On the subject of 'Old Faithful' LBCs, I had a Morris Marina that just would
not die. It had been my grandfathers, but when his eyesight worsened my Dad
and I took it over. We didnt expect it to last more than a year or two before
the British MOT did it in. It lasted nearly a decade, with very little work
done to it. I did replace the engine as the old one was really environmentally
unfriendly-I know all the service stations along the M6 as I drove it from
Abingdon to Aberdeen, and had to put a pint in at each stop. Otherwise the
damn thing started every time, and I drove it throughout Scotland and a bit
of North Wales, the most serious thing to happen being my running over a rock
in a campground, which punctured the exhaust. It sounded like it was blowing a
raspberry all the way home!
It did fail the MOT once after about 5 years in my posession, so badly that
we were not allowed to drive it away to repair it. "This is it" we thought-
must be serious frame rot or something. Nope-big gash in the (eminently and
relatively cheaply replaceable) tyre/tire. A few quid and we were off again.
I could never be bothered doing too much serious fix ups on it-I figured a
restored Marina was still, well, a Marina, and that there were plenty of better
cars to preserve! It finally failed the MOT when they tightened the regulations
on us, failing on some rust well hidden underneath it.
Other than that it was completely faithful. Only failed to start once, when I
left the lights on overnight.
Chris Wiggins (wiggins@mrcbs.med.yale.edu)
'57 VW Beetle
'71 Austin America
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