It's a Maxi adventure - Maxi in the media

[Asimo]

Great stuff - but is it gas or rubber sprung? I got to know!

[quicksilver]

Great stuff - but is it gas or rubber sprung? I got to know!

Still not sure to be honest - depends exactly when it was built, which we don't know (Gaydon don't have the records for Maxis so no Heritage certificate ). Need to get it on a ramp and have a proper look but we think it's gas.

[Eddie Honda]

Need to get it on a ramp and have a proper look

Get on your bloody hands and knees!!!!

[AMC Rebel]

I had a Maxi adventure this year, my mate Martin C gave me a lift to Wroxham in his Limeflower beast, was a smooth cruise there, but old Maxine got a little hot and bothered in traffic, but no FTP was had. 

 

Maxi LPU457J.jpg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvg8bUl9JSc

[quicksilver]

About time I updated this but there really hasn't been much to report. The Maxi is great at just being an car and doing everyday car things like shopping, going to work and visiting friends and relatives. It's been just over 6 months and it's already done over 1000 miles as my dad just loves driving it - of the three cars we have the Maxi is the one that gets most use! It's definitely getting better with use and we've spent a lot of time just tinkering and improving it a bit at a time. Wherever we go there's always someone who wants to talk about it from the moment we arrive so a Maxi is not a car for people who want to keep a low profile.

 

Sadly it's now broken - he rebuilt the brakes a week ago but when we went to use it today it felt like it was trying to pull away with the handbrake on so that's something to look at tomorrow.

 

Here it is in a prime spot at Bicester Heritage a few weeks ago

1978 Austin Maxi 1750 by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

And when we went to see the similar car that Bunglebus posted in the spotted thread

Maxi twins by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

[quicksilver]

Oh and to answer the suspension question, it's Hydrolastic. Although registered in March 78 the chassis number indicates it was actually made in 1977. Hopefully that means tax exemption next year.

[Spottedlaurel]

Good to know it's been going OK. Better for the brakes to fail in the way you describe than when driving along....

[Parky]

Maybe one of the brake liners has come off one of the shoes? That could jam the rear brakes on. If the shoes were replaced recently they could have been new/old stock and the adhesive between liner and shoe has given up

[Eddie Honda]

Oh and to answer the suspension question, it's Hydrolastic. Although registered in March 78 the chassis number indicates it was actually made in 1977. That means no dreaded nitrogen leaking forever.

FTFY

[quicksilver]

Well, the brake issue was weird. First thought as Parky suggested was that the lining had separated from the shoe but all the shoes were still intact. There was what looked like a load of rubber on the inside of the drum and it appears that a strip of the friction material has worn off the centre of the lining a bit unevenly so it could be that they're dodgy linings. It's all cleaned up and put back together and fingers crossed seems to be ok so far. If the worst comes to the worst, the old shoes are still ok and can go back in for now.

 

And yes, no pesky gas to worry about and we know someone nearby who now has a Hydrolastic robot should it ever need a good pumping

[Felly Magic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvg8bUl9JSc

That's Maxine, she's a beast

[RustyNuts]

My grandad had one of them Maxis.. a blue one. It was fab compared to all of his previous shite - and by shite i really do mean proper shite - the type he'd be banned from this forum for lol.

 

The Maxi was the newest and best condition car he ever had. Well my nan did buy him a renner savanna for £150 once.. but that didn't last as long as the maxi. Oddly despite being the best of the bunch he hated it because it had no power steering (like all his cars) but was front wheel drive adding that extra weight. For a bloke who was a bus driver of the proper old english busses you wouldn't think it would really matter to him much but there we go..

[Squire_Dawson]

Surely these have manual brake adjusters? And the wheel cylinders operate on the sliding backplate principle? In which case, a dollop of Girling green brake grease will work wonders.

[Isaac Hunt]

Nice Maxi, colour wise, difficult to tell from a foto over t'interweb, but Flamenco was a 77'78 BL & Triumph Colour, a medium red.  Carmine was a very dark red, polura on Triumph's but IIRC other BL Models (Maxi & Allegro & Princess) also used the colour.

[quicksilver]

Well, it would seem we've been using the Maxi too much Summer's only just begun and we've already used up three quarters of the mileage allowance on the insurance without doing any particularly long journeys as it's just so enjoyable to drive. The brake issue seems to have sorted itself out and everything is going well so there's not much to report, except that it's been to a few more local shows recently and done some ordinary car things. Anyone going to the BMC & Leyland day at Gaydon should see it on the Maxi club stand, and of course it'll be in the Field of Dreams on Sunday.

 

Nice Maxi, colour wise, difficult to tell from a foto over t'interweb, but Flamenco was a 77'78 BL & Triumph Colour, a medium red.  Carmine was a very dark red, polura on Triumph's but IIRC other BL Models (Maxi & Allegro & Princess) also used the colour.

It is Carmine, confirmed by the club. Funnily enough there was a Carmine Spitfire at the most recent show and dad commented how good it looked in that colour, then I pointed out it was the same as the Maxi. Several people have suggested it is Damask but I know that's much darker as it was the colour of dad's Morris Minor and I use it on many of my models.

[Spottedlaurel]

Good to hear it's going well.

