1981 Morris Ital 1.7L Petrol · BSM 947X

The Ital inherits the Marina's corrosion map, and the Marina Owners Club's checks apply wholesale: filler in the sills, over the headlights and in the front and rear arches, rotten headlamp backing panels, and owners who have covered sills with new ones over rotten originals. British Classic Cars adds the structural traps from the Marina side — the front cross-member rusting from the inside where the torsion-bar mounts hold water, and the boot floor rotting up from the spare-wheel well. With Ital saloons valued at £1,800–£4,500 and estates £2,500–£5,500, extensive metalwork can exceed the car's worth, which is exactly why the condition of the panels decides the price.

Most Itals above 1.3 litre carry the belt-driven BL O-series in 1695cc or 1994cc form — a SOHC aluminium-head engine that arrived in the Marina in 1978. Marina and Ital ownership literature gives the interval the makers wanted, a cam belt change every 48,000 miles, and few of these cars can now show that history across four decades of owners. Belt failure is the expensive event because it lands on top of the whole reason to buy the car, so the practical answer is to treat the belt, tensioner and water pump as a purchase-day job and to keep the invoice as the car's most valuable document.