I got in to kit cars by default. I wanted to restore a classic car, but after a couple of failed attempts moved on to kit cars. The problem was that I tried to restore early unitary construction cars. The first was a MM Morris Minor, a very desirable classic. Unfortunately the bottom nine inches of the body was completely rotten with lots of patches, making it un-restorable. Fortunately I was able to recoup the purchasing price by selling all the part to other restorers. The second one was a 1960's MG Midget with a current MOT. After ripping up the carpets I found it no better than the previous one, so I thought about a kit car.
The Minor MM
(http://s3.postimage.org/g7Boi.jpg) (http://www.postimage.org/)
A few years later I came up with a plan. We had two cars of our own an MG Metro and a Morris Ital, also the use of a company car. The Ital had only done 60,000 miles but was the same age as a Marina I had owned when it needed the body sills replaced. So my plan was to use the relatively low milage components from the Ital in a kit car and disposed of the chassis/body unit.
An Ital like this.
(http://s3.postimage.org/g86P9.jpg) (http://www.postimage.org/)
The next thing was to find a kit. I was looking for a two seat traditional sports car, and found it in the Marlin Roadster. Paul Moorhead began making kit cars in 1979, at first with a version of the Roadster using Triumph Herald and Vitesse donor cars. From 1981 he was producing a Marina based version and in 1989 he added an Ital version. This is the model I chose to build.
A Marlin Brochure.
(http://s3.postimage.org/gaYpr.jpg) (http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PqgaYpr)
Excellent, the scene is set.
Can just picture those look at all the rust moments !
In Leyland days they ran employee awards for suggestions, one was to fill the sills with wax to reduce the rust and extend it out of the warranty claims period, the employee did indeed get an award. A few years later the brother of the employee suggested saving money by not putting the wax in, guess what, you got it, he got an award for the cost saving idea.
Didn't know that about the Marlin history, very interesting and looking forwards to Part 2.
Interesting story, bring on PT 2 :)
Yeah I remember them from the 80's as when I was building my first Bulldog a lad down the raod was building a 1300 marina based Marlin. dam thing was almost as quick as mine and I had the 1800TC engine >:(
8)