Dismantling a Morris Minor

[m1dge]

As taken from one of the postings

a good theme for your stand would be the dismantling of a morris minor.

And then you can see how the Marina came about.

We do notice the derogatory remarks made about our Moggies in case you wondered (mentioned in another of your posts)

Its very unfortunate but if no one else will buy many of the cars its better we put parts of them to use rather than the whole car go to the crusher and the rest is sometimes offered for free often with no takers.
And its only the modified ones that use the parts not the vast majority of original ones, are none of your Marinas modified ?

In Ford circles the upgrades between models is quite accepted so why is it not acceptable between certain BMC cars

One last thing maybe someone on here can answer a comment from another message board

The Marina Club nicked the alloted Morris Minor Owners Club space at the restoration show they drove past them on the way in to get there first. we can only think they wanted a wall behind them. And caused no end of chaos!.

I fully expect this to be taken the wrong way judging from your posts but we are all classic car enthusiasts and yours are only a derivative of ours when all said and done
And I fully expect my posting to be deleted without receiving a reasoned reply.

[ado28]

Hi M1dge,

Thanks for your posting. I seriously doubt that many members in both our clubs MMOC & Ecosse are actually against Moggies. The case highlighted in other postings were made by a Moggy owner who basically said the wrong things in his original postings then went on to say “this and thatâ€￾ and started making false allegations about our forum members and things got out of hand.

I fully take on and understand your point about people not taking a Marina on and when that’s the case they tend to get cannibalised for Minor upgrades. I personally don't really have an issue with a basket case motor giving up parts to suit and also I’m sure that some members in here may even offer assistance with engines etc but the last person that came on here representing the Moggy changed the goalposts by firstly stating that he wanted a car without tax and test and was in a state of disrepair. We found out that he was actually bidding on one of this forum members cars with tax and test purely for its engine. The car in question is actually a good motor and we weren’t happy to see a perfectly good car getting destroyed and that’s when the minor owner started the mud slinging competition, unfortunately he picked the wrong members to have the argument with.

As for your final point, I can’t answer that unfortunately because I wasn’t there and if you felt that badly about missing out on spaces then I’m sure your club could have sorted that out on the day with the MMOC if you thought that this was the case by having a friendly chat (we are approachable!) I also seriously doubt that our club cars shot past your club cars just to get in front and steal your spaces on the day. Our cars cruise very comfortably at 70 mph so maybe they didn’t want to be stuck behind a car cruising at a lower speed.

Finally, why would the moderation team pull your posting because they don't agree with what you have to say? I can assure you that this is never the case! The moderators on this forum are very relaxed and always welcome free speech. The only time postings get pulled is when things get out of hand (and I’m usually guilty of getting out of hand and loosing posts) but otherwise postings from non Marina enthusiasts usually are very good and like you say we are all classic car enthusiasts and because of this there will always be some sort of rivalry along the way at one point or another but in most cases its usually harmless banter. The last guy came across as a prat and was dealt with in the way he wanted to be treated.

I hope this has cleared things up a bit for you,

Best regards, Sean

[USspecGT]

Good morning all,

I am guessing that this little rant is the result of someone getting wind of a post over on the Moggie Board about Stu's MK3 for sale. I am not going to the length of explaining it all, it seems that linking to each others boards seems an acceptable thing to do on the Moggy board so here is the link, see for yourself...

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/index.php?name=P ... ght=marina

What stu did by rejecting a bid from someone who wanted to break his car up for spares was something you would see in any other motoring club, Fords or whatever. You ever see an ad "free to good home" or "200 quid to good home only" Its because people give a sh1t about preserving something they enjoy, and furthermore they would enjoy seeing someone else enjoy for what it is.

Now part of me wants to say that you saw that post on the Moggy board and felt the need to sign up for a membership and place a little rant on here but apparently you signed up for a user ID on this board almost a week ago, were you just waiting for someone to give you an excuse? I thought so....

Later

Chris

[ado28]

Hi Kevin/ M1dge,

Thanks to Chris from over the pond for noticing you’re posting in your forum. It’s just a pity that what you have seen on our forum board is the edited version. I’m sure if you had seen the topic in its entirety then you may have wrote something different. The person that caused the bother may or may not be a Minor enthusiast but was hell bent on causing bother.

