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"It
all started in 1966 - 40 years ago I bought a Ford Special. A shortened
(by 17") Ford Pop with a E93A engine and an 8HP Head for greater
compression, twin SU's, four branch manifold all of which turned the
17" wheels very well. I ran out of money and girlfriends came along
and the car was sold for its purchase price of £40.00. The seeds had been
sewn.
In
December 2000 I bought the Marlin with a view to making it into a trials
car, many of which are on the circuit. The car was basically a
rolling chassis, unregistered with DVLA but with full
Marina
donor car papers; hence I kept off a "Q" plate.
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The Marlin was
taken to Vintage and Sports Cars of Chard - Tim Whellock is a trials
enthusiast who I had been introduced to. The car was taken to
pieces, engine out, seats out, a project. First of all we had to get it
roadworthy and through the SVA test. (Single Vehicle Approval). This
is a very strict MOT test (£250) which controls all the safety aspects,
such as “no flick switches to protrude more than 3mm from the dash”,
“no woodrim wheel”, also seat belt mountings and heights very critical
and so on. |
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The
SVA regulation book (£25) is very thick, we worked through it and
eventually obtained the SVA Regulation Certificate, so we could then get a
V5 and registration and a regular MOT.
You
can see some of the mods we made to get it through the SVA, which came off
later (wing extensions, rubber on the exposed suspension. The
car was registered YTA 359L in October 2001.As the body was still in
gellcoat white I took it to a spray shop. The car was sprayed yellow
and I drove it as a normal road car.
In
November 2001 it went back to Chard to be converted to a trials car.
Body height was important so the torsion bars were adjusted to lift the
front, different rear springs and 14" MGB Rostyle wheels made this
possible. |
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I
obtained an old Marina van (for a bottle of whisky - it's getting cheaper)
and took off the axle which was stripped and fitted with needle roller
bearings etc - De dion bar taken off - sump and gearbox guard fitted plus
a petrol tank shield. On top a tool box was fitted behind the seats
with a two wheel carrier behind that. I collected the car in January
2002.
My
first trial was due at the end of January 2002 - my first trial for 36
years. What a day, in the years between everything had become more
competitive, I was much older and the sections were rougher. I
managed to finish the day but the clutch fluid had been lost so the drive
over
Exmoor
with little or no clutch back to Paignton is still in my mind. |
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The
next two trials I failed to finish overheated on one, split two tyres on
the other, with no spare left I cut out and drove home.It started again
then, although I had a Marlin in trials trim there were modifications to
be made. I list a few;
electric Kenlowe pusher fan, cured overheating. A hydraulic handbrake
which was needed when reversing down the sections that you fail to clear.
Squeezing
185 tyres on the rear rims, 165's on the front. A complete engine
rebuild (£1,500) but still running on a single SU. A new stainless
steel exhaust and silencer. In January 2003 I purchased a road
trailer as things were by now getting competitive and the car was being
driven quite hard. The trailer has been a great asset. We have
inflicted broken leaf springs, tracking way out after a rocky climb and so
on. So the car is now towed everywhere and Gary and myself have the
heater and radio on in the 4WD tow car to and from events. |
(picture
courtesy of WheelspinPhotography) |
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In
2003 the plate 706KDV was put on (from a Vauxhall Victor). My son
now has this plate on his BMW M5. I then bought 41RDV which went on the
car and is now on retention; and then just recently I put 5RDV on the
Marlin. I have 18RDV on the tow car.
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After
most trials there is something to sort out, either punctures, suspension,
electrics or under body damage. I have to say the Marlin and all the
Marina
components are very strong and work well. On one occasion recently
we were waiting at the top of a section as another competitor had landed
on a tree stump so a recovery vehicle was requested. A Range Rover
was deployed but the section was steep and slippery, the range Rover made
three attempts to reach the recovery area and on the fourth attempt it
arrived. Just trying to highlight the type of territory we have to
negotiate on a trial, most of it is seriously steep and/or rocky or
slippery or all three. Our rear tyres take a lot of punishment as
often we let then down to 6 or 7 psi to spread the footprint of the rubber
to get traction. The 14" rims have been strengthened on the
outside edge with steel rod (on the rear); the front spends most of the
time in the air! All tyres have tubes. To speed up the
inflation of the tyres I have fitted a pony (back up diving bottle) which
is connected to an ordinary air line. The bottle lasts for an event
and it is £2 to get a re-fill at the dive shop in Paignton.
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