production car trial

[FranklinLeicester]

I went to an MGCC trial yesterday at Burton Dassett in Warwickshire. When a marshal saw my car he said "you're the only Marlin this year". I told him I had only come to spectate. I was expecting some Marlin activity as I had seen the event on You Tube, worth a look! I had another nostalgic reason for going as I won this trial when it first set up in 1976 in a Morris Eight 2-seater. There were a lot of trials specials there, the type you get at the classic trials. When I used to do it it was strictly production cars only. It is a spectacular piece of counrtyside, a range of hills in otherwise flat landscape, obviously used as a hill fort hundreds of years ago.

[lil_red_roadster]

Re: production car trial

1976 - Morris 8 tourer...you didn't happen to be in the Morris Register did you Franklin..?
I practically grew up in the back of an Morris 8 tourer...me & the dog being shipped to rally after rally...happy days.

[FranklinLeicester]

Re: production car trial

Yes, I was in the Morris Register from about 1974-1980. I used to go to the big binge at Stanford Hall which is about 15 miles from where I live. This was not my first encounter with Morris 8s. My first "running" car was a series 2 saloon ,£5's worth which I turned over 4 days after passing my test. I was cresting a hill with a left hander at the top, flat out in 2nd, the car drifted across the road on to the verge and hit a pile of gravel. This turned us over a couple of times and pitched the car into a hedge. When I came to, my mate had gone, I heard him moaning in the field behind me clutching his head "I've broken my head" the words are etched into my brain all these years later. He hadn't broken it, it was only bruised. As the car went over the centrafugal force shot him out through the sunshine roof which was closed at the time, he took the lot out, frame and all. The car was too badly damaged to repair. It was so tangled up in the hedge we couldn't drag it out even by double heading my dad's Vauxhall Victor and my pal's dad's Singer Vogue. I sold it to a gypsy for £2 who dragged it out with a tractor. The gear knob is in my Marlin.

[lil_red_roadster]

Re: production car trial

Mum was the Midland Region "wrapper" in the 70's...I used to get dragooned into helping with the stapling, enveloping & labelling of the newsletters & journals...the days when everything was xeroxed & manually assembled. Licking 300 envelopes & stamps was no fun.
The annual pilgrimage to Stanford was mandatory...and I recall lots of trips over to Leicester. For some reason there seemed a disproportionate number of members over that way.