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Rejuvinated Montego needs new home!


Austin-Rover

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i do like a monty or a maestro.

 

a few years ago we had an opaline maestro vp. it was a lovely old thing, save for a leaky sunroof.

 

though as it leaked worse on the n/s (where kerry usually sat) and i oftern would wear a hat it didn't bother me.

 

we bought it off a member of the maestro and montego club, but it didn't run to well and was a sod to start. once it was going it was ok, but it was a pain to start up. at somepoint it had had the stepper motor taken off the carb and a "manual" choke cable added that even when pulled out wouldn't fully open the choke. we put the stepper motor off of a spare carb on, and it went much better. 

 

we also had an instance of OMGHGF which i thought would kill the poor old thing. once apart and after been pressure tested we found that the head had a crack in it between no 2 and 3 pots, but the club came to our aid and we were able to get a good second hand cylinder head for very little.

 

we sold the car on, after a winter sat on the drive under a cover i could see that the body was suffering, and it really deserved much better care than we could give it. a couple in glasgow bought it, we drove it straight up to them with no problems. and it was one of the few cars that i sold on for what i paid for it, so it wasn't too big a loss over all, with th ehead work included.

 

we called it Vincent Price (cos it was a VP) i wonder if its still around?

post-18270-0-48293600-1531000124_thumb.jpg

post-18270-0-48904500-1531000135_thumb.jpg

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EDIT - mot check says its last test expired in april 2017, so no, it seems its no longer a car, which is sad.....

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Fast forward to 2018...

A ballooning fleet and a lot of thought about what I'd like to keep, what is duplicated(ish), and what I'd never sell, the Montego didn't make the final cut, so this summer's project it getting it ready to sell. The first job was to bring it home. It's been sat since 2016 at my parents place thirty miles away which required a phone call to my friendly recovery driver and something for the Montego to swap places with...

 

43210421412_6fcc3ab4fa_c.jpgby Richard Gelder, on Flickr

 

Will it start? No! The fuel pump from 2013 is already kaput. Cheap crappy mechanical fuel pumps wind me up no end these days. I thought I'd found a good one for it, being quite weighty and looking very much like an OE one. The one I've put on it now was a cheapie from eBay and looks like I'll be lucky to get six months out of it. I must get another to keep in the boot...

 

Here's the dead one;

 

43210385092_54971d3d7b_c.jpgby Richard Gelder, on Flickr

 

...and the featherweight new one...

 

42355592405_570b093124_c.jpgby Richard Gelder, on Flickr

 

Now it runs again, I can manoeuvre it in to the garage. Since it first went back on the road, it's been pretty obvious that the springs and shocks are completely knackered. It's like driving a bouncy castle, or watching a big green jelly drive down the road. I think it finally deserves a new set all round. These are brand new and complete already assembled, so no buggering about mating springs to the shocks. It's simply plug and play. There's fresh Waxoyl going in, too. Also a strip down of the brakes whilst each corner is in bits.

 

43259286851_feae537b50_c.jpgby Richard Gelder, on Flickr

 

41450305920_c34b1bff51_c.jpgby Richard Gelder, on Flickr

 

This job is about 2/3 the way though at the moment. I'm also in the process of pulling the dash board out as the coolant pipes that come through the bulkhead for the heater have rotted through and soaked the passenger foot well!

 

 

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What a gem. Amazing save, back story and lime/chocolateyness.

When you do come to sell it, I really hope the new guardian stores it equally well to keep it properly preserved. Brilliant work.

 

EDIT - mot check says its last test expired in april 2017, so no, it seems its no longer a car, which is sad.....

I wouldn't panic. It's currently SpORNDED.
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...a few years ago we had an opaline maestro vp. it was a lovely old thing, save for a leaky sunroof...

 

Yes, I know of the people this car went to. They also had a Montego 1.3 in red, which was equally as nice. They used to be regulars on the Club forum, but they tailed off (much like the forum) and so I don't know much more. Neither the VP Maestro or their Montego 1.3 have been seen since, so I hope they are simply laid up somewhere. Both cars were too good to scrap.

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Heh, I never knew Montegos had that criss-cross structure behind the grille.  Every day's a school day.

 

Well, you'll like this as well...That criss-cross panel is a right flimsy thing when not attached to the car. It's job is to create the longer and slightly pointier Montego nose. The Montego's headlamps attach to that panel and then that panel bolts on to where the Maestros headlamps would otherwise attach. Remove bumpers, bonnet, wings (and that criss-cross panel on the Montego) and you are presented with the same front end and engine bay.

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I love how "we" (Autoshiters, that is) put so much time and effort (and no doubt expense) to a car that was ordinary when new, denigrated almost instantly and even now isn't exactly a gold-plated investment.  I had a 1991 Montego 1.6LX and thought it was brilliant.

 

Excellent project, well done!

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I love how "we" (Autoshiters, that is) put so much time and effort (and no doubt expense) to a car that was ordinary when new, denigrated almost instantly and even now isn't exactly a gold-plated investment.  I had a 1991 Montego 1.6LX and thought it was brilliant.

 

Excellent project, well done!

We had one in the company car pool. Everybody loved it - it was quick and eady to drive. Always got used.

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Fantastic! Always loved a montego. My dad had 3 over about 15 years and I learnt to drive in it. One grandfather had a newer montego than ours and the other had an older maestro whilst mum drove around in a selection of metros. I guess that explains why I keep looking for them in ebay.

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