Attempting to upload photo.

[Miracle maestro]

Here's mine outside Cowley in June'89

It's a 1982 Morris Ital 1.7SLX saloon in cashmere.

[Austin-Rover]

Do you still own it? I'd love to own a Marina/Ital. if I didn't have a Montego, I would own one of those...or a Maxi...or a Landcrab...or a 3 Litre...or an 1100. Ack! I think I had better stick with what I know.

I think the Ital is a nice car. I am strangely drawn to all the things people dismiss as crap. Shame you don't see more of them, however, when you don't sell many in the first place...

[Guest]

I see a very well used ital nearly every week... And its driving!

[Guest]

My first car

[Miracle maestro]

Do you still own it? I'd love to own a Marina/Ital. if I didn't have a Montego, I would own one of those...or a Maxi...or a Landcrab...or a 3 Litre...or an 1100. Ack! I think I had better stick with what I know.

I think the Ital is a nice car. I am strangely drawn to all the things people dismiss as crap. Shame you don't see more of them, however, when you don't sell many in the first place...

Sadly I don't own the Ital any more

[Miracle maestro]

Do you still own it? I'd love to own a Marina/Ital. if I didn't have a Montego, I would own one of those...or a Maxi...or a Landcrab...or a 3 Litre...or an 1100. Ack! I think I had better stick with what I know.

I think the Ital is a nice car. I am strangely drawn to all the things people dismiss as crap. Shame you don't see more of them, however, when you don't sell many in the first place...

Sadly I don't own the Ital any more

I kept it for six years taking the mileage from 43 to 93k.

These days we tend to think the maestro rusts badly, but in the early eighties the maestro was one of the better cars for resisting corrosion
My Ital was only six-months older than our maestro, but rusted much quicker.
When it was only ten, it suffered perforation on the front wings, and rear
arches.

It was also far less reliable; with a constant stream of faults needing attention!
Although, it never let me down so as I couldn't limp home.

But I do remember having the flasher unit fail one dark December evening, luckily I was in town at the time so able to purchase a replacement.

In a nutshell- the Ital wasn't a bad car, but certainly showed it's age in design.
77bhp from a 1.7 was a poor engine output, and economy wasn't spectacular either at 32MPG.
I once towed a caravan home from Banbury in the wind, and only averaged 17MPG(I had to use 3rd all the way!!!)(3000rpm in 3rd was 50MPH)

Here's another picture if it loads: showing the rear spoiler I added.

[Guest]

My first car was an '83 MG 1600 'R' (WJH 389Y), now demised; I don't think I have any pictures. I learnt to drive in a bright yellow Marina V reg 1700HL estate, wonderful handling(!), after which my dad deemed it safe to purchase a brand new Montego 1.6L, C601 PHF, bright red with a black vinyl roof (factory fitted) - I must admit I've never seen anything similar since. I later owned that car and sold it in part exchange for a Lancia Delta Turbo - not something I regretted I must admit.
I'm off to my parents this Xmas, I don't know if there are any pictures of the vinyl-roofed montego.
My brother has to drive an automatic, his first a Metro, A866 PPU which I often had the use of in 6th form. When he PX'd it they'd never heard of one having done 120K on the same gearbox and had no idea how to price it. Sadly the next one, a G reg one, was always breaking down and he got a Golf 1.6 Driver, which lasted 250+K miles and only broke when he drove it up the M1/M6 with no water and no warning lights - still regrets not just buying a new engine.

[Guest]

New years resolution: reduce usage of phrase "I must admit"

[e692wtt]

Sadly I don't own the Ital any more

I kept it for six years taking the mileage from 43 to 93k.

These days we tend to think the maestro rusts badly, but in the early eighties the maestro was one of the better cars for resisting corrosion
My Ital was only six-months older than our maestro, but rusted much quicker.
When it was only ten, it suffered perforation on the front wings, and rear
arches.

It was also far less reliable; with a constant stream of faults needing attention!
Although, it never let me down so as I couldn't limp home.

But I do remember having the flasher unit fail one dark December evening, luckily I was in town at the time so able to purchase a replacement.

In a nutshell- the Ital wasn't a bad car, but certainly showed it's age in design.
77bhp from a 1.7 was a poor engine output, and economy wasn't spectacular either at 32MPG.
I once towed a caravan home from Banbury in the wind, and only averaged 17MPG(I had to use 3rd all the way!!!)(3000rpm in 3rd was 50MPH)

Here's another picture if it loads: showing the rear spoiler I added.

