34 replies to this topic

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Well, I obviously needed another project?

 

After driving my Metro through the show season, to Holland and all over the place as well as so many trips to Simons uni where she always performed faultlessly, on Christmas eve she died on the way to work. I suspected I had run out of fuel (The fuel tank had a leak which developed more into a disaster that meant it couldn't hold more than £5 worth of fuel) I filled up expecting her to fire into life, but to no avail. I checked the obvious things, the fuel pump works as it should on a direct feed, there is power at the connectors, I changed the associated relays, checked the inertia, and even changed the fuse box. Fuse 21 likes to blow so I suspected that. It could even be the crank sensor since the fuel pump doesn't prime. I changed the entire loom a couple of months ago so it could just be a snagged wire somewhere. Anyway, I'm sure it's an easy fix, but it was the excuse I was looking for to not drive Rita through winter and to instead retire her for an engine changed (VVC, anyone?) and buy a more ('reliable and economical') comfortable daily to get me through winter and well into 2015.

 

That's where I remembered my good friend Ben (Benb12) had a Maestro hes owned for some time. When he bought it, it was effectively a one owner totally original car. He drove it for a couple of years and eventually converted it to LPG in 2013. Now I've bought it!

 

 

There it is in all it's original glory. Unfortunately life got in the way and the Maestro sat there in Bens garage unused. I convinced him to sell me the car and I'm picking up tomorrow. It isn't in that immaculate state anymore, but it won't take a lot to get it back to that condition I hope.

 

So for now it's sleep tight Rita

 

 

And hello to this little Maestro who I hope to revive (but drive) in 2015.
 

Edited by Mini-Mad-Craig, 07 January 2015 - 11:54 AM.

[Tanya]

Fantastic Craig! Welcome to Maestro ownership . It can't be too bad, as I've just got a third, so I can now say that I have a Frump of Maestros, frump being the collective noun for Maestros! So, what's your Maestro's name?

[MiniJosh92]

[leaky]

I call dibs if you ever want to sell this! 

[leaky]

Also that pic of the 2 in the service station is that Reading services? It looks like Reading ha.

[Ben_O]

Nice one Craig.

 

I have to be honest and say i have never liked these but i am interested to see what you do with it.

 

Good luck

 

Ben

[nicklouse]

Oh dear me. I have crashed 2 Maestros.

Not the best handling car.


Good luck.

Edited by nicklouse, 04 January 2015 - 01:37 AM.

[MaxAndPaddy]

will be following this one with interest, are you converting back to petrol then?

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Thanks for all the comments guys!

 

I've had it a few days now and am loving it. Very charming to drive, it really is from a different era to even my 90's Metro, but you can still tell that they're cousins.

 

So far all I've done is get up to speed with the LPG system, order a new throttle cable and give her a damn good clean. We've all seen an old mouldy 80's Austin before so I didn't take many before pictures. She had a very good exterior clean with a quick polish. The interior was completely washed down with warm soapy water and it's navy blue trim and dash came up like new! the carpets look almost unused, thanks to the original rubber mats included in the car I would guess. The seats are okay, the drivers seat is something I would probably look at replacing if I was to keep the car long term, if I can find one in the same colour. I used a mixture of washing powder and lenor softener in again in warm water which made the seats come up a treat and removed the 29 years of staining and BMC/AR grime!

 

The tailgate is currently a black MG item, but will soon be silver again. The original has come off for paint, and will be done at the same time as the rear bumper and offside rear 1/4 after an arch repair sometime closer to summer.

 

Some pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Mini-Mad-Craig, 07 January 2015 - 11:56 AM.

[Archived4]

Love it! Interested in the lpg conversion too. Is it a 1.3 a series lpg? If so any details on how it works etc... Very interested

 

I love Maestros. My dad had a blue hatch diesel and it was the best car he ever owned he said.

[Will16]

These are bloody cool! Nice, clean example. My parents had the 2.0 EFi version, went like stink! P*ssed over XR3i's ;)

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Thanks guys! 

 

Havn't done a lot. Josh had a Metro with the same Navy blue trim so I took a few bits to replace broken stuff on mine and have just been driving her really. Took the seats out tonight and gave the carpets a good clean which they definitely needed! they came up like new. Then I committed the ultimate crime and bought some £8 car mats from Asda! (Compared to my luxury deep pile Rover 100 series carpets in the Metro they are poverty spec!)

 

500 miles in 7 days and it's cost me £50. Pretty good fuel economy I think? The cheapest I've paid is  around 54p a liter and the most expensive around 70. 

 

Edited by Mini-Mad-Craig, 13 January 2015 - 11:31 PM.

[hurley-motor-services]

good choice, I too have been harbouring dirty thoughts for a maestro although specifically a mk1 mg version, so i should be safe as the chances of finding one are slim!

[Tanya]

good choice, I too have been harbouring dirty thoughts for a maestro although specifically a mk1 mg version, so i should be safe as the chances of finding one are slim!

 

Sorry for hijacking your thread Craig, but here's Arthur, my 1984 MG Maestro 1600.  Out of all our cars, Trevor (1970 1275GT) and Arthur create the most interest and I have a long list of people wanting to buy Arthur, but I'll never sell him.  

 

Amazingly, after over 30 years and 88,000 miles, he's still wearing his original Cowley paint.  Okay, he's not quite as smart as the photo makes him out to be but he's still pretty good

 

 

Even Sir Stirling has sat in him and listened to his talking dash

[Miniminx71]

I love Maestros! But then, Ioved the Maxi!

 

Yours has really kept its lines well - all the trim still sits nicely together which makes a huge difference. As soon as the bits start to sag and get gappy, it adds about 20 years on. 

 

Does yours talk? I remember some were supposed to (really innovative at the time - even now!) but I've never heard one.

 

And, out of curiosity, does anyone know why Austin had a fascination with the letter 'M'? - Mini, Maxi, Maestro, Montego, Metro etc

Edited by Miniminx71, 19 January 2015 - 01:33 PM.