E-Series four-cylinder motor in 1500 cc, 1750 cc and 1750 cc twin carburettor form. Additionally, in an attempt to compete with the Holden Torana and Ford Cortina 6-cylinder models, the Marina was also offered from November 1973 with
6320-715: The Leyland P76 ) closed. A replacement model, the P82, was under development in 1974, but did not reach production. Over 30,000 Marinas were produced in Australia. The Morris Marina was a popular car on the New Zealand market, imported by the New Zealand Motor Corporation . Imports began with built-up British-sourced saloons and coupes (in 1.3- and 1.8-litre forms) in 1971. Local assembly of Australian-sourced (E-Series engines) models began in 1972 after
6478-682: The MGB without any modifications needed, and the TC engine carried 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 to be repaired or restored. Ironically, the greatest contribution the Marina made to the automotive world was in South Korea. When George Turnbull was hired by the Hyundai conglomerate in 1974 to head up their effort to create an indigenous Korean automobile, he brought with him from
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6636-789: The Morris Marina and Leyland Princess being delayed into the 1980s, the Marina was restyled in 1980 to become the Morris Ital, while the Princess was restyled for 1982 to become the Austin Ambassador . British Leyland later confirmed that the Morris brand would be discontinued on the all-new replacement for these two cars, which was finally launched in April 1984 as the Austin Montego . The Morris Ital (essentially
6794-781: The Nuffield Organization merged with its old rival the Austin Motor Company to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC). Nuffield brought the Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley marques into the merger. Leonard Lord was in charge, which led to Austin's domination of the organisation. Badge-engineering was important to BMC and for many years the various marques would be seen on several families of similar vehicles. In 1966, BMC acquired Jaguar to create British Motor Holdings (BMH), which subsequently merged with Leyland Motors in 1968 to form
6952-466: The Triumph Toledo unit, controlled by a floor-mounted lever. Automatic transmission was a conventional Borg Warner Type 35 three-speed transmission and was offered at extra cost. The Marina was available in the United States as the Austin Marina from 1973 to 1975 in two and four-door forms. It was marketed as an Austin, because Morris was a virtually unknown brand in the US, and to capitalise on
7110-520: The "pre-crossflow" version, as both inlet and exhaust ports were located on the same side of the head. The most powerful version of this engine (used in the GT Cortina) was 1498 cc (1500) and produced 78 bhp (58 kW). This engine contained a different camshaft profile, a different cylinder-head casting featuring larger ports, tubular exhaust headers, and a Weber 28/36 DCD twin-choke carburettor made under licence by Ford. Advertising of
7268-556: The 1.6 OHC replacement for the base 1.6 engine and during the run, a specially trimmed base 1.3 OHV “economy" version was reintroduced, but actually achieved worse fuel economy than larger engine models. A 2.0XL sedan version was also added around the same time. The Kiwi 2000E sedan initially lacked the cloth seats and never had the factory sunroof of the UK version and a radio was never standard, wagons were only ever offered in base or L trim. Ford Lio Ho in Taiwan began local production of
7426-459: The 1.8-litre Marina estate did the same for the outgoing estate versions of the Farina. The dashboard also suffered from being ergonomically illogical, with the radio and warning light controls facing away from the driver towards the passenger seat. The indigenous engines were the venerable A-Series and B-Series units in 1.3- and 1.8-litre capacities, respectively, which drove rear wheels through
7584-477: The 1300 received a new crossflow cylinder head design, making it more efficient, while a crossflow 1600 replaced the 1500. The new models carried additional "1300" or "1600" designations at the rear. An 1100 cc crossflow engine from the Escort was also offered for markets such as Greece, where higher capacities were taxed heavily. The Cortina Lotus continued with its own unique engine, although for this generation it
7742-589: The 1990s. Part of Morris's manufacturing complex at Cowley, Oxford is now BMW Group 's Plant Oxford , factory of the MINI marque since its launch in 2001. The Morris trademark is currently owned by the China-based automotive company SAIC after being transferred from bankrupt subsidiary Nanjing Automotive . The Morris Commercial JE, an electric van with a 1940s design, was unveiled in November 2019 ahead of
7900-513: The 2-seat and 4-seat Morris Cowley was introduced. After the war the Continental engine was no longer available so Morris arranged for Hotchkiss of France to make a near copy in their Coventry factory. This was used to power new versions of the basic Cowley and more up-market Morris Oxford cars. With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris's business continued to grow and increase its share of
8058-658: The 2.0 and 2.3S models, which were discontinued when the Mark V was introduced in August 1979. Ford Australia built its own version, known as the TE, with the 2.0-litre Inline-four engine Pinto unit and the Falcon's 3.3-litre and 4.1-litre straight-six engine. The six-cylinder versions were rather nose heavy and did not handle as well as the fours or the European V6 models. Interior door hardware and steering columns were shared with
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#17327719439328216-434: The 2.0-litre Pinto was always by far the most common engine option for Ghia models. Two-door and four-door saloons and a five-door estate were offered with all other engines being carried over. At launch, though, only 1.3-litre-engined cars could be ordered in the UK with the two-door body, and then only with "standard" or "L" equipment packages. In practice, relatively few two-door Mark IV Cortinas were sold. In some markets,