Ah, the Morose Mariner... I can just remember my dad's turquoise Austin 1300 from 1972 but then we got new Marinas. Especially:

KEN 20P, 1975 1.8SDL Coupe in Damask Red, arrived March 1976 (still a Mk I, 5 months after the Mk II came out), after 2 years it needed new trunnions on the nearside front every 6 weeks @ £60 a time (and they didn't reset the tracking one time, then 6 weeks later when that trunnion was renewed they just put the spare on and put the old tyre, with cords sticking out, in the boot!)... then its first MoT cost £400 in 1979. Ouch!

CDK 343V, 1980 Snapdragon 1.7L Saloon, pranged by my mum when it was 5 months old, during a driving lesson (side of a house!). That lasted until 1983 when it was rolled on a local high street by its next owner then reshelled, we used to see it being driven about until the late 80s.

LPE 632W, 1980 Applejack Ital 1.7HL Estate, my dad got a job as a sales rep and got this heap. A bit of tlc would have seen it right, I am sure - but I got my car maintenance skills from both my grandfathers and said skills skipped a generation . We had the car 6 months and it notched up 12,000 pretty uneventful miles before he lost this job. The yellow saloon was then the family car once more.

After all of this, one of my fantasy cars is... A Marina TC, preferable a Saloon in Black Tulip! They sound good for a start, no need for a sound system :laugh: .


As for 17mpg from the Ital when towing... ouch! My Monty managed early 30s mpg when towing Rich's MiniMetro Auto to BMC/BL Day last year - and only needed 4th for the steeper climbs if I wanted to maintain 60mph on the motorway. Top whack was about 70mph in fourth, if I was having a 'lead clog' moment :laugh: , but fifth was fine for cruising.

[Miracle maestro]

Ah, the Morose Mariner... I can just remember my dad's turquoise Austin 1300 from 1972 but then we got new Marinas. Especially:

KEN 20P, 1975 1.8SDL Coupe in Damask Red, arrived March 1976 (still a Mk I, 5 months after the Mk II came out), after 2 years it needed new trunnions on the nearside front every 6 weeks @ £60 a time (and they didn't reset the tracking one time, then 6 weeks later when that trunnion was renewed they just put the spare on and put the old tyre, with cords sticking out, in the boot!)... then its first MoT cost £400 in 1979. Ouch!

CDK 343V, 1980 Snapdragon 1.7L Saloon, pranged by my mum when it was 5 months old, during a driving lesson (side of a house!). That lasted until 1983 when it was rolled on a local high street by its next owner then reshelled, we used to see it being driven about until the late 80s.

LPE 632W, 1980 Applejack Ital 1.7HL Estate, my dad got a job as a sales rep and got this heap. A bit of tlc would have seen it right, I am sure - but I got my car maintenance skills from both my grandfathers and said skills skipped a generation . We had the car 6 months and it notched up 12,000 pretty uneventful miles before he lost this job. The yellow saloon was then the family car once more.

After all of this, one of my fantasy cars is... A Marina TC, preferable a Saloon in Black Tulip! They sound good for a start, no need for a sound system :laugh: .


As for 17mpg from the Ital when towing... ouch! My Monty managed early 30s mpg when towing Rich's MiniMetro Auto to BMC/BL Day last year - and only needed 4th for the steeper climbs if I wanted to maintain 60mph on the motorway. Top whack was about 70mph in fourth, if I was having a 'lead clog' moment :laugh: , but fifth was fine for cruising.

I'd forgotten about the trunnions
We learned about trunnion maintainance the hard way with our Marina Mk3 575 pickup.
We were down a muddy track with the driving wheels spinning in a big puddle; father suggested I stand on the opened tailboard to add weight to the back end, -I decided to jump up and down.
But as I jumped- and the truck lurched forward -ouch-the front end broke an ankle
After replacing the trunnions and kingpins, we made a point of religiously greasing our Marina/Ital trunnions every 250miles, and thereafter never had any more trouble in this area.

Another Marina/Ital foible was the front suspension tie-rod knock-when braking- a sure sign the bushes needed replacing!

In my opinion the Marina/Ital should have been supplied with a grease gun as part of the tool kit.