Steve informs me that the car is infact a CHANGEOVER model... 1500 body with 1300 internals.
So that clears up a few things!

What rubbish!
The 1300 and the 1500 started production at the same time and finished at the same time. The only changeover was when they stopped the 1100 and started the 1300/1500.

The reason that they built the 1300 was because they didn't have an automatic gearbox for the 1500. (That is why all 1300s were built with autos)

Morris 1100 has it right

Also, years & years ago we fitted 1500s to minis & we actually had an 1800 fitted to a mini, both were complete pigs,,,but stil quite do-able if you were nuts enough to bother with the stuff around.

But, with the P76 alloy V8 ontop of the 1800 g/box in there, well that`s a whole different kettle of fish

& anyways,,,i love the old 1100/1300/1500 especially the Nomad (way ahead of it`s time) just needed the later 1750 with rod change like the late maxis got & maybe a turbo to go somewhere near trying to correct that god awfull cyl head design. YUK!!!

& the land crap is a legend car!!!,,,wonderfull piece of engineering, kimberlys & tasmans should have got the Alloy V8 from the P76,,,if the dicks at Leyland had spent the money wisely on the conversion instead of the $48 thousand they spent stuffing stupid crap into one abortion of a conversion,,,,dam a simple gearbox conversion from the 1800 & it would have been a bathurst winner.

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Wasn't there a limited run in England called something on the lines of the Austin 3 1/2 litre limousine with the rover V8 across the front in a reworked 1800 shell , very luxurious interior (for Austin at the time anyway ....) from the pic's I've seen . I've read there were a few hundred made but they canned it because it was too expensive . I'll try and find the magazine and scan it .

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Oh!!! while i`m at it,,,can you just imagine if i were at Leyland at the time,,,yeah???

Ok,,,Think Moris marina 2 door coupe, fit alloy P76 V8, then the macPherson strut front end (instead of that CRAP thing they designed YUKKKK!!!!) & fit up something like a datto independant rear end,,,then jump in , sit down , shut up & hang on for the wildest ride of you life,,, Bathurst winner of the time or what????

But no, we end up with a whole series of pigs, The marina had to be the Phucked upest car ever produced,,,& then we get the 6cyl P76, another absolute pig!!! why did they bother,,,what were they thinking???????

ah well,,,that`s all history now tho ey?

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

The Austin 3 litre. It was a much bigger body than the 1800 but they kept all the ugly bits. It had a 3 litre six cylinder inline engine (C series) driving the rear wheels.
Take a look.... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 073788.htm

If I can find the magazine , I'm pretty sure there was a front wheel drive version as well using the transverse V8 , still searching ......

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They were all rear wheel drive. Some magazines don't know what it is and assume it was front wheel drive because it looks like a land crab!
There was only one car with the Rover V8 and front wheel drive......
Leyland Australia built a prototype for the P76, it was an Austin 1800 with a stretched nose and a V8 front wheel drive. The engine was located the normal way, not sideways.

& it sucked up & spat out all the money that Leyland Aust ever made

They tyied to stuff it all onto a ZF transaxle & it bacame a very long power unit, hence the streched front body work & also handled like a pig because of it, they should have given me a ring & i`d have set them straight

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

its the other way around, the marina was given the E series because leyland australia was already producing it and it was cheaper that way. It was actually superior to the english marinas which had O? and A series motors.

and also as i understand it, the marina was supposed to be a stopgap for the p76 derived medium size saloon that was never made, the p82 or sommit like that, so the 1300 and 1500 shouldnt have been stopgaps for a stopgap (although we are talking about blmc....)