Tag Archives: Eclat

Nice Door Handles – Morris Marina ADO 28

With the merger of Jaguar with British Motor Corporation in 1966 the new merger was renamed British Motor Holdings and after a further merger with Leyland commercial vehicles the corporation became known as British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968. British Leyland as it was known decided that the Austin and Morris brands should be differentiated in the early 1970’s with Austin vehicles being based around the front wheel drive (FWD) concept pioneered by Ales Issignosis with models like the Mini, 1100 and 1800 series vehicles while Morris vehicles would be more traditional with front engines driving rear axles (RWD) as they had on the Morris Minor and Morris Oxford models.

Morris Marina, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet

The design of the Marina coded ADO 28 was started by Roy Haynes who’s CV included the design of the popular Mk II Ford Cortina, however a disagreement over a common floor pan to share between models as espoused by Roy led to him quitting and Triumph Designer Harry Webster finishing the job by which time the intended Macpherson strut front suspension had been abandoned in favour of Morris Minor style tortion bars and a new gearbox design was abandoned in favour of an existing item from the Triumph parts bin.

Morris Marina, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

All in all the development costs of the conservative RWD concept Marina ended up exceeding those of the more radical FWD Allegro which was developed to be Austin’s competitor in the small family car market. Production facilities at Cowley had to be upgraded which included some comedy as an overpass was built so that the motors could be sent from a plant on the opposite side of a municipal road to the assembly plant, no sooner had the overpass been completed than the municipality offered to sell the road which British Leyland did not think twice to accept.

Morris Marina, Qwara, Malta

On a positive note the AMC Ambassador inspired vertical hinged door handles were a huge hit with Lotus founder Colin Chapman who specified them for use on the Lotus Elite, Eclat and Esprit models, Marina door handles were also adopted by Scimitar for the GTE shooting break while British Leyland used the same handles on the Triumph TR7/TR8, Austin Allegro and they eventually even found their way, finished in matt black, onto the Land Rover Discovery Series I.

Morris Marina, Cotswolds Classic Car Club, Frogsmill, Andoversford

Marina cars were powered by a variety of motors most common of which for the UK market was a 57 hp 4 cylinder A series which did not do much for performance but kept the handling within safer limits than the heavier more powerful motors which promoted lane changing understeer / push which induced the odd brown trousers moment for some Marina pilots.

Morris Marina, Cotswolds Classic Car Club, Frogsmill, Andoversford

The Marinas seen here are in order top to bottom a ’72 Coupé at the Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet, ’74 Twin Carburettor saloon sedan at the Atwell Wilson Museum, a Maltese 1500 saloon / sedan with after market alloy wheels and waist trim in Qwara, a ’79 Estate and ’72 Coupé both at the Cotswolds Classic Car Club meeting held at Frogsmill, Andoversford and below a saloon / sedan with an unusually straight rear bumper seen at last years Classics at the Castle, Sherborne.

Morris Marina, Classics at the Castle, Sherborne

Although much derided for almost every detail apart from the door handles the undemanding early 70’s British public lapped up Marina’s painted in tepid colours like Russet Brown, Harvest Gold, and Limeflower Green for the car to peak at second in the sales charts behind the Ford Cortina in 1973 and remain in the top 3 or 4 until 1980. Eventually over 897,000 Marina’s were sold in the UK of which 745 are thought to remain on British roads.

Thanks for joining me on this “Nice Door Handles” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Excel Protoype – Lotus Eclat/Excel Type 84/89 #1144

The Lotus Eclat, Type 76 but not to be confused with the Lotus Ford 76 Grand Prix car, was a fastback version of the Lotus Elite, Type 75 shooting brake, first seen in 1975 sharing the same back bone chassis and motor and running gear as the Type 75 Lotus Elite.

Lotus Eclat Excel, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The Eclat was updated in 1980 known as the Eclat S2 the updated car was given the Type 84 designation. 1757 original sepcification Eclats were built between 1975 and 1982 and a further 223 Eclat S2’s were built between 1980 and 1982.

Lotus Eclat Excel, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

In 1982 Lotus renamed the Eclat as the Excel with further upgrades and designated the Excel as Type 89. The car seen here is registered in the log book as a Lotus Eclat, a Type 84, but has all the signs of being the prototype Excel, a type 89 which was also known by the M55 code name at the Lotus factory.

Lotus Eclat Excel, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

Amongst the prototype clues are a cut and shut gearbox with the then new Toyota sourced gearbox welded onto the older original type bell housing, M55 marks on the body panels indicating the car was the first off the jig, not to mention the Excel badging on the sides and Eclat badging on the rear of the car. The car was probably registered as an Eclat prior to the necessary type approval being received for the later Excel.

Lotus Eclat Excel, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

354 Excel’s were manufactured between 1982 and 1984 when production was discontinued. The current owner of this prototype Excel, Brian Swankie, bought the car at the NEC Classic Motor Show in Birmingham several years ago and has been restoring it ever since.

Thanks for joining me on this “Excel Prototype” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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