Many years ago I used to share a 20 mile lift to work in a Mk1 Cortina with 4 other blokes. The 3 of us in the back suffered, jammed in shoulder to shoulder. The driver then announced he was getting a brand new Austin 1100. We back 3 feared we would be more cramped, but no, we were amazed to find there was more space, and the ride was a delight compared to the old car.
Years later I had my own 1300 which I loved but by God did it rust. I had it several years only because I lived a few hundred yards from a very good welding workshop.
After that I had a Maxi which I loved but my soon to be ex hated, so it was replaced by a Marina. Now I know people on here have it in for the Marina but I loved it. I did replace the dampers which calmed it down well, and I was past my raceboy years. It's faults were outweighed by being so absolutely ridiculously easy to maintain. That was replaced by an All-agro, which despite looking good, rust free, sounded well, very soon turned into a leaky oil burner. Then followed several company cars, of various manufacture, my favourite which was an MPI Mini which we took to the Finland IMM and the North Cape.
The packaging, ride and road holding of my 1300 will always be a winner to me although my Minis win on fun factor.
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