8374-426: The 2.0-litre models. The 2.0-litre Cologne V6 engine continued to be offered on Taunus-badged cars in parallel with the Pinto unit, and offers here an interesting comparison with the similarly sized in-line four-cylinder Pinto engine. The V6 with a lower compression ratio offered less power and less performance, needing over an extra second to reach 50 mph (80 km/h). It did, however, consume 12½% less fuel and
8532-493: The 807,000 Marinas sold in Britain were still on the road, fewer than one of every thousand sold, making it the most-scrapped car sold in Britain over the previous 30 years. The low survival rate is due to a combination of factors, chief amongst which is the Marina's poor rust-proofing. Like other 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
8690-463: The ADO28 codename. The impetus for its development came when Leyland Motors merged with British Motor Holdings (BMH) in 1968, thus forming British Leyland (BL). BMH was the corporate parent of the two biggest car manufacturers in the UK, Austin and Morris . The new BL management, made largely from ex-Leyland Motors staff, were shocked to learn that apart from the Austin Maxi (then entering
8848-468: The Bomb' taillight clusters. Standard, Deluxe, Super, and GT trims were offered, but not across all body styles. Early Standard models featured a simple body-coloured front grille, earning it the nickname 'Ironbar'. Since this version cost almost the same as the better-equipped Deluxe, it sold poorly and is very rare today. Options included heater and bench seat with column gearchange (shifter). Super versions of
9006-588: The British Empire. Both-Nuffield respirators were able to be produced by the thousand at about one-thirteenth the cost of the American design. In the summer of 1938 Morris agreed to build, equip and manage at government expense a huge new factory at Castle Bromwich specifically to manufacture Supermarine Spitfires . with intention to build bombers later. Nuffield's management failed; no Spitfires were delivered by May 1940 despite expectation of 60
9164-512: The British market overtaking Ford to become in 1924 the UK's biggest car manufacturer, holding a 51% share of the home market and remaining enormously profitable. Possessed of a very large cash income Morris had a policy of personally buying up suppliers' businesses. For example, in 1923 he bought Hotchkiss's Coventry business which later became Morris Engines branch. He also brought in F G Woollard which became Morris Commercial Cars to lead
9322-499: The Cortina GT, which appeared in spring 1963 with lowered suspension and engine tuned to give a claimed output of 78 bhp (58 kW; 79 PS) ahead of the 60 bhp (45 kW; 61 PS) claimed for the Cortina 1500 Super. The engines used across the Mark I range were of identical design, differing only in displacement and setup. The formula used was a four-cylinder pushrod (overhead valve) design that came to be known as
9480-472: The Cortina Mark III in undiminished numbers in the UK until they were ready to launch its successor as the Dagenham -built Cortina Mark IV, which went on sale on 29 September 1976. Many parts were carried over, most notably the running gear. The raised driving position and the new dashboard had, along with some of the suspension upgrades, had already appeared in the 1974 model year Cortina MkIII, so that from
9638-573: The Cortina in March 1973. For Japan, the cars were narrowed by a few millimetres on arrival in the country to fit into a lower tax bracket determined by exterior dimensions which impose a maximum width of 1,695 mm (66.7 in). The Cortina was joined by the Ford Capri in Japan and was imported by Kintetsu Motors, an exclusive retailer of Ford products. The Mark IV Cortina (or TC2 , as it
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#17327719439329796-407: The E series had standard bores, with capacity increased by using either more cylinders or larger strokes. However, small-capacity sixes fell out of favour as post-war Britain became increasingly affluent. To increase capacity, BL preferred increasing stroke, which added little to the cost of production. This resulted in a tall engine. It was not possible to slant the engine, because of the location of
9954-405: The Ital), and adaptor kits to convert the rear dampers to a more effective vertical orientation using separate turrets. The S/T suspension upgrades produced significant improvements in handling and ride over the standard Marina, but were not widely publicised on the general market. The troublesome manual gearbox was a four-speed unit with synchromesh on all gears except reverse, and was derived from
10112-433: The Leyland Marina, in New Zealand as the Morris 1.7 (for 1979–81, in facelifted O-Series form) and in North America as the Austin Marina. The car was popular with families and undemanding car buyers and was available in the typical BL colours of the day – Russet Brown, Harvest Gold, Limeflower Green, Midnight Blue, Teal Blue, Blaze Orange, Damask Red and a characteristically 1970s purple called Black Tulip. It
10270-451: The Marina new radiator grilles, dashboard, seats, suspension modifications and increased soundproofing. In May 1977, Marinas started to appear at dealers equipped with Allegro style seats: apart from rationalising the procuring and production processes, this was said to make the Marina seating more comfortable and supportive. The overhead camshaft O-Series engine (also used for Leyland Princess ) appeared in 1.7-litre form in 1978 to replace
10428-425: The Marina received a face lift and the BL O-Series OHC 1.7-litre engine. However, at the time the Marina name was held in low regard by the New Zealand public, and was dropped, the car being renamed Morris 1700 . The Morris 1700 had high equipment levels and included front spoilers and driving lights on all models. The related van and pick-up models were renamed Morris 575 . Production of the car ceased in 1981. It
10586-453: The Marina was forever cursed with a "full nappy" rear-end styling, needed to even the lines between the necessarily bloated front and the rear. The engine assembly line was bifurcated by a municipal road; Leyland had to build an overpass, further increasing cost. The Birmingham local authority then agreed to sell the road to Leyland after the overpass had been completed. This increased the cost even further. Numerous redesigns also meant that