As for us all being nice guys under all the rust- that’s true we are actually good guys but fortunately we don't have many motors that are riddled with rust as they don't rust as bad as Minors (joke). Fair enough some of us don't agree with upgrading Marina parts onto Morris Minors but that’s life and if we can prevent a perfectly good car from being lost then we will do what we can to save it and I’m sure if you guys had another group of enthusiasts killing your cars off simply to upgrade their cars then I’m sure you would be of the same opinion as us.

In my time I have personally owned 2 Morris Minors, a 1963, 2 door saloon and after that a 1968 Traveller. I did enjoy them in my ownership but I wanted a car with a bit more oomph so instead of upgrading the engine and effectively making the car less original I decided to upgrade the vehicle and I bought a Marina instead. This way I kept the Minor as it should be and replaced it with a car that had a bit more poke and out of good will I gave the Traveller away for free to another person who was less fortunate financially so this itself goes to show that we are not all nutters

[minispeedstar]

my fav view of a jelly mold minor:

[~Sam~]

And I fully expect my posting to be deleted without receiving a reasoned reply.

Reasoned posts will not be deleted, and I think you raise some valid points so yours will not be deleted.

The last posts involving a Minor ownwer were deleted - along with posts from Marina owners - as they descended into personal attacks and mindless swearing. I think you will find in the forum rules this is strictly forbidden and I will not tolerate it on the site.

As for the resto show I will enquire with our organisers when I see them later today as to what happened as I arrived there after set up. My initial thought would be there was simply a misunderstanding - maybe both plots marked "MMOC"?

Sam

[ClaytonSpeed]

Hi Kevin/M1dge,

Thank you for your post. I would like to clear up the issue about the Restoration Show. I was there on the Sunday and do know that your space was not "stolen" by the Morris Marina Owners Club. What actually happened was that when our first member got to the show with his car for the stand the show staff directed him to the correct plot. From what I heard a member of the Morris Minor Club asked him to move to the plot by the wall. I will get Chris (who was that member) to post on here if he can and explain what actually happened. As it goes we would have rather had an open plot as we have so many display boards and banners.

As for modification.. As a modifier of Marina's I can tell you that yes there are a few of us! We don't break cars up for our upgrades. Most of the parts I have brought for my TC were brand new off the shelf items or from eBay. My brake upgrade actually started life as a kit for a Morris Minor using FORD and custom parts. The brake discs are new, the callipers are new and the hub is machined from scratch. I suppose in a way the Marina is bottom of the parts food ladder as it is an amalgamation of BL parts from many cars but thankfully we can buy new items from said vehicles like the MGB and Triumph branded cars.

I appreciate that those of your members that upgrade cars want to do it so they can have an engine that is more suited for modern roads and that is fine however when the Marina's numbers are like they are (under 800 left!) our owners are very protective of the cars that are left. I know from personal experience (I have a moggie myself) that there are other routes that can be taken to upgrade the Minor. For instance my good friend Jonathon runs JLH Motor sport and has excellent modifications for the car! All Marina friendly too! Why not fit a Zetec you can buy these BRAND NEW from Raceline for less than a grand! All the parts are new off the shelf items! ! Or if you want to keep with the A Series engines then how about use the engine from a Maestro (wait a moment, I know they are FWD but bear with me) a company in Southam can convert them to suit RWD applications and did have stocks of new engines! Another possible route?

I think you will find (as other posters have pointed out) that Marina owners are willing to help out with the parts you may require within reason. The poster that came on here the other day was adamant he wanted a whole car when all he really wanted was the engine, front hubs and discs. We tried to help but his attitude was very negative. I can only say we tried. Let's face it the Marina's brakes were never really that good in standard form and to fit onto a Moggie really is only a sideways step. Use the FORD route and be safe in the knowledge that you will be able to buy brand new parts until the end of time!

If a car is deemed "had it" by one person you can be sure it will be "rescued" by another. This happens all the time within the Marina circles as certain examples are getting much harder to find. Our club has fought long and hard against the much bigger clubs that pushed us aside in the early days and now we are fighting back by doing everything ourselves. We don't get to buy brand new panels off the shelf from Hadrian (although I've seen the Moggie ones and they aren’t all that good at being fitted!) so we have had to do this ourselves to help protect the cars we have left. I know a lot of other clubs don't like the Marina but point of fact is that it was a big seller back in the 70's and did wonders for the British car industry! No wonder that our members are fighting for the cars survival.

