Fuzzy Woozy

[Joloke]

Was a Bear

[mercrocker]

That looks exactly what I was talking about on your other thread, Joloke.... 

 

I love the reference to "complaining letters to garage" - surely the ultimate Maxi accessory!

[For Fiats Sake]

1981! looks much older despite the revised bumpers!

 

To me they look like they are two different cars joined together at the b pillars.

 

I think the new mini countryman looks more like one of these than a real mini though.

[alf892]

1981! looks much older despite the revised bumpers!

 

To me they look like they are two different cars joined together at the b pillars.

 

I think the new mini countryman looks more like one of these than a real mini though.

 

yeah...........aren't all new cars shit?

[dave21478]

 

Fuel: Petrol

 

Ahm oot.

[Guest Hooli]

No.

[nisfan]

Now i like most shite but why do i find these utterly miserable? I find the allegro ok, also the marina but these just seem like a grey damp cold november afternoon.

[Alexg]

^ +1. I think early Maxis look great, I'd love one, but these later specs look proper ungainly. I think it's the half-arsed attempt (but in fairness impossible task) of dragging an already slightly awkward 1960s design into the 80s.

[eddyramrod]

To me they look like they are two different cars joined together at the b pillars.

Mine was!  30 years on, I'm doing well: I've resisted the urge to have another all this time.  Mind, it's like the urge to buy a new BMW 116d: totally non-existant.  No real resistance required!

[For Fiats Sake]

Actually after a bit of reading up I've now changed my opinion from bland and old fashioned to hopeless and hideous.  No one we knew  at the time had one and they would buy anything that was British. 

[derskine]

I hate Maxis so much.

Potentially my least favourite car ever, modern cars aren't included in this though.

[Bren]

It looks so dated it's hard to believe they were still making them on an X registration.

[eddyramrod]

It looks so dated it's hard to believe they were still making them on a K registration.

FTFY

[anonymous user]

Well I like it, it also has a "suitable" numberplate, it nearly reads M(e)RD(e)

[Supernaut]

Well I like it, it also has a "suitable" numberplate, it nearly reads M(e)RD(e)

 

My thoughts exactly, when I saw that plate!

[trigger]

That's so miserbaly shite that I'd love to have that as a daily to go to work in! Leave it exactly as it is and park it amongst the Audis and VW's in the car park.

 

Talking about dated, If you think about it the Sierra came out a year after this, you can see why people said it was too futuristic.

[forddeliveryboy]

 

Talking about dated, If you think about it the Sierra came out a year after this...

Or that Citroën was replacing the GS after 11 years in production.

 

I quite liked them, for being as far behind the curve as a GS was ahead. Vicar-quality.

[Eddie Honda]

Or that Citroën was replacing the GS after 11 years in production.

Hardly replacing. They threw some plastic shite on and put the tailgate on it should of had in the first place.

 

I don't think many manufacturers of the time were immune to attempting shelf-life extension.

 

Yes, the Maxi has a deficit in the looks department, but it did have 5 doors and 5 gears against the GS's 4 doors and 4 on the floor.

 

Having had both, I'd rather drive the Citroen, but work on the Maxi.

[MarvinsMom]

i like the Maxi. And i prefer the Maxi 2 over the earlier versions.

 

certainly it is no looker, but the theory was sound.

 

with the Mini, ADO16, then a big jump up to the ADO17-Landcrab, the Maxi was to sit in between the 1100 and the 'crab. 

 

BMC got the sums wrong of course, turning over the Cowley mini production line over to the Maxi, and then the whole new factory at Cleckheaton to produce the E-series engine, and which produced many more engines than they could use, even when it was added to the Allegro.

 

using the central section and the doors off of the Crab didn't help the cars looks, though it will have helped speed up development., was that why BMC used a cable change instead of a proper rod gear linkage?

 

Donald Stokes said it would be a slow seller. he was right, it was!

[Eddie Honda]

prefer the Morris Nomad myself:

 

[Dead_E23]

Miserable to look at, but surprisingly enjoyable to drive. A bit like a giant Mini, appropriately enough.

[Tamworthbay]

I have never been a fan but my wife loves them, she has very fond memories of stretching out on the back seat and falling asleep when she was a kid. Her dad also had a Capri and a vitesse which she also loves, he didn't know then but he did me a big favour.........

[drum]

Nice!

[I_am_Diesel]

Why does the boot have stone chips? Has it been driven in reverse at high speed over a long distance?

[Squire_Dawson]

Sir Issigonis would've been much more concerned with function than form. So if it was ugly, it was because of practicality.

[djimbob]

Maxi's are for winners, I had one, lent it to a twat who borrowed it to drive to scotland and never came back!

 

probably for the best

[chodweaver]

I love that there is equal measures of love* and hate for the Maxi on here! It was shockingly out of date from the outset - and I had a 1972 model in 1986. It was however desperately simple to fix, had a decent turn of speed, durable, quite economical, a hoot to hoon around in the snow in, and it was mahoosive inside. I still can't believe that it takes up less room on the road than a modern Astra. I'd have one again like a shot. Just not an auto. And a diesel would be perfect.

[forddeliveryboy]

Hardly replacing. They threw some plastic shite on and put the tailgate on it should of had in the first place.

 

Well, the replacement was more advanced that what replaced the GSa. Even after Peugoet said, "make it cheap, make our 305 not look cheap". Even  Saab took until the late 70s to make hatchbacks - not everyone was as happening as Austin, Renault or Simca.

 

 

Sir Issigonis would've been much more concerned with function than form. So if it was ugly, it was because of practicality.

 

Nah, they just couldn't be arsed.

[warren t claim]

I'd bid on that if it was a diesel.

[lisbon_road]

I remember fields full of these unsold around Oxford at about this time.  Really spacious inside though, and comfy.