10744-423: The Marina's body was prone to extremely fast rust-out on the salted winter roads of eastern Canada, which limited sales in later years. In Denmark, the Morris 1100 & Morris 1300 models were marketed under the Morris Marina name from 1962 to 1972. The Marina was introduced to the Australian market in April 1972 as the Morris Marina and then, following a change in marketing policy, sold there from 1973 under
10902-427: The Marina's case) and offered them at a scale acceptable to the European market. As with its mechanics, the Marina was not intended to be visually innovative or particularly interesting – its Austin Allegro stablemate was the entry in that area of the market. A point of criticism with the Marina was that the windscreen-wiper set-up was "opposite" the driver. This was decided pre-production after drivers of
11060-415: The Marina, the Ital , was the same car with only mild styling changes. It was only fully replaced by the Austin Montego in 1984. British Leyland sold the Marina alongside the 1969 Austin Maxi , which shared the same market segment but used front-wheel-drive and had a hatchback body, and the 1973 Austin Allegro , which used front-wheel-drive and more adventurous styling. The Marina was developed under
11218-406: 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 ones. 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
11376-569: The Mark II Cortinas, except for the 1600 cc GXL. These engines are known as the Kent, crossflow engine or overhead valve (OHV) engine. Also, the 2000 cc engine, the single overhead cam engine, now known as the Pinto engine, was introduced. The OHV Kent ' unit was fitted with a single-choke carburetor and was used for the early models up to GT trim, the SOHC twin-choke carburetor Pinto engine
11534-402: The Mark III a much softer ride on the road, but did give cars fitted with the larger, heavier engines distinct understeer. Trim levels for the Mark III Cortina were Base , L (Luxury), XL (Xtra Luxury), XLE (Xtra Luxury Edition - Australia and South Africa only), GT (Grand Touring), and GXL (Grand Xtra Luxury). The early Mark III Cortinas came with the same 1300 and 1600 cc engines as
11692-494: The Mark III was given a facelift, and was redesignated TD. The biggest change was the new dashboard, which dispensed with the steeply sloped and somewhat "overstyled" original. The new fascia was much flatter in appearance featuring the instruments under a glass hood with improved ergonomics which would be carried over to the later Mark IV and Mark V Cortinas with only detail modifications, as well as upgraded trim levels, revised front grilles and rear lights, rectangular headlights for
11850-493: The Mini. In fact, of all the post Ryder Report models that BL and its successors produced, only the Austin Metro would surpass the Marina's sales. 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 facelifts and interior changes. Coupled with
12008-469: The Mk2's run. Initially, the 1.3 OHV engine came with base trim, the 1.6 as the Cortina L, and the 2.0 OHC as a GT (sedan only). Later base models were upgraded to the 1.6 OHV and a 2.0 L specification was added, set to become the default "rep's spec" until the Cortina's Kiwi demise in 1984. A 1973 update brought new paint colours and black, rather than colour-matched, dashboards and carpet. Facelifted Mk3s received
12166-719: The Morris C4 truck, Morris ML ambulance, 500 Morris Commercial 8x8 GS Terrapin (amphibious vehicle)s , and the Morris Commercial CD series trucks. Production restarted after the Second World War, with the pre-war Eight and Ten designs. In 1948 the Eight was replaced by what is probably the most famous Morris car, the Morris Minor designed by Alec Issigonis (who later went on to design the Mini ) and reusing
12324-559: The Morris marque was axed and the Austin badge featured on the Montego that replaced it, signalling the end of the Morris brand after more than 70 years. (With the discontinuation of the Morris 18-22 – also sold as an Austin and Wolseley – the Marina car and the Ital were the only non-commercial vehicles sold with the Morris badge after 1975). In Australia and South Africa it was known as
12482-537: The Morris marque, being transferred to SAIC. The Morris badge shows an ox fording the River Isis , the traditional emblem of William Morris's home town of Oxford , used in the coat of arms of Oxford . Many of the model names are based on the tax horsepower rather than the actual horsepower. "Six" often indicates a 6-cylinder engine. Ford Cortina The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car manufactured in various body styles from 1962 to 1984. It
12640-523: The Morris name remained in use until 1984, when the by-then Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin brand as well as expanding the more upmarket Rover brand. Until 2014, Morris Oxford vehicles (based on the 1954-59 Oxford) were manufactured with periodic enhancements in India by Hindustan Motors , and sold well there, even being imported to Britain in small numbers during
12798-689: The Sierra estate for local assembly from 1984. Cortinas were also assembled in South Africa until 1984, with the pick-up version remaining in production in that country until 1987. The name was inspired by the name of the Italian ski resort Cortina d'Ampezzo , site of the 1956 Winter Olympics . Several Cortinas were driven down the Cortina Olympic bobsled run at that resort, a publicity stunt which Ford called "Cortina Auto-Bobbing." Using
12956-560: The UK four-cylinder engines (1.6 and 2.0) and locally made inline six-cylinder engines (3.3- and 4.1-litre) from its Falcon line. Along with the engines, Australian built ' Cortys' (a common slang word Australians use for the Cortina ) featured many paint colours carried over from the Falcon line, some even from the Falcon GT. Ford New Zealand introduced the Mk3 as a four-door sedan and also reintroduced wagon versions not assembled during
13114-460: The UK two Morris Marinas, a coupe and a saloon and hired a number of British engineers who had worked on the Marina project or for British Leyland. Their first product, a reworked Marina equipped with Mitsubishi engines and transmissions, and a four door hatch back body restyled from the two door coupe by Italdesign Giugiaro , was the Hyundai Pony , whose global success turned Hyundai into