As Sam has pointed out, the other poster that cam on here was in fact going against the rules of this forum. Like any other he was banned.

Thank you.

Ben Clayton
Forum Owner and Administrator

[JIM73]

Forgive me if i'm wrong but i was under the impression that the marina replaced the oxford / cambridge models and not the minor as generally misconcepted !!
I also used to have a minor (a 55 split screen) and in fact restored it untill i made the decision to try and save the rarer of the two models and also try and reduce the amount of spares in my shed , as none of the parts are easily transferable , so i dont really see how you can compare the two cars ( the marina being designed by a ford man , Ron Haynes who also designed the mk2 cortina) The only recognisable traits are on the front suspension and that is only similar and not the same !! a great shame as it turned out as the marina was designed to have mcpherson struts fitted but as a cost cutting exercise the marina unfortunately had to make do with minor based set up which had a lot to do with the marinas bad press at its launch in 71 !!!

[JIM73]

Perhaps now instead of all this bad feeling between the two clubs the minor club might instead recognise the marina as a classic and respect it as such !!

I have read some of the comments on the minor forum and was a little dismayed at some of comments levelled towards us by some of the members there saying that we were hostile towards them !! perhaps if they turned up at shows and were told that they couldnt park their car next to theirs because they were'nt "proper morris'" then perhaps all this bad feeling wouldnt be here at all !! But maybe they are forgetting that the morris minor engine is actually an Austin product originally !!

Anyway enough rattling on lets see what the minor club have to say now !!! lets hope in a positive way !!

[ado28]

Kevin/ M1dge

When I made my original reply to your posting last night I was unaware that your forum was discussing this matter also until USspecGT from over the pond pointed it out to us on our board.

Like Elouse has already said both him and myself got a warning for our hostilities on our own board but this is par for the course for us. Our moderators don't take sides or favouritism. “Morrisandtheminorsâ€￾ was banned for breaching group rules because his intent was to cause bother. Elouse and I stepped in and fought fire with fire. Yes maybe we were a bit hard on him it was no more than what he deserved or dished out so if he is one of your members but under a different alias I would be interested to see what action if any your moderation team will do with him.

Classic car enthusiasts should stand together and assist each other especially when we are both preserving cars from the same manufacturer, not fight. Lots of people are failing to notice that our cars “Marinaâ€￾ are becoming a fast dying breed and because of this we hate to see the numbers dwindling even further unnecessary when other solutions can be found. Also we have members who are not against modification or custom cars. If you look at the MMOC and Ecosse website you will see custom/ modified Marinas there.

We could have retaliated on your board and bombarded your members like what happened to us but we chose not to as not all Minor enthusiasts are of the same onion and ilk as “morrisandtheminorsâ€￾

[stuthegasman]

I have had this correspondense today via email make of it what you will :shock: :shock:
eBay sent this message to (stuthegasman).
Your registered name is included to show this message originated from eBay.

Dear stuthegasman,

you banned me from bidding dont worry the moggy boys will get this car and scrap it friend
you never no who the best offer will come from
let the games begin


- morrisandtheminors Respond to this question

If you use My Messages to respond, your email address will not be shared.

Item and user details
Item Title: 1980 MORRIS MARINA L RED
Item Number: 120182187702
Item URL: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0182187702
End Date: 17-Nov-07 09:17:19 GMT

[JIM73]

How pathetic !! :shock: :roll:

[ClaytonSpeed]

I wouldn't read too much into this Stu. After all it is your car and you can always end the item if you wish too. I do feel that it is mearly one indervidual as aposed to the whole Morris Minor Owners club. I am sure they would not be happy if they knew this was happening.

Ben

[stuthegasman]

they must think i'm stupid I keep getting offers from a member on ebay the same guy that wants me to ship it from heysham when you check his id he is from Antrim in northern Ireland the same town as mr morrisandtheminors not very bright are they ??

[Uncle Frank]

:shock: Looks to me like one idiot is trying to stir up trouble between the two clubs to me chaps :roll: , as Larry, Ben, and Sean have all stated quite clearly and eloquently, the person who started all this fuss was well out of order, and obviously didn`t like being chased off with his tail between his legs!, anyone who actually stops to read the stream in all it`s glory can clearly see we are not as hostile as he made out, just merely protecting the cars we love, as i`m sure any minor owner would do the same, so lets put an end to this petty slagging match, and have a little respect for each others motors .