1973 MORRIS MARINA 1.8 SDL

1798cc petrol, manual. This famous Morris Marina Super De Luxe (SDL) saloon was bought in 2023 as a project for Classics World magazine. Its subsequent restoration (mainly bodywork and paint) was serialised in the magazine in great detail (August 2024 – Spring 2025) with further updates in the vendor's 'Driver Diary' articles. Copies of all this are included in the extensive history file, with receipts for £7500 representing only part of the total.

Offered with an MoT to 17th August 2026, the car is in tidy overall condition with a Spartan but smart interior, trimmed with matching red carpets and comfy red vinyl seats. Restoration works have included a reconditioned steering rack and starter motor, 5 refurbished original wheels and new tyres, new clutch hydraulics, column stalk, door seals, rear screen rubber, battery, carburettor needle and more. The shell received extensive repairs using panels bought from the Morris Marina Owners Club, painted in 2-pack to the original colour of Cranberry Red.

The stack of receipts is accompanied by a dating letter from the Owners Club, a hand-written log of works achieved in 2008-11, a ring binder containing dozens of pages of recent magazine coverage, Haynes workshop manual, original handbook and the car's ‘passport to service’ which records a meticulous 11 services (plus the PDI) up to only 36k miles in 1987. Today the odometer shows 18,203 miles, though the MoT history suggests that this figure actually represents 118,203.

Previous and current versions of the V5C are also present, plus MoT certificates going back to 1997, and various relevant curiosities including a service chart, 1965 road map and Motor Trader Service Data publication. The vendor has also included a spare steering rack.

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