13272-677: The XL, GT, and the new 2000E (the "E" standing for executive), which replaced the GXL. The 1.3-litre Kent engine continued, but 1.6-litre models now used the more modern 1.6-litre Pinto SOHC engine. Whilst the TD Cortina still had double A-arm suspension with coils at the front and a four-link system at the rear, handling was improved. The 2000E reverted to the classy treatment offered by the MkII 1600E (and carried over to later Mark IV/V Ghia) models instead of
13430-488: The assets of William Morris 's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represented 42 per cent of British car manufacture—a remarkable expansion rate attributed to William Morris's practice of buying in major as well as minor components and assembling them in his own factory. Although it merged with Austin Motor Company to form the British Motor Corporation in 1952,
13588-419: The body at the rear-wheel arches. This limited the effectiveness of the dampers somewhat (they were dissipating vertical motion when mounted at an angle), and when combined with the live rear axle, made the rear end prone to "bump steer" on rough roads. A similar setup was used on the early Ford Escort for the same reasons of cost-effective construction, but Ford revised the arrangement on later models. BL lacked
13746-535: The bounciness of the ride and low-speed ride harshness, which had generated press criticism at the time of the Mark III's launch. Volumes recovered, and with the ageing Austin/Morris 1100/1300 now losing out to various newer models, the Cortina was Britain's top-selling car in 1972, closely followed by the Escort . It remained the UK's top-selling car until 1976, when overtaken by the Mk2 Escort. In late 1973,
13904-468: The bounds of his own capital resources. A factory was opened in 1913 at former Oxford Military College at Cowley, Oxford , United Kingdom where Morris's first car, the 2-seat Morris Oxford "Bullnose" , was assembled. Nearly all the major components were bought in. In 1914 a coupé and van were added to the line-up, but the Bullnose chassis was too short and the 1018 cc engine too small to make
14062-418: The budget to develop two cars to compete directly with the Escort and the Cortina, the makers sized the ADO28 between the two benchmark Ford models. Haynes' original idea was to produce the car in coupé and saloon versions with the coupé pitched as a premium, sporting version, in a similar mould to the Ford Capri – a popular coupé based on Cortina running gear – to appeal to younger buyers, while
14220-549: The build quality combined with the grossly underpowered 1.3 version (particularly for the South African Highveld where heat and altitude cut engine performance by up to 20%) made it an absolute failure. The remnants of the production run were sold off at up to 50% discount on their list price. Morris Motors MG Rover Group (2000–2005) Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over
14378-741: The car sported similar fluted bonnet and beltline design elements to the North American Mercury Montego and Ford LTD of the same era. It replaced both the Mark II Cortina and the larger, more expensive Ford Corsair , offering more trim levels and the option of larger engines than the Mark II Cortina. The Mark III's continental European sister car – the Taunus TC – was subtly different in appearance, with longer front indicators, different taillights, different door skins, different bonnet and boot lid pressings (and hence
14536-420: The car usefully quieter than its predecessor, though on many cars, the benefit was diminished by high levels of wind noise apparently resulting from poor door fit around the windows. Four-speed manual transmissions were by now almost universally offered in the UK for this class of car, and contemporary road tests commented on the rather large gap between second and third gear, and the resulting temptation to slip
14694-463: The car was launched as the Consul Cortina until a modest facelift in 1964, after which it was sold simply as the Cortina. The Cortina was available with 1200 cc and (from early 1963 ) 1500 cc four-cylinder engines with all synchromesh gearbox, in two-door and four-door saloon , as well as in five-door estate (from March 1963) forms. The saloon models featured large, round, 'Ban
14852-471: The cheaper of the two body styles, with the 1.3-litre model directly replacing the entry-level 2-door version of the Morris Minor and competing with the 2-door saloon versions of the Ford Escort and the Hillman Avenger . Meanwhile, the 1.8-litre coupé models had no direct predecessor in the BL range and the closest equivalents were the sporting Ford Capri and the new Vauxhall Firenza . This gave
15010-406: The clutch when accelerating through the gears in the smaller-engined cars: it was presumably in tacit acknowledgment of the car's marginal power-to-weight ratio that Ford no longer offered the automatic transmission option with the smallest 1298 cc-engined Cortina. Four headlights and Rostyle wheels marked out the GT and GXL versions. The GXL also had bodyside rub strips, a vinyl roof, and
15168-537: The company's assets. One of the bids, led by Maserati CEO Martin Leach alongside Chinese state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industries Corporation (SAIC) , included plans for a Morris Minor revival. Despite this, the bid was lost to the Nanjing Automobile Corporation and the new Minor was not produced, although Nanjing Automobile Corporation later merged with SAIC, with all assets, including
15326-477: The continuing quality problems suffered by the car and the increasingly poor perception of BL cars as a whole, this sealed the Marina's reputation, despite its high sales. Even when Marina production ended in 1980, a modified version of it survived until 1984 as the Ital. British Leyland had been working on an all-new replacement for the Marina by 1980, but it was too early in the development stages to enter production, with production not beginning until early 1984, when
15484-503: The country's best sellers 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 apparently old-fashioned design of the Marina was intended mainly to appeal to company-car and corporate-fleet buyers. This market
15642-476: The coupé a rather conflicted image – the sporty bodystyle led many buyers and testers to have expectations of the Marina coupé that the final product was never intended to meet, being mechanically identical to the standard saloon version. The Marina saloons more obvious market placements; the 1.3-litre saloon replaced the 4-door Minor while the 1.8-litre version superseded the Austin and Morris Farina saloons and