 

Do you have a BL workshop manual for it? I stumbled across one in the shed, can bring it along to FOTU if it’s something you could make use of.

[Split_Pin]

It's a good sign when the biggest expense on the horizon will be increasing the mileage allowance. It must be great to have a car that you just love driving!

[stuboy]

Well, it would seem we've been using the Maxi too much Summer's only just begun and we've already used up three quarters of the mileage allowance on the insurance without doing any particularly long journeys as it's just so enjoyable to drive. The brake issue seems to have sorted itself out and everything is going well so there's not much to report, except that it's been to a few more local shows recently and done some ordinary car things. Anyone going to the BMC & Leyland day at Gaydon should see it on the Maxi club stand, and of course it'll be in the Field of Dreams on Sunday.

 

It is Carmine, confirmed by the club. Funnily enough there was a Carmine Spitfire at the most recent show and dad commented how good it looked in that colour, then I pointed out it was the same as the Maxi. Several people have suggested it is Damask but I know that's much darker as it was the colour of dad's Morris Minor and I use it on many of my models.

accidentally disconnect speedo cable

[plasticvandan]

what you need is a spare speedometer.i always keeps spares as you never know when they are going to break

[Felly Magic]

You need to speak to this man about mileage adjustments 

 

[flat4alfa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvg8bUl9JSc

 

That just so happens to be me behind the camera in that little video

 

It was me that saved that MOT failure Maxi from abandonment off a pavement just outside Peckham...

Recovery road trip was exciting as it was dragged by a tired NA Citroen BX Derv.  We were cut up something rotten a few times, with one very hairy moment at Vauxhall bridge

 

Got it sorted and kept it a year doing show scene, family picnics (because Maxi) etc.  Needed the money for childcare bill so it sold onto Chamberpot when his self-immoliating Eldorado money came through

 

It's a very early rod-change Maxi.  Change was really good too.

 

Happy days

 

 

Told myself afterwards that I would rather get another Landcrab again instead.  Still not achieved that, all these years on!

[Felly Magic]

Poor Maxine gets a regular dry bumming from Chamberpot too

[quicksilver]

So some things have happened recently. Firstly the BL show at Gaydon and a delivery of bits from the club spares officer including some shiny wheel embellishers. The previous owner, being an eccentric old giffer, probably threw the originals away as he didn't like them but it looks much better now. Its first outing with trimz was the Festival of the Unexceptional and I asked Six-cylinder and AnthonyG if they could spot anything new but they didn't even notice

 

Shiny trimz. The orange one was the only other Maxi there.

 

It got an awful lot of attention and every time I looked there were people admiring it and taking photos. It's been photographed in the rain by Darren Reallyloud and even made it into the Telegraph's coverage of the event with 3 photos - they described it as "a perfect example of a car that will baffle young people" The very next day it was back in use as a normal car though visiting friends and it's on car duty again today going to a family barbecue. It'll be going to the Willington show on Tuesday and that'll probably be it for shows until we've had it a year and the insurance runs out in September.

 

Oh, and it can haz new MOT too. Dad was worried about it failing on the steering rack as it clonks and has quite a lot of play (fairly normal on Maxis apparently and even freshly reconditioned racks can clonk) but it scored a clean pass without even a single advisory. Good times.

[keef]

Welcome to Maxi ownership!

 

You did well to see another at FotU; there are getting rare.

[quicksilver]

Welcome to Maxi ownership!

 

You did well to see another at FotU; there are getting rare.

Thanks. There could have been up to 4 more there - the club events officer's Harvest Gold one, a blue HLS, an early cable-changer that had to drop out with a shattered windscreen, and possibly Bron Burrell with Puff. They are pretty uncommon and the only other one I've seen at a non-BL show was at Bicester Heritage in April.

[keef]

There's a few been broken for spares recently. If you have room for a spares car that moght be the way to go.

[quicksilver]

Can't believe it's been almost a year since I updated this and we've now had the car more than 18 months. There simply hasn't been anything of interest to report as it just keeps on doing its thing and attracting admiring glances and comments wherever it goes. A new starter motor seems to have cured the reluctance to start that resulted in it failing to appear at the previous FOD open day.

 

Here it is at Bicester Heritage on Drive-It Day. There were over a thousand cars there but only two Maxis.

Scrambled Maxi by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

[Noel Tidybeard]

Nice Maxi, colour wise, difficult to tell from a foto over t'interweb, but Flamenco was a 77'78 BL & Triumph Colour, a medium red.  Carmine was a very dark red, polura on Triumph's but IIRC other BL Models (Maxi & Allegro & Princess) also used the colour.

 

flamenco was fcuking orange! grandad then us had one POE408R 1500super with optional headrests

[lesapandre]

Great car. Been said before but this was the casualty of the BMC/Leyland merger. Donald Stokes hated it and they considered not putting it into production. Starved of proper development - why no GT version which rejuvenate the Austin 1300 image into a cool car for the 70's - or a posh Vanden Plas trim version etc? Such a pity. Such a great design. Here is an early BMC iteration with a more Golf-like recessed window on the tailgate and kink to rear window surround. 

[lesapandre]

The humble 1300 became this GT. It was mostly cosmetic - but I remember as a kid this car being considered quite cool.