Marina Time Travel

[locost_bryan]

Someone in New Zealand has recently been selling some NOS clocks as fitted to the Mk1 Marina Super.

Bought one of behalf of Gareth down in Wales.

Been wondering if it was made at the Smiths Motor Accessories (Vehicle Instrumentation) factory on the old Ynyscedwyn estate on the outskirts of the village of Ystradgynlais. If so, it has just begun a journey "home", appears to be about 20 miles from Gareth's house.

Small world!

[Morris McKinnon]

Yes, can't wait to fit it, cheers Bryan. To think it's coming back to the UK after all these years and only down the road from where it could have been made is pretty cool. The factory is still there under the name Caerbont Automotive. I drive past it often. They still make clocks, I wonder if they still have some of the old tooling!

[LionelMac]

What exactly made them pull the trigger and return to the UK?

[locost_bryan]

It's only this one clock that has returned to the UK. As far as I know they were made in England and shipped to Australia, although it is possible Smiths may have made them in a factory in Australia. Even though Leyland Australia used the Clubman nose and dash on all their Minis from around 1970, I think only the GT got the 3-dial cluster with rev counter, so only the Marina Super would have had the clock. There were about 12,000 Supers made over 3 years, so it's possible Lucas would have geared up to make them locally.

This one was New Old Stock, presumably been sitting in an old dealership somewhere in New Zealand since the early '70s.

Gareth might be able to check whether it has any markings to identify where it was made.

[Morris McKinnon]

I'll certainly have a look before fitting it. It's a shame the 1.3 over here only had the two clock dash, would have been a nice feature, probably would have been cheaper for BL too as they wouldn't have had to use two different shrouds. Rev counter for the 1.8, clock for the 1.3, simple:)

[locost_bryan]

It looks like the clock was unique to the Australian Super? Can't see it mentioned in any the online UK or US sales brochures.

[Morris McKinnon]

Seems so, I never knew they existed until now.

[Morris McKinnon]

Clock arrived the other day, looks great! Thanks, Bryan
I can't see any printing stating where it was made, only the tape on the box. I had to hold it up against the light to see what it says as it's covered in paint. Interesting difference I noticed is the outer ring of the clock is black and not silver like the UK cars.

I'll post some pics when it's fitted to the car.

[locost_bryan]

You've got a bit of history there, Gareth. New Zealand Motor Corporation were the agents for BL. From the mid '70s they were also agents for Honda, so at one time their Nelson plant was assembling the SD1, Princess and Accord. Honda bought 25% of NZMC in 1985, and took full control in 1988 and renamed the company to Honda NZ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zeala ... orporation

Will have to have a look at the gauge sets I have, and see whether the outer rings are black or silver.

It's possible the clock could have been made by Smiths in Australia. Will ask on one of the Australian Leyland forums.

[Morris McKinnon]

Interesting stuff. If they were made here I'd imagine it would have at least been an optional extra, so it's more than likely they were made only in Australia.

[locost_bryan]

Had this response on a FB group :-

The triple gauge dash came as an assembly (Australian part number AYH9815) supplied by Smiths. The engineering drawing refers to Leyland UK part number 13H6547 and Smiths part IP5805/00 so it would appear to be UK manufactured and imported.

[Morris McKinnon]

Crazy to think it's back home not more than twenty miles away from where it was made, this clock has been on one heck of journey then!
I've made a start on assembling everything. A couple of options, I could keep the two pod dash and have the fuel and temp on separate gauges somewhere, or make a four pod custom dash and include the rev counter as well!

I would like to keep the crosshatch pattern of the trim to match the dash panels but I'd have to cut up two of them to make one, I think the three clock trim only ever came in wood effect.

[locost_bryan]

I've noticed in photos of Smiths speedos and rev counters for 1275GT Minis, that they have "Made in UK" printed on the lower left or right, concealed behind the numbers. I wonder if the clock has the same?

[Morris McKinnon]

It's completely void of any markings, except two letters written in pen on the movement "GT"? (could be a number "5" ..also "R11" on the back of the face.
The blueish colour paint on the clock face is different, it's more of a matt finish rather than gloss but is the same colour.