15800-400: The driving position, the new car looked much more familiar to owners of recent existing Cortinas than from the outside. Cinema audiences saw the new Cortina (or Taunus ) chasing James Bond in his Lotus Esprit in the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me . The most obvious change was the new, squarer body in line with contemporary "folded paper" fashion of the time - although it still featured
15958-419: 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 towards body-roll. What Car? magazine, in a typical review, described the understeer as "noticeable", but called the car as a whole "unobtrusively well designed". More comprehensive suspension changes were made with
16116-550: The end of 1971. Nevertheless, eleven months after launch, on 29 March 1972, the 100,000th Marina, a 1.8TC version, emerged from the Cowley plant and by February 1973 the company was able to announce that 250,000 Marinas had already been built in less than two years. The Marina continued in production from 1971 to 1980, when it was replaced by the Morris Ital (an updated version of the Marina) which continued in production until 1984, when
16274-548: The ending of hostilities. The Cowley plant was turned over to aircraft repair and production of Tiger Moth pilot trainers, as well as "mine sinkers" based on a design produced at the same plant during the First World War. Morris produced the popular Morris C8 Quad artillery prime mover towing artillery (such as the 25-pounder ) and anti-tank guns (such as the 17-pounder ) with some 10,200 made. Morris also produced some 2200 Morris Light Reconnaissance Cars , 100 Morris CS9 armoured cars, 21,319 Morris CS8 15cwt light trucks,
16432-451: The estates offered the option of simulated wood side and tailgate trim. In an early example of product placement , many examples of the new Cortina featured as "Glamcabs" in the comedy film Carry On Cabby . Two main variations of the Mark 1 were produced. The Mark 1a possessed elliptical front side-lights, whereas the Mark 1b had a redesigned front grille incorporating the more rectangular side-light and indicator units. A notable variant
16590-452: The expense of sloppy handling and body control at high speeds. Improvements in road surfaces, the development of the motorway network , the huge increase in the performance of even standard family cars and advances in the design of telescopic dampers since the Minor was launched in 1948 made this type of damper obsolete by 1971. Nonetheless it was adopted to keep development and tooling costs to
16748-478: The faux woodgrain trim of the GXL. The 2000E was also available as an estate version. The Mark III was sold in Canada until 1973. For South Africa, the Mark III was available as the 'Big Six' L and GL with the Essex V6 2.5-litre engine and Perana, GT, and XLE with the Essex V6 3.0-litre engine. A pick-up truck version also was available. In addition to the 1.6-litre inline-four, a version unique to South Africa
16906-421: The final design of the Marina was rushed, as the project's final deadline grew near. The car went from design stage to production in just 18 months. Consequently, the board decided to cut costs and abandon Macpherson struts in favour of an old design from the Morris Minor. They also abandoned a project to design a new 4-speed BMC gearbox. As a further cost-cutting measure the coupé version of the Marina would now use
17064-404: The final stages of development) and a tentative design for a replacement for the Mini (the 9X ) BMH had no new cars under development. The company's products aimed at the mass-market consisted of the Morris Minor , dating from 1948, and the 1100/1300 range of mid-sized Austin and Morris saloons that were a decade old. BL rapidly implemented a plan to develop a replacement for both the Minor and
17222-512: The first Cortina recognized as a classic. For 1969, the Mark II range was given subtle revisions, with separate "FORD" block letters mounted on the bonnet and boot lids, a blacked-out grille and chrome strips on top and below the taillights running the full width of the tail panel marking them out. Ford New Zealand developed its own variant of this model called the GTE, since the GT and Lotus Cortinas were not assembled there. The four-door only GTE had
17380-413: The fuel pump. Furthermore, the engine had to be "siamesed", that is, the water jacket was shared between pairs of cylinders. These factors contributed to overheating and oil burning in the Austin Maxi , and so the board decided to adopt the more reliable A and B- series engines for indigenous production. (Australia and South Africa continued with the E series.) However, the body had already been designed, so
17538-510: The funds to retool the Marina's design significantly, and so all models were fitted in this less-than-ideal way. The front suspension was closely derived from that on the Morris Minor, using longitudinal torsion bars for springing. The rest of the front suspension consisted of lower arms pivoting on trunnions with upper ball joints supporting the wheel and acting on hydraulic lever arm dampers . These provided superior ride comfort over rough roads when compared to early telescopic dampers , but at
17696-511: The help of Giorgetto Giugiaro 's Italdesign . ItalDesign, however, did not design the car, which was an in-house product — it merely made changes to its appearance. The result of this exercise, the 1980 Morris Ital features large rear-lamp clusters and a new front end, but the 1971 vintage of the design was obvious. The Ital lasted four years and was replaced by the Austin Montego in early 1984. The Marina's public life did not get off to
17854-403: The high-tune GT 1600 Kent engine and luxury trim featuring a burr walnut woodgrain-trimmed dashboard and door cappings, bucket seating, leather-clad aluminium sports steering wheel, and full instrumentation inside, while a black grille, tail panel, front fog lights, and plated Rostyle wheels on radial tyres featured outside. According to author and Cortina expert Graham Robson, the 1600E would be
