Morris Marina
| Morris Marina | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Morris (British Leyland) |
| Also called | Austin Marina Leyland Marina (Australia) Morris 1700 |
| Production | 1971–1980 |
| Assembly | United Kingdom: Cowley, Oxford Australia: Zetland New Zealand: Panmure South Africa: Blackheath Malaysia: Shah Alam (AMI) Malta |
| Designer | Roy Haynes |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Family car |
| Body style | 4-door saloon 5-door estate car 2-door coupé 2-door coupé utility (pick up) 2-door van |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 96 in (2,438 mm) |
| Length | 166 in (4,216 mm) (4-door) 163 in (4,140 mm) (2-door) 167.5 in (4,254 mm) (estate) |
| Width | 64 in (1,626 mm) |
| Height | 56.125 in (1,426 mm) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Morris Minor |
| Successor | Morris Ital |
The Morris Marina is an automobile that was manufactured by Morris from 1971 until 1980. It was 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, narrowly pipping the Ford Escort to second place in the UK car sales table in 1973 and regularly taking third or fourth place in other years. The car was also exported throughout the world, including North America, and assembled with varying degrees of popularity in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
The 1980 replacement for the Marina, the closely related Ital, was essentially a body facelift and a change to the front suspension that replaced lever dampers with telescopic dampers in 1982 for the final two years of production but still retained torsion bars, to address criticism from the motoring press. Still, it sold reasonably well in the home market.
The Marina was developed under the ADO 28 codename. The impetus for its development came when Leyland Motors merged with British Motor Holdings (BMH) in 1968, thus forming British Leyland. 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 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 'Farina' 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 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.
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