Printable View
Even Leyland Australia were not prepared to put the UK version of the Marina into production. This delayed the introduction of the model to the local market while they worked on drive line and suspension. These included such radial modifications as moving from lever to telescopic shocks. Like the Mini before it these changes then found their way into UK production in this case with the Mk2 Marina.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grockle
some more fuel for the fire:twisted:
there where 3 P76 wagons built in australia 1 was thrown into a wall for ADR purposes and the other 2 survived and are under restoration somewfere in sydney!:o
there was a dealer in northern NSW that did a proper dealer check before sale on the P76 and he only had 1 return. due to the huge demand leyland bashed em out as quick as they could and this led to "quality control" problems[thumbsupbig]
the australian MORRIS marina actually had the austin maxi engines modified and installed (east/west to north/south) with a triumph spitfire gearbox behind it and a distant relation to the escort diff in the rear also standard disc front brakes. at NO time did they appear in australia with telescopic shocks!!!! or sway bars:(
leyland had worked on a 3.3 litre all alloy V6 which was cut-down from a 4.4 V8, worked very well
the australian operation was on its way to making a profit but the english side was going down the gurgler and BL sent a manager out here to strip and sell assets in 1975
special tuning in england made 2 V8 rally marina's one of which was in the world cup rally with the P76 and hung around third place until the diff (the only component from outside the factory) failed for the 3rd time and the P76 won the targa florio stage hence the model!
I saw one driving through Canberra in about 2005 with SA registration.Quote:
Originally Posted by cooper
Regards,
Tote