18012-655: The introduction of the saloon versions, a four-door estate was launched, released on the UK market on 15 February 1967: much was made at the time of its class-topping load capacity. The four-door Cortina 1600E, a higher-trim version, was introduced at the Paris Motor Show in October 1967, a year after the arrival of the Cortina Mark II. It combined the lowered suspension of the Cortina Lotus with
18170-470: The larger B-Series 1.8-litre models. A changed grille, including driving lights, a front spoiler and redesigned bumpers and rear lights, were added to all models. Under severe financial strain, BL was bailed out by the government under the Ryder Report of 1975, and Sir Michael Edwardes was brought in to oversee the company. Under his leadership, BL made an attempt to update the Marina, by enlisting
18328-404: The launch was accompanied by the slogan "New Cortina is more Cortina", the car, at 168 in (427 cm) long, was fractionally shorter than before. Its 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (6.4 cm) of extra width and curved side panels provided more interior space. Its other improvements included a smaller turning circle, softer suspension, self-adjusting brakes and clutch, and the availability on
18486-505: The model in 1970 and was effectively replaced with the introduction of the US-produced 1971 Ford Pinto subcompact. Ford sold 352,402 Ford Pintos for model year 1971 and no more English Fords were sold in the United States thereafter. In the late 1960s, Ford set about developing the third-generation Cortina, the Mark III, which would be produced in higher volumes than before following the merger of Ford of Britain and Ford of Germany into
18644-508: The modern-day Ford of Europe. The car marked the convergence of the German Taunus and British Cortina platforms with only minor differences between the two, hence the car's internal name TC1, standing for Taunus-Cortina. It was also the last European car engineered by Harley Copp as vice president of engineering and head of Brentwood, before he returned to Detroit. Ford UK originally wanted to call it something other than Cortina, but
18802-439: The name stuck. Although the Mark III looked significantly larger than the boxier Mark II Cortina, it was actually the same overall length, but 4 inches (100 mm) wider. Within the overall length, a wheelbase lengthened by more than 3 inches (76 mm) also contributed to the slightly more spacious interior. The Mark III Cortina was inspired by the contemporary "coke bottle" design language which had emanated from Detroit –
18960-419: The new car, called the Austin Montego , was launched. 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 reported that 745 of
19118-614: The production of Austin and Rover-badged vehicles. They continued to be used by BL's Austin Rover Group and its successor the Rover Group , which was eventually bought by BMW , and then by a management consortium, leading to the creation of MG Rover . None of the former Morris buildings now exist. British Aerospace sold the site in 1992; it was then demolished and replaced with the Oxford Business Park. The adjacent former Pressed Steel site (now known as Plant Oxford)
19276-599: The project name of "Archbishop", management at Ford of Britain in Dagenham created a family-sized car that they could sell in large numbers. The chief designer was Roy Brown Jr. , the designer of the Edsel , who had been banished to Dagenham following the failure of that car. The Cortina, aimed at buyers of the Morris Oxford Farina and Vauxhall Victor , was launched on 20 September 1962. Also from 1962, it
19434-465: The prototypes reported that airflow at certain speeds made the wiper closest to the A-post lift off the windscreen, potentially disrupting the driver's line of sight. The problem was judged sufficiently serious that the car went on sale with a wiper position as if for driving on the other side of the road, though subsequent road testers questioned the effectiveness of this decision and the basis for it. BL
19592-513: The re-organization of their engine production from batch to flow, thus increasing output from less than 300 units per week to 1200. By 1924 the factory was making 2000 units a week with only a small increase in work space and labour force. Cecil Kimber , head of Morris's own original 1909-founded Morris Garage sales hire and repair operation in Oxford, began building sporting versions of Morris cars in 1924 labelling them MG . They were so successful
19750-523: The release of the Marinas there. Six-cylinder models were added in 1973. In 1974, before the termination of Leyland Australia's manufacturing operations, local assembly switched to British-sourced models again in saloon, estate, van and pick-up forms. Batches of fully built UK-sourced cars also came in 1973 and 1974 when the government allowed additional import licences due to the inability of local assembly plants to keep pace with demand for new cars. In 1979
19908-520: The revised Taunus was launched, the Cortina was identical. The new Taunus/Cortina used the doors and some panels from the 1970 Taunus. It was replaced in 1982 by the Ford Sierra . In Asia and Australasia , it was replaced by the Mazda 626 -based Ford Telstar , though Ford New Zealand , which built the sedan until 1983 and the estate car until 1984, did import British-made complete knock-down kits of
20066-473: The revised version, which appeared at the London Motor Show in October 1964, made much of the newly introduced "Aeroflow" through-flow ventilation, evidenced by the extractor vents on the rear pillars. A subsequent test on a warm day involving the four different Cortina models manufactured between 1964 and 1979 determined that the air delivery from the simple eyeball outlets on the 1964 Mark I Cortina
20224-494: The saloon was for the crucial company car market and families. Harris Mann , Haynes' assistant, designed the door handles, which he would later copy for the Austin Allegro and Triumph TR7. Haynes also attempted to put forward a system that many manufacturers now use: a common floor pan shared between models. The Marina was the first car design that used this idea. Although this idea carried great potential benefits for
20382-402: The same front doors as the saloon version. This produced significant cost savings in tooling and assembly, but left the coupé as obvious styling derivative of the saloon rather than having a different, more sporting image as Roy Haynes had originally proposed. This made it impossible to pitch the coupé as a superior product, and so it was decided that the 2-door coupé version of the Marina would be
