‘Dad and grandad taught me everything I needed to know’
Alex Parrot saw his first Marina in a great-uncle’s garage and brought it back to life… with help from his family
Alex Parrot’s first car holds a far better story than most. A Corsa, Fiesta or Twingo it ain’t – it’s a 1977 MKII Morris Marina 1.3 Deluxe Coupé.
It was while installing some mobility equipment for his family business into a greatuncle’s house in London that he spotted the remains of a garage hidden almost entirely by undergrowth. ‘The garage was so rotten that when we tried to open it, the doors fell off,’ says Alex. ‘I was 16 at the time and it was my dad who told me what the car was. At that point, the only knowledge I had of Marinas was based on Top Gear piano stunts and as a result I didn’t appreciate the cars for being as good as they really are.’
Alex’s enthusiasm for his car is infectious. It’s with delight that he regales the story of the day he and his dad went to pick up. The engine was seized solid. No surprise there, as it had been parked up in the garage since 1986 after the owner, Alex’s cousin, went on holiday to Spain… and stayed there.
Dad John removed all the spark plugs and filled the bores from an ancient can of Redex found on a shelf in the garage. When they returned with a trailer a few weeks later, the engine had unstuck and Alex’s great-uncle had found the keys. A new set of points and plugs were all that was required to get it running, and it sounded very sweet indeed.
The brakes were seized, as was the clutch, so shifting the car from its resting place required the use of a hefty tow rope. But slowly and reluctantly the Marina emerged and was loaded on to the trailer. When they got it home, they discovered that every single rubber component was rotten and
would need to be replaced, along with substantial sections of the car’s steelwork. Alex’s grandfather Colin and his dad worked with him to get the car back on the road and spent many hours welding while Alex fabricated panels and cut out rot. They removed the gearbox and changed the clutch, replaced all the bushes and brake lines and cleaned out the fuel tank.
John was in his element working on the Marina. ‘We had one as our demonstration vehicle while I was at college,’ he says. ‘It was the car I learned my trade as a motor mechanic on when I was studying for my City and Guilds. Little did I think I’d be doing it all again with my son all these years later.’
With all the work being carried out on the driveway of his parents’ house, come rain, wind or shine, it was a relief to Alex when they could finally take the car to the MOT station for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Fresh ticket in hand, Alex’s next challenge was to learn to drive. Having just turned 17, Alex found a driving instructor who was happy to share his lessons between the driving school car and his Marina. It wasn’t long before he was free to drive his pride and joy unsupervised.
‘All the work was carried out on my parents’ driveway…’
He’s taken full advantage of this, and drives his Marina every day. He has clocked up 17,000 miles in the past three years driving to college, shows and anywhere he has an excuse to.
For a year, Alex piloted his Marina with its original but faded and lifting paint. He was reluctant to lose this patina but worried that corrosion would set in unless he took action.
‘Eventually I decided the only way to preserve the bodywork properly was to paint the car,’ he says. ‘I borrowed a garage from a rental property my grandad owns. It was unoccupied at the time and over the course of a few weeks I repainted the car. I used 24 cans of Damask red paint from Halfords.’
Alex had no previous painting experience and a tight deadline. He wanted to get the car ready to show at the 2016 Morris Marina Club’s National Rally at the Great Central Railway in Loughborough, Leicestershire, so he had to work 11-hour days to make it happen. The whole job cost him just £250, and when he arrived at the rally he was asked by several people if it was really the same car.
‘It was a very proud moment for me,’ says Alex. ‘It was a real sense of achievement to get the car there, topped off with a totally unexpected win of the People’s Choice award at the rally.’
What next?
Alex has been bitten by the classic car restoration bug now, and is pretty well known in his area for the work’s done to his Marina. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that his second project is a Marina. A tip-off from a friend led him to an early MKI in a vehicle testing station and service centre just five miles from his home. It had belonged to the garage owner’s grandmother, showed only 55,000 miles on the clock and had been off the road since 1992. ‘It was going to be scrapped,’ says Alex, who adds with confidence of a Marina expert: ‘The position of the wipers showed me that it was an incredibly early MKI, and I just couldn’t let it be weighed in. I ended up buying the car, plus a load of spares, for £150.’ With the car stripped down on the driveway it’s clear that Alex has his work cut out with this project. He and his brother Lewis have been studying Motor Vehicle Engineering at college and can both now weld, so they’ll be tackling body repairs together, using a MKIII donor shell bought from a breaker to provide unobtainable sill sections.
‘My next project is… a Marina. A very early MKI. You can tell by the wipers’