Sold Rejuvinated Montego needs new home!

[stuboy]

last pics has it got mg rims of just trick of the light

[NorfolkNWeigh]

My Montego history includes brand new company cars, pool cars, hire cars, demonstrators , family cars , cabs to rent out, cabs to drive, ones to sell, ones to break- probably 100's of the feckers.

 

My first experience was being given one instead of a Cavalier or Sierra when I joined a new company in 1986, funnily enough a 1.6 HL although cream with brown trim. I hated it so much I snapped off the indicator stalk so I didn't have to use it one Easter weekend. I ended up with a Creg 1.8L Carlton which I loved and managed to hold on to for 6 months .

I eventually learned to love the things. And actually specced and chose an H reg 2.0 Gti estate and then a K plate Diesel Countryman which I paid my own cash money for some MG crosspokes for.

Later I'd always try to pick one up from auction to get in the paper, mainly because an hour with some sandpaper and a rattle can of Hurricane Grey could transform a scabby looking ex-Repmobile into a desirable* ( well cheap) modern family car for half the price of a Cavalier.

I remember the cambelt snapping in a 1.6 LX at over 100 one Tuesday night on the M1 returning from Northampton auction, I was well chuffed the next morning when it was right as rain with a new belt fitted( probably the last belt I did myself)

The only light green one I can rember off the top of my head, was an MG that I bought solely for the rear belts for a 2.0 Efi MG Maestro Mrs N had, but was too old for rear belts. Think I MGised a late , white Clubman with the rest of it, why? I don't know, but it sold.

[sierraman]

Those GTI ones looked quite tidy in the day. My neighbour had a 1.6 Mayfair in that light metallic blue that was impossible to touch up. He had it resprayed, from what I could see, in a frost. The paint had become like a suede effect. Anyway it started rusting round the sunroof, so he ductaped the headlining in to stop the water pissing out and hopefully it would run back towards the back and away. Why he didn't paste it in mastic I don't know but it ended up creating this poultice above his head that used to reach a crescendo until he used to lance it. I like these cars but they had a terrible habit of falling apart upon contact with rainwater or salt, or sun or cold weather. They were the archetypal dads car in the early 90's though so its forgivable in my eyes.

[Austin-Rover]

last pics has it got mg rims of just trick of the light

 

It's been on quite a few rims in my ownership. It should have metric sized steel wheels, but you can't get the tyres. It hit the road with 13" steels from one of my Maestros, then went to 14" 'toastrack' alloys and it's next set of wheels (to sell it with) will be a 14" set of MG corss-spoke alloys.

[Austin-Rover]

Lovely looking car, well done on the save.

 

RW plate suggests it might have started life as an ARG fleet car? Or just first registered in the Coventry area.

 

Parkside Garage, Coventry were the supplying dealers. It went to this firm, still trading from the same address;

 

http://www.richmannwalshengineering.com/

[davehedgehog31]

That interior is a thing of unprecedented beauty.

[blguy1975]

I have had  the pleasure of seeing the Chocolate Lime close up

Its Lovely

In Fact if I wasn't at the end of a Allegro Project and A forgotten random slap 1500 that's about to return , I bloody would

 

Ah well Say La V

[Noel Tidybeard]

Love the 13" base spec wheels.

 

excuse me those are maestro HLS wheels not base spec

[Noel Tidybeard]

It's been on quite a few rims in my ownership. It should have metric sized steel wheels, but you can't get the tyres. It hit the road with 13" steels from one of my Maestros, then went to 14" 'toastrack' alloys and it's next set of wheels (to sell it with) will be a 14" set of MG corss-spoke alloys.

 

14" cross spoke???  15" shirley?

[Ghosty]

Do like these, never seen one in person until Andy rocked up in one at shitefest. Had the pleasure of following him as we glf back to Barrhead on the way back, it looks so purposeful on the road!

 

 I got a nose about and ride in that too (2.0 Mayfair), and it was CLASS. I'd have one.

[oldcars]

This is brilliant. The colour wheels and interior are spot on. 

[martc]

Parkside Garage, Coventry were the supplying dealers. It went to this firm, still trading from the same address;

 

http://www.richmannwalshengineering.com/

 

Probably went to their best salesman. The poorly performing salesman got the base spec Maestro which was thrown in as part of the deal.

[AnthonyG]

D940WWC (Opaline Maestro) is showing as Sorned, so it lives on.

 

That is a lovely Montego, definitely saved by Waxoyl and the long period of slumber.

[Austin-Rover]

A Coventry Car by the looks of it, who etched the windows back in the day as I knew someone who provided such a service ?

 

by Richard Gelder, on Flickr

[Noel Tidybeard]

0121 744 1802 is a shirley/solihull number

where once there was an rover dealer

[dougiefourspeed]

Cor! That looks ace! I do like an early Montego.

 

Opaline is a great colour too.

