Project Mighty Maestro

[will16]

Hi AS,

 

This is my first post, so thought I’d give a bit of an introduction. I’m Will, 20, from Oxford, I’m rather into old shite brilliant vehicles. I, shamefully, actually joined the forum to get in touch with a member on here who was selling a Maestro van, quite a late diesel one, in white, exactly what I was after.. Unfortunately I missed it, as is usual with my luck, but trawling the eBay thread on here led me to the very same van. It was being sold by the new owner, abliet with a higher price but it was localish so I went and had a look, and as you can probably guess by the title, I bought it  . I haggled a fair amount off the price too!

 

First impressions of the van, its rough, old and literally everyone I know who is old enough to know what one is has asked “wtf do you want one of them for??” and my mates who don’t, think I’m mental. Theres some sketchy welding on it (dexion shelving rear shock mount??) but also some rather good repairs too. It’s certainly not fast, 80 is flat chat, its snails pace getting out of my vvc mini into this. Anyway, I’ve included a few pictures below, initial plans are to clean it up a bit, get it looking less rough, probably a service, lower it, banded 13” steels and use a parts chugger for rx7 bits

 

 

 

 

Cheers, Will

[Pillock]

Looks nice that! Can't remember it being for sale on here but glad it came back.

 

Those always suit a side stripe with the arches cut in like that.

[Pillock]

Also if you think you're coming on here and casually slotting "1976 Mini 1.8" into your signature you've got another thing coming

 

Can't wait to see more threads on the rest of your fleet!

[dougiefourspeed]

That’s a very late one on an M-plate. Maestro vans are definitely for life’s winners.

 

Naturally I’ve never owned one.

[timolloyd]

Smashing. Love the vents (?) in to the load area. Perhaps it was a 'private ambulance' at one time!?

[bigfella2]

One thing to remember if you do change the wheels, is the maestro vans use a different pcd to the meastro car. Something like 114x4 Vs 95x4 ish.

[HillmanImp]

I remember that, definitely full of win. Just found this on google.

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/31426-mouldy-maestro-1994-diesel-ex-fleet-service-van-for-sale/

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

Smashing. Love the vents (?) in to the load area. Perhaps it was a 'private ambulance' at one time!?

ERRR!

All the vans had those vents.

[dozeydustman]

Nice little van - looks ex-British Gas livery. Welcome aboard

[Alanism]

Jolly nice van good sir.  

[beko1987]

Very nice, If you felt a flash and a wave by an idiot in a silver laguna its me! (I'm in Thame)

[will16]

Thanks for the welcomes and positivity! Glad its liked by others as much as I do   Appreciate the heads up on the wheels, I've got a lead on some original earlier van 13's, look way better than the 14's imo. I'm pleased to say I didnt pay much more than Mr legasoil96 was asking, and got loads of spares with it. Will keep an eye out for you Beko!

 

Haha I thought the mini might not go unnoticed, its gone through various stages in the 3 years I've had it, i wont clog up the forum too much, might just use this thread for my shenanigans! Currently looks like this;

 

[Stanky]

Welcome along, and lovely van - one of my uncles had one years ago, brush painted nato green with a penrose triangle like this

 

 

Painted on each side.

[Noel Tidybeard]

dollywobbler will be along all in a tiz shortly looking at the wiper setup on the mini :mrgreen:

[dollywobbler]

dollywobbler will be along all in a tiz shortly looking at the wiper setup on the mini :mrgreen:

 

Apologies for the delay. Already had a mighty perv over the wipers at Bicester Heritage back in April. Took me some time to notice it had the 'wrong' engine fitted...

 

Anyway, Maestro vans rule. Covered a lot of miles in mine a short time and it was a proper mile-muncher. Very noisy though, and that was a 1.3 petrol!

[Faker]

Maestro vans rock. I've a mate with three (one I got him for peanuts). Enjoy!!

 

As mentioned before 4x 4.5" (114.3mm). There's quite a few options for rims

[Remspoor]

When can we see a 1.8 or even 2.0L T series and a TORSEN diff gearbox?

[Arthur Foxhake]

Me, my Mrs, my mate and my dog lived in a Maestro van for 2 weeks once in Brighton a long time ago.

Fun* fact.

[will16]

Thanks chaps! I really enjoy owning the van, its great that everyone has a story to tell about them   Loads of looks and comments when out and about which is always nice too. The minis wipers are jap style but I diy'd them as I wasnt paying £200 for a set! I'm not a huge fan of the old a series, part of the reason why I wanted a diesel maestro, its very tractor like however haha.

 

Havent done much as of yet, festivals, life, etc, just thought I'd clean up the load bed a bit. Removed the Austin load mat to find about 1/2" of shite across under it. Bit of sweeping / hoovering its revealed some rust holes (shock) and some more iffy welding. Nothing that cant be fixed with a melty metal wand though

 

 

 

 

 

When can we see a 1.8 or even 2.0L T series and a TORSEN diff gearbox?

[Noel Tidybeard]

well at least we know the honda gearbag fits a maestro/montego

[For Fiats Sake]

Do you want some nice wheels for your van?

 

 

Shameless sales plug:

[bigfella2]

They won't fit a van.

[will16]

Done alot to the van apart from drive it really! Its needed a fair amount of welding, soon as I got the wire brush out lots of holes appeared.. It started with the fuel tank leaking, so that was dropped, cleaned, rust holes fixed with alraldite and painted. Where the tank bolts too there was a big rust hole in the box section which was sorted. The arches, inside and out have needed patches put in. Rear bumpers are now 0% duct tape. I couldnt leave the shelving shock mount so I made a new one up copying the other side  . Treated it to some new plates, I went with the Serck font, no its not quite period correct, but I like it and it almost dates the van a bit (not that it needs that tbf  ) . Need to sort the insurance and upset my parents by having on their drive now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[New POD]

I love the Landrover Disco mk1 rear lights. Almost like the designer of the meastro van had a time machine and went forward in time to bring back the lights and design the shape of the rear panels around them.

[Remspoor]

Loads of work done in a short period. Well done.

What is this?

a bit of dexion, but why?

[wuvvum]

Shock absorber top mount?

[SiC]

Old filing cabinet?

[robinmasters]

Loads of work done in a short period. Well done.

What is this?

a bit of dexion, but why?

 

Because:

 

I couldnt leave the shelving shock mount...

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I love the Landrover Disco mk1 rear lights. Almost like the designer of the meastro van had a time machine and went forward in time to bring back the lights and design the shape of the rear panels around them.

I’d never spotted that before. Bizarrely, the proportions of the lights look equally at home in the Maestro van as they do on the considerably larger Disco. Weird.

Great to see one of these on here - must be almost ready to drive!

[greengartside]

Just remembered there is this H-plater in my local scrappers at the moment. Ideal for spares....