Marina drawings & prototypes
Previous Page	Next Page

In 1967, Joe Edwards of BMH managed to secure the services of Roy Haynes from Ford as a stylist at the new BMH/Pressed Steel styling studios at Cowley in Oxford. Haynes had previously successfully styled the Ford Cortina MkII and he applied the style of this design to his new project, ADO28 - what was to become the Marina. Below are some fascinating pictures that show the cars BLMC turned down - and the proposals by Haynes that won over Harry Webster, George Turnbull and Donald Stokes.

This proposal by Michelotti was favoured by Harry Webster who being ex-Triumph could be forgiven for harbouring this view as the Italian styling house had successfully created the Herald, 1300, Toledo, 2000 and Stag. It was eventually turned down because of the fear of it costing too much to build.

Pininfarina put forward this proposal, which was turned down because it was considered "too glassy" - and therefore would cost too much to build. Harry Webster supposedly said of this, "it's like sitting in a bloody goldfish bowl".

Haynes championed the cause of the 2-door fastback... judging from this model, it certainly is easy to see its appeal, with its wide Rostyle wheels and clean lines.

This picture of the saloon also reveals it to be a vastly more appealing car than the Italian proposals. The design would make it into production with remarkably few alterations - there would be quarterlights on the side windows (to reduce costs), the rear screen was given more "wrap-around" and the rear side windows were given their characteristic "kink" at the shoulder line (October 1969).

Picture kindly supplied by John Capon

And a later development of the same car (November 1969). Note that on the far side of the car, the window line is standard "Marina", indicating that this car was in fact "double sided" for the benefit of back to back comparison.

Picture kindly supplied by John Capon

Roy Haynes styled this as the sports version of the Marina. A British car designed to fight the likes of the Toyota Celica - this car went under the name "Condor" and was known internally as the ADO68/28. Because the floorpan was simple, it was also very adaptable - and Haynes envisaged MG and Jaguar versions of this coupé being devised, many different versions being mocked-up before the whole project was stopped.

Copyright © 2002 Keith Adams