[Isaac Hunt]

by Richard Gelder, on Flickr

That's it. The Gentleman that used to do the etching was based at the Complete Auto store at the top of the Foleshill Road opposite what was then MFI, back in the day.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

by Richard Gelder, on Flickr

 

 

The etched window thing seemed to be very popular in the mid-80s, but appeared to go out of fashion soon after that with few cars having them after about 1990. I wonder if it was because car alarms became much more common?

 

Lovely Montego. I have always liked them and remember the estate as being quite sought after in their day.

[cms206]

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?

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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.....

 

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.

 

I'm fairly certain that D940 WWC is still tucked up in Ian and Marion's garage; they've got a Spitfire too so I suspect it's maybe on layup for a bit. My old Maestro 1.6L (E532 TYD) went to them for spares.

 

Their daughter and her husband owned the red C-reg 1.3 (C147 JTU?) which they still have, along with an E-reg 2.0EFi Mayfair (E505 MDD). They had a D-reg 1.6 Mayfair too which I think died after they sold it on.

[Steve79]

The old man bought my mother a C-reg 2.0HL one of these (C862AHY) in the opaline green with the brown interior back in 1992 to take me and the sister to school in. Had a *genuine 50k on the clock but had a few pegs missing from the odometer so only recorded 7/10ths of every mile!

 

Seemed to remember it went quite well but had a tendancy to run on when switched off and mum was always going on about how shit it was on fuel. Rear arches were fucked and were wobbed up every year to get through the MOT. First car we had with a rear armrest which felt like luxury!

 

Also had no power steering!

 

Was PX'd in 1996 for a '91 Fiat Tipo 1.6 DGT (H960MPB) with the digital dashboard but DVLA had recorded as a 1.4 though. First car I drove after passing my test

[cms206]

Also, speaking as (I think) the world's greatest fan of chocolate limes that Montego looks the absolute business.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

The old man bought my mother a C-reg 2.0HL one of these (C862AHY) in the opaline green with the brown interior back in 1992 to take me and the sister to school in. Had a *genuine 50k on the clock but had a few pegs missing from the odometer so only recorded 7/10ths of every mile!

Seemed to remember it went quite well but had a tendancy to run on when switched off and mum was always going on about how shit it was on fuel. Rear arches were fucked and were wobbed up every year to get through the MOT. First car we had with a rear armrest which felt like luxury!

Also had no power steering!

Was PX'd in 1996 for a '91 Fiat Tipo 1.6 DGT (H960MPB) with the digital dashboard but DVLA had recorded as a 1.4 though. First car I drove after passing my test

Allegedly the easiest car in the world for mileage adjustment , I'm sure I've mentioned my mate Dave's effort at clocking a J reg 2.0 GTi saloon that he had cabbed for a year in about 1996. It was on the ramp and the MOT tester was heard to exclaim" Fuck me, you'd never know this had done those miles!" Great hilarity was had by all when we pointed out to him that unlike his beloved Ford's, Montego clocks went over 100,000- hence the MOT showing 740,000 miles .

He did it again and the lucky* punter never noticed the extra digit on the ticket.

[AnthonyG]

I started to learn to drive in a ‘83 Pug 305 estate - with 1472 cc of raw power on tap my mum was quite happy to supervise me.

 

However the replacement of the Pug in 1992 with a ‘90 Monty 2.0 GTi estate did shake her up a bit! She still chides me for ‘taking the racing line’ through Herefordshire B roads!!!

 

That was a great car, I suspect my driving style may have been a factor in it getting chopped in for a ‘91 Rover 214 Si within about a year....little did my folks know a K Series could go quite a bit better than a French ohv engine designed in the 1960s.

[Austin-Rover]

Holidays over and crappy weather meant it was time to get back in the garage. A mixed bag, today; Both rear drums stripped down, cleaned and reassembled followed by stripping down of the front brakes... which should have been followed by bleeding fresh fluid through. Except the nipple on the O/S/F calliper is stuck fast. It's also now completely chewed up as it wouldn't even come free once the calliper was on the bench in the vice allowing for a more sustained attack. So, instead of it going back on some wheels this weekend I've got to hunt down a new calliper on Monday.

 

Elsewhere on the car the next job is being lined up, which is to repair the coolant leak behind the dashboard. The pipes that come through the bulkhead to the heater matrix rot out over time, and soak the passenger foot well with coolant. The dash is stripped down and just needs unbolting now to release it. This will also allow me to take out the front carpet to wash it.

 

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

by the way you can get the matrix out of the heater with the dash intact- drill out the rivets and take out glovebox and there is just enough room to get matrix and pipes out- i think i split the pipes off before getting matrix out

 

i did it in my mg maestro at work one evening in the car park!

[fatharris]

How have I only just noticed this thread?

 

Great work so far, this is an excellent example that's justifiably getting some thorough work!

[Austin-Rover]

Simple jobs have a tendency to get out of control before you know it. A simple strip down of the brakes and fresh brake fluid was easy enough, until the aforementioned stuck bleed nipple... followed by shearing a brake line at the same wheel!

The story of the calliper and its stuck nipple looked to be going nowhere fast; I couldn't