20540-513: The six-cylinder) with a longitudinally mounted engine driving through the transmission and naked propeller shaft to a solid live rear axle suspended on semi-elliptic leaf springs with telescopic dampers. To ease production and reduce costs, the body featured a strong central spine around the transmission tunnel, where most of the unit's strength was. The rear dampers were inclined inboard from the axle to their top mounts on this spine, rather than being mounted vertically on dedicated top mounts built into
20698-540: The small car market helped Morris through the economic depression of the 1930s. At the 1934 London Motor Show the Minor was replaced by the Morris Eight , a direct response to the Ford Model Y and, though Leonard Lord's handiwork, heavily based on it. In 1932 W R Morris appointed Lord Managing Director of Morris Motors Limited and Lord swept through the Morris works, updating the production methods, introducing
20856-450: The small car name from 1928. The Ten was replaced by a new 1948 Morris Oxford MO , styled like a larger version of the Minor. A later Morris Oxford (the 1956 Morris Oxford III) was the basis for the design of India's Hindustan Ambassador , which continued in production until 2014. They used six engines and five (and a half) car bodies, of which the "specialist" three were obsolescent, the rest very closely related if not identical. In 1952
21014-427: The smaller Farina models that could be produced as quickly as possible and would be on sale for no more than five years until a genuinely "all new" product could be launched in its place. To try to introduce some clear distinctions between its multiple brands BL decided to release conservative, traditionally engineered cars under the Morris name, and sell more adventurous cars as Austins, or even as new marques – such as
21172-536: The smaller-engined models, for the UK and some other markets, of a new five-bearing 1300 cc engine. A stripped-out, 1200 cc version running the engine of the Ford Anglia Super was also available for certain markets, where the 1300 cc engine attracted a higher tax rate. The 1500 cc engines were at first carried over, but were discontinued in July 1967, as a new engine was on its way. A month later, in August,
21330-519: The source, performance was often lethargic; 3,870 diesels were built between 1977 and 1980. They were never sold in Britain, where diesel engines were almost unheard of in passenger cars. The new car was launched on the domestic market on 27 April 1971, with a night shift added at the Cowley plant in May 1971. At that time the manufacturers reported they were producing 2,000 cars per week, projecting over-optimistically to increase this to 5,000 cars per week by
21488-505: The success of the Austin-Healey marque. The 1973 model still had the normal small bumpers, but the 1974/5 models had large bumpers to comply with new US regulations. It was only produced with the 1.8-litre engine, and was soon strangled by the emissions equipment that U.S. law required — an air pump and exhaust air injection. The US government soon accused BL of dumping cars in the US, which, combined with tales of poor quality, made it
21646-524: The three-speed manual gearbox, was mechanically a four-speed box with first gear blanked off. This was done due to the perceived high torque of the engine, so that first gear was deemed unnecessary. Leyland Australia were known for their own development and a version of the Rover V8 was converted into a V6 and test fitted to a Marina saloon. Production of the Marina in Australia ended in 1975, when Leyland Australia 's Victoria Park, Zetland factory (home of
21804-583: The two-door saloon was marketed as a coupe, but this was not the case in Britain. Ford already competed in the coupe sector in Europe with the Capri , which was particularly successful on the British market. A choice of base, L, GL, S (for Sport) and Ghia trims was available, again not universal to all engines and body styles . Rostyle wheels were fitted as standard to all Mark IV GL, S, and Ghia models, with alloy wheels available as an extra-cost option. The dashboard
21962-533: The venture in mid-1930. Budd sold their share to British interests at the beginning of 1936. The small car market was entered in 1928 with the Leonard Lord -designed Morris Minor , using an 847 cc engine from Morris's newly acquired Wolseley Motors . Lord had been sent there to modernise the works and Wolseley's products. The Minor was to provide the base for the MG Midgets . This timely spread into
22120-425: The wider, deeper back window. Regardless of how these figures were computed, substantial weight-saving gains must have been made through reduced steel usage in the design, given the unavoidable extra weight of glass. This series spawned the first Ghia top-of-the-range model, which replaced the 2000E. The 2.3-litre Ford Cologne V6 engine was introduced in 1977 as an engine above the 2.0-litre Pinto engine, already
22278-431: Was a locally built version of the 2.0-litre Essex V4 . The Cortina 2000 V4 arrived during 1972, and also became available as a station wagon and pick-up later in the year. Maximum power was 76.6 kW SAE (104 PS; 103 hp). The shorter engine required a radiator shroud to compensate. The Cortina GT, however, received an OHC inline-four in South Africa, as well. Ford Australia built its own versions using both
22436-428: Was actually greater than that on the Mark II, Mark III, or Mark IV. The dashboard, instruments, and controls were revised, for the second time, having already been reworked in October 1963, when round instruments replaced the oblong speedometer with which the car had been launched. Twelve years later, however, the painted steel dashboard, its "knobs scattered all over the place and its heater controls stuck underneath as
22594-534: Was beset with problems including industrial action throughout the period, and the Marina was one of a number of models that suffered. While the labour disputes at BL eroded employment, manufacturers in Europe and Japan introduced innovative designs (such as the VW Golf ) with which the Marina and its like were never likely to compete. Problems were compounded as the cars to replace the Marina and BL's other mid-size offerings were repeatedly delayed (eventually appearing as
