Yes, the Austin Marina and the Morris Marina were one in the same.
Morris didn't have as good a name here in the States, so they threw
the Austin badge on it. We didn't get the 1300 engine though, and
if you wanted the twin carb version, you had to get the coupe. The
sedan was only available with the single carb.
When I was preparing to be posted to the UK, my wife wanted to see
what the Marina drove like, so we went over to the local Austin
dealership to take one for a test drive. When we compared the other
cars in it's price range, the Marina was a lot of car for the money.
Although it was sized to compete with the Cortina, it was priced more
with the Escort, and with the Viva. Neither of those cars came with
as large an engine as the Marina, so we decided on the Marina.
In the two years and 30,000+ miles, we never had any major problems,
and any minor problems don't come readily to mind. I swapped the
Marina for my Spitfire, an across the board trade, and shortly
thereafter, the Marina developed a problem with the park/neutral
starting switch. It would start in any gear, not good for an automatic!
Doug Mitchell
|