21st Century Marina Resto
Ben Clayton fell for this Morris Marina as a kid, but only after rebuilding it did it live up to his dreams
Turbo Marina… a dream car tracked down, then reborn.
As classic car lovers, most of us had childhood dreams of a particular car. For most of us, these ‘crushes’ passed as teenage years brought a succession of ‘fix ’em on Sunday, drive ’em to work on Monday’ bangers. But not so for Ben Clayton, who brought his particular dream to life.
Back in the early Nineties, nine-year-old Ben avidly read his grandfather’s car magazines. Flicking through the May ’93 issue of Fast Car one day he spotted a gorgeous metallic green Marina, sitting low and mean on wide Revolution alloys, with a turbo-charged Montego O-series engine under the bonnet. It was love at first sight, and Ben has been a big fan of the characterful Seventies Morris saloon even since.
Jumping forward to 2014, he and his father already owned several Marinas and Ben was running the Fast Marina Forum. It was here that he bumped into Paul Hedger, the creator of the very same turbocharged Marina he’d drooled over more than 20 years before. A two-year dialogue ensued, before Paul finally agreed Ben would make a suitably caring new owner. A deal was struck and Ben collected the car, but on getting it home to the Isle of Wight, there was a bit of a wobble. In his own words: ‘The car clearly hadn’t run for ages, and it had lots
of electrical add-ons roughly spliced together. I had a big “what have I done” moment.’
Initial disappointment was soon replaced by enthusiasm, but there was a long list of issues to attend to. First up, thorough recommissioning, including a rebuild of the eight-valve head and turbo, and also (to quote Ben) ‘removal of gaffer tape and cable ties.’ The electrics were problematic as there were plenty of upgrades – all of which, Ben says, ‘appeared to have been well thought out but then
lashed into place rather than wired up reliably.’
Transmission turnaround
The Rover-derived, fivespeed gearbox was mounted at a weird angle, with the tail almost scraping the ground and the propshaft running steeply upwards to meet the misaligned diff pinion. The difficulty was that the
transmission tunnel wasn’t large enough to clear the large gearbox. Ben cut away the top of the tunnel and welded in new metal to raise it by two inches, then adjusted the gearbox mount to raise it to the horizontal. A small notch was also needed in the top of the bellhousing to clear the bulkhead; now engine and ’box fit perfectly.
At the back, the nearside wheel was scuffing the arch, caused by the misaligned axle, and the lowered car was also frequently grounding. Ben realigned the axle, fitting new springs and U-bolts, while keeping the lowered look, but stiffening the car enough that it no longer scrapes the road. Ben admits that ‘it is still so low it’s really not possible to drive with more than two occupants!’
Better brakes
Now that the Marina was running and driving well, Ben turned to the braking system. At the front, there was a standard master cylinder and servo with the oft-used upgrade of Austin Princess four-pot calipers on Marina discs. He wanted even more stopping power and after trawling through parts books, came up with Audi 80 solid discs and Rover SD1 four-pot calipers. The discs were redrilled for the Marina’s stud pattern then everything bolted together. The master cylinder has been swapped for a VW alternative, grafted to the servo with a homemade adaptor. Ben’s efforts had turned the car into a reliable, road-going proposition, proved by