22752-563: Was built in-house by Ford. The Cortina was Britain's most popular new car in 1967, achieving the goal that Ford had been trying to achieve since it set out to create the original Cortina back in 1962. This interrupted the long run of BMC's 1100/1300 range as Britain's best-selling car. Period reviews were favourable concerning both the styling and performance. Again, two- and four-door saloons were offered with base, Deluxe, Super, GT, and later, 1600E trims available, but again, not across all body styles and engine options. A few months after
22910-533: Was carried over intact from the last of the Mark III Cortinas, while the estate used the rear body pressings of the previous 1970-release Taunus. Despite its status as Britain's best-selling car throughout its production run, the Mark IV is now the rarest Cortina, with poor rustproofing and the model's popularity with banger racers cited as being the main reasons for its demise. Particularly scarce are
23068-464: Was considered by motor journalists to be a far quieter and smoother unit. The 2.3-litre was available to the GL, S, and Ghia variants. A 1.6-litre Ghia option was also introduced at the same time as the 2.3-litre V6 models in response to private and fleet buyers who wanted Ghia refinements with the improved fuel economy of the smaller 1.6-litre Pinto engine. Few cars were sold with the 1.6-litre engine, though;
23226-488: 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
23384-482: Was intended to compete with the generally similar Ford Cortina (and to some extent the smaller Escort); the Vauxhall Viva and later the larger Cavalier ; as well as the Hillman Avenger and Hunter from Chrysler UK . It shared its basic styling with all these cars, adopting a supposedly transatlantic look that took elements of car styling from contemporary American cars (especially the front-end treatment in
23542-472: Was largely still as it was in the 1920s. The plant had insufficient capacity – British manufacturers had difficulties in meeting demand in the post-war years – which increased design and production costs significantly, since Leyland had to rebuild the plant. The Marina was originally designed to use the E-series overhead cam BMC engines. These engines had a number of design problems. A modular engine design,
23700-480: Was manufactured in other countries such as at the Ford factory in Lower Hutt , New Zealand. The car was designed to be economical to buy, cheap to run, and easy and inexpensive to produce in Britain. The front-wheel drive configuration used by Ford of Germany for the new Ford Taunus P4 , a similar-sized model, was rejected in favour of traditional rear-wheel drive layout. Originally to be called Ford Consul 225,
23858-474: Was raised to Viscount Nuffield. The same year he transferred his newly acquired Riley car business to Morris Motors Limited for £100. Visiting London in 1938 during a polio epidemic Lord Nuffield saw a Both Iron Lung in use. He commissioned an improved design which could be produced using the techniques of car assembly and arranged production of approximately 1700 machines at the Cowley works, which he donated to hospitals throughout all parts of Britain and
24016-422: Was replaced locally by an expanded range of NZMC Honda products. As in Australia, the car received the E-series engine, but was marketed as the Austin Marina . The 1.75-litre four and the 2.6-litre six were offered. Power outputs are 55 and 82 kW (75 and 111 PS; 74 and 110 hp). The 2600 was also available with a three-speed Borg Warner Type 35 automatic gearbox. After a June 1976 face lift, including
24174-742: Was the Ford Cortina Lotus . The Cortina was launched a few weeks before the London Motor Show of October 1962 with a 1198 cc, three-bearing engine, which was an enlarged version of the 997 cc engine then fitted in the Ford Anglia . A few months later, in January 1963, the Cortina Super was announced with a five-bearing, 1498 cc engine. Versions of the larger engine found their way into subsequent variations, including
24332-663: Was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s. The Cortina was produced in five generations (Mark I through to Mark V, although officially the last one was only the Cortina 80 facelift of the Mk IV) from 1962 until 1984. From 1970 onward, it was almost identical to the German-market Ford Taunus (being built on the same platform), which was originally a different car model. This was part of Ford's attempt to unify its European operations. By 1976, when
24490-532: Was the second generation of the unified Taunus-Cortina platform) was a more conservative design than its predecessor, and this was largely appreciated by fleet buyers. Generally, it was a rebody of the Mark III/TC with little mechanical change as an integration of Ford's model range, and as a result, the Cortina and Taunus now differed only in badging. Although the updated Taunus was introduced to Continental Europe in January 1976, Ford were able to continue selling
24648-475: Was unadventurous but simple, making use of existing BMC components derived from the Morris Minor and MGB , as well as using mainly Triumph Dolomite transmission and running gear from the former Leyland side of the organisation. The car was designed by Roy Haynes , the same man who designed the Ford Cortina Mark II (launched in 1966), with which it shares some stylistic similarities. Lacking
24806-429: Was used for some body panels. For a certain time, it also had a unique A-frame rear suspension, but this proved fragile, so the model soon reverted to the standard Cortina semielliptical rear end. The second incarnation of the Cortina, designed by Roy Haynes , was launched on 18 October 1966, four years after the original Cortina. It had some styling elements in common with the third-generation US Ford Falcon . Although
24964-536: Was used for the GT and GXL models. The GXL was also offered in 1600 in the later Cortina Mark IIIs. In left-hand drive markets, the 1600 OHC was replaced by a twin-carb OHV (Kent) unit not offered in the home market, to distinguish it from the competing Taunus, which only came with the OHC Pinto engine. The 2.0-litre variants used a larger version of the 1600 cc Pinto unit and were available in all trim levels except base. Base, L, and XL versions were available as
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