'98 Ledbury Maestro - OFFERS

[vulgalour]

I'm biting the bullet and selling this now before the tax expires. This car is a great reliable little thing but it's not for me.

 

Tax until the end of March 2013, MoT until October 2013

1.3 Rover "Ledbury" Maestro

 

Rust: Rear driver's arch needs repairing/replacing, the panels are about £25 for this and readily available. Driver's front door needs a repair to the trailing edge corner. Some minor stone chips and blebs as expected.

 

Mechanicals: May need a rear wheel bearing. Needs a steering rack gaiter fitting (supplied). Otherwise flawless. Rear wash pipe is split and needs replacing, but otherwise works.

 

Interior: Grubby, but reasonable. Is missing the steering column cowl, parcel shelf and could do with a replacement driver's side parcel shelf support. Some damage to the passenger front door capping from a previous owner's bodge which could do with being replaced. Dash top cracked, as is normal. Headlining fabric sagging from headlining card, this is also normal. Seats are a bit grubby. Everything works as it should.

 

Exterior trim: Rust hole in rear bumper, cosmetic only. Rear door handle broken, door still works from the inside.

 

Good points: Sills are perfectly solid, as is the underneath, and requires no welding as far as I can see. All the trim bits and pieces are there on the outside and in reasonable condition. Paint isn't great but does polish up well as is evident in the following pictures. Car is very reliable and regularly returns 30mpg+. High suspension makes light work of speed bumps, combined with the relatively tall and skinny tyres it's also pretty good in the snow even on non-snow tyres. Is fitted with a working immobiliser.

 

Reason for sale: The car has served it's purpose for me and I no longer need it. This is not the right car for me, but could be the right car for you. I've also got my eye on a certain BX and need the funds for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Offers in the region of £400 please. I'm in Staveley, Derbyshire, which is just off junction 30 of the M1

[vulgalour]

Little refresher bump. I've put a deposit on dollywobbler's BX that'll be replacing the Maestro so I'll welcome any offers at this point.

[eddyramrod]

Only on Autoshite would you choose to replace a perfectly serviceable 1998 car with a known-for-trouble 1991 model with less MoT and a bunch of issues, and then use it as backup for a 1980 car! I hope these go smoothly for you.

[dollywobbler]

Funnily enough, I owned a Maestro 1.3L back in 2006. It was a nice, reliable motor but not my cup of tea. I sold it and replaced it with an older Audi 100 that drank a lot more fuel and had some quite serious cooling issues (not helped by someone wiring the fan the wrong way around so it blew instead of sucked!). T'is the way of Autoshite.

[Lord Sterling]

Good luck with its sale Volks. I did mention this to Steve but he is looking to get rid of a few cars/parts now to free up some space. I also mentioned how well you cleaned it up.

[vulgalour]

The same Steve I bought it from? I left him a message earlier today, not been able to get hold of him.

[Ben_L]

This tickles my fancy somewhat....

 

Just need to shift the Fiesta! The insurance on this is actually cheaper than the Fiesta

[vulgalour]

It's not just the insurance, EVERYTHING about this car is cheap.

 

 

But seriously, it's a great little car, just not what I need.

[Ben_L]

It's not just the insurance, EVERYTHING about this car is cheap.

 

 

But seriously, it's a great little car, just not what I need.

 

Had a Maestro for about 3 months (Also a Ledburger) and found it pretty sweet, but then one day I washed it. And unfortunately, it hadn't happened for so long, I started poking in places I shouldn't have and ended up with a pretty functional sieve.

 

It got cubed.

 

In my 20's now, I hope I can actually run something on a more permanant basis than a 1.3 Chain Driven Fiesta...

 

Like a 1.3 Chain Driven Austin!

[vulgalour]

The rust is nowhere near as bad as I've seen on some Maestros. The rust that is there can be repaired fairly easily. It doesn't have the dreaded seam rot (an anagram of Maestro, interestingly) but there are some surface spots near the seams that I was going to address before the decision to sell was made.

 

Fact is, the car is reliable and mechanically good but cosmetically challenged. All the faults are niggles that could be sorted over a few evenings and weekends, I just haven't had those evenings and weekends free to get it sorted and I'd rather not get involved in them now that I need to sell the car.

 

If you like them, that's a big bonus. Grab this one while it's so cheap, you're unlikely to find another at this price in this condition and I say that from trying to do so myself. Make me a sensible offer, stick a deposit down if you like, I can sit on it until the end of March. Soon as April threatens to start I've got to get rid because I shan't be able to store it here. It's more important to me that it be used by someone that will enjoy it or that needs it than be unsold. You know how much the BX is, so you know what my lowest price is likely to be, and I've been as honest as I can with the faults and the good bits. Feel free to ask me any questions about the car in case I've missed something out.

[Ben_L]

Any pictures of the wheel arches (Closer ones).

 

What is it registered as on the V5? (Car, Kit car, etc).

 

Non-Cat, I'm guessing... ?

 

The pic of the bootlid, is that a dent above the boot release button?

 

Ben.

[vulgalour]

I'll get some fresh snaps of the wheel arches for you in the daylight tomorrow. It's not gone onto the sill, it's just the outer that's gone and it's not crept into the door shut yet either. Was my next bodywork job to sort.

 

V5 lists it as a kit car and there's no Cat fitted from new. The benefit is you get kit car rules on emissions and the like, but it does confuse some motor factors computers.

 

Dent on the tailgate is from a previous owner reversing into a post. It had bent the bumper, valance and tailgate but the worst of it was dressed out by Steve, the chap I bought the car from. Happily, the tailgate does work fine, as does the lock and it doesn't leak. The dent is just to the side of the lock, but with skills you could probably pull it all out without too much bother. Alternatively, tailgates do crop up through the Maestro forum and eBay and I do know there's a chap that has a pristine black tailgate in Birmingham that I was going to purchase until the decision to sell was made.

[Lord Sterling]

The same Steve I bought it from? I left him a message earlier today, not been able to get hold of him.

 

Yep, same Steve. Met the lad a couple of weeks ago after washing my car and mentioned I knew of you off the forum and know Sam Captain Slow (of which he was impressed by Sams knowledge of British cars)

[vulgalour]

Maybe I won't get fresh pictures today, it's snowed (and is snowing) again and I'm blocked in by Dad's crap-in-the-snow Omega. Bumflaps.

[vulgalour]

Right, we're open to offers now. Had a chap get in touch that made me an offer that's at the bottom end of what I'll accept, but sweetened by the fact it would be collected this weekend allowing me to get the BX quicksharp and still get the Princess on the road in the allotted time frame.

 

SO! You have until midnight Friday to make me an offer I can't refuse, or I let it go for a song to a chap in Pontefract because I'm IMPULSIVE and RECKLESS.

[Micrashed]

I have a Fray Bentos pie....

 

 

Its beef in ale.

 

Seriously though, GLWTS, its always a PITA when you want something shifted pronto but nothing is forthcoming.

[vulgalour]

mm pie.

 

Took the Maestro out for a little errand today and was reminded how willing and reliable a little beast it is. Shan't be sad to see it go, but I am somewhat disappointed that I haven't clicked with this car like I expected to. It's probably a big part of why I'm not too fussed about it going for much cheaper than first advertised.

[joethornton1986]

is it possible to get this on classic insurance... if so what company? thanks Joe

[RedSparrow]

^ Why not try asking a few yourself?

[vulgalour]

I'm told most classic insurers won't insure this due to it's age, a mere 14 years old, even though a regular Maestro can be insured as a classic. Best to ask around. Admiral insured me on a regular policy with no problems.

[vulgalour]

@BenL: You've got PM, I notice you haven't read it yet... could be pertinent to your decision.

[garycox]

Just turned up on Ebay...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1998-ROVER-MA ... 1204519094

 

[triumph1300]

"slight corrosion on rear arch"

 

[vulgalour]

Kinda nice that he's selling it rather than scrapping it. That 'slight corrosion' is much worse than he's made it look and he makes no mention of the hole in the driver's door... Looks like it didn't suit his Mini after all

[Micrashed]

Looks like it didn't suit his Mini after all

I take it the plan was to take the donkey and drop it in a Mini then? Fine, but the Maestro had a VW gearbox rather than the gearbox in sump, so its not as straight forward as one might first think.

[dollywobbler]

Looks like it didn't suit his Mini after all

I take it the plan was to take the donkey and drop it in a Mini then? Fine, but the Maestro had a VW gearbox rather than the gearbox in sump, so its not as straight forward as one might first think.

 

That's why we were all so amused. Exact same thing happened to me when I sold my 1.3 Maestro. In that case, the chap had got as far as semi-removing the engine and was trying to sell it with everything unplumbed.