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People complain of under steer on the Marina but they were a bit better when you got the front tyres warmed up..I drove a 1.3 four door one of a fleet that fell to bits after a year or so...Driving a taxis not the same today as in the 80s....You used to have to drive like a maniac as you never knew when you would be broke down next and wages had to be earned in very small pockets of the day.....

Hi fixer, my first car was also an 1800 Magnum, in metallic dark green, (British Racing of course!), but she developed a terrible flat spot on pulling away from lights or junctions, took a while to decide what to do to fix this, in the end it was easier to replace the Carb, so I brought a brand new Zenith Stromberg 175CD at an auotojumble, took it home, tried to fit it and ours of frustration later, I discovered it was for a left-hand drive car, (I know it sounds silly, there should not be different 'handed' Carbs, but there is!) and the only way to make it fit, was to cut the air filter casing.

Sadly the car is no more, but I believe I still have the Carburetter.

While driving this around, I was on the lookout for the 2.3 version and I found one, just walking distance from where I lived, £365 later, and she was mine and the increase in performance from 1.8 to 2.3 was mind blowing, they could out-run 3 Litre Capri's at Traffic lights and I have kept up with a 3 Litre Scimitar on a long journey.

To cut a long story short, I have had four Magnums at one time with another 1.8 car for spares, a 1300 'HC' Viva for spares, a 1300 Chevette for spares and another 1800 'HC' Viva GLS in Coppertone, I converted into a Magnum from the first Metallic green car mentioned at the start of this article. I also had a very rare South African Firenza, converted to right-hand drive, but it still had the emissions Carburetters and other speed limiting equipment fitted, so would just about get past 40 MPH.

All these were in my possession from the late Seventies into the mid Eighties and now all gone, I only have some parts left and some items taken off the SA Firenza as keep-sakes.

Much later, I had a 1986 Automatic Mini in white,(sold on) then a 1998 Astra MKIV 2 door saloon in bright red, (now with my Dad) then my first Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II, (still with me) then a Skoda cube van in white, (still with me) then another bright red Astra MKIV, 4 door saloon Automatic, (still with me) then my second Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II, (still with me).

I am not looking to aquire any more cars at the moment, but hey...maybe a nice 2.3 Magnum for old times sake

GHOSTHUNTER.

Ghosty does that mean I might grow up and get a Roller lol
Boy I do miss the magnum mine was starfire metallic blue cost me £1000 in 1980 after saving up for a year from my first job as a steel bender for a concrete company

fixer wrote:Ghosty does that mean I might grow up and get a Roller lol

Yeah! you never know!

Here is an interesting fact...Mr David Plastow joined Rolls-Royce in Crewe as a designer/engineer in the mid-Seventies, but served some of his apprenticeship with Vauxhall Motors, he worked on suspension systems during the fifties, that's why I seem to prefere Vauxhalls and Rollers!!!

Ghosty.

Vauxhalls I didnt photograph include FD Victor,Mk2 Viva,Mk3 Viva,Victor FG I think,3 Chevetts One Saloon and two hatchbacks plus 2 x Cavalier MK3s...

Funny you should mention the flat spot on the Viva one of the Astras I worked on had a dreadful delay on pickup and after a little crawling about I realized it was a rebadged OPAL left hand drive built car with a long shaft across the inside of the bulkhead with half a dozen slack joints between the pedal and the carb..Brakes where the same and needed thinking about before stopping.

Weren't flat spots on anything fitted with a Stromberg usually down to holes in the diaphragm (which was supposedly only there to side step SU's patent). I always fancied an FD VX4/90 but suspect swapping my Vectra estate for one may result in a trip to the divorce courts

They where nice by Airfix and smooth to drive.

Here is "GMJ 169N" an 1800 Magnum 4 door saloon, rebuilt from my first dark green Magnum. This started out as an 1800 Viva GLS, (now a very rare car if I had left it as a Viva GLS) but that first car developed that 'flat spot' I mentioned and the body took a turn for the worst when rust made itself welcome! I kept as many of the GLS features as I could but used the traditional Magnum details like the Seven dial dashpanel, the outside bright body trim, side light units, rear lamp units and swapping the halogen headlamps of the Viva, to the sealed beam units of the Magnum, (I've probably forgotten something else) and re-registered it with the Magnum chassis number and index plates. This was a fabulous car to own and drive and went to several car shows, sadly she no longer exists.

Ghosthunter.

Here is the car behind the car in the first picture, 'MNM 669P' was my first 2.3 Magnum 2 door saloon. She was £365 and I did nothing to her except look after her, no customizing or stuff like that. Another great car to drive with the extra performance and being the 2.3 version, it had the slightly wider tyres. Sadly, she no longer exists.

Ghosthunter.

Here was my pride and joy, my second 2.3 Magnum, a 4 door saloon. In the picture she has a stage one head, highlift camshaft, Bilstein adjustable shockers and twin carb conversion. When I first saw this car it was at a local Vauxhall rally and ticking over like a V-8 and at that stage it had a stage three 'R' head and four into one exhaust manifold and went down the Santa Pod drag strip Quarter mile in a smidgen over fourteen seconds!

When I finally brought the car, it still had it's 'quarter mile' run time painted on the rear screen and the shocks adjusted so tight, I could feel every little lump and ridge in the road when driving, the car was solid!

In this car I raced, (sorry, drove with vigour and full control!) a 3 Litre Reliant Scimitar for some distant before we went our seperate ways, I was on my way to Stratford upon Avon from Luton, Beds, so could have gone on for many more miles! Sadly, she no longer exists,

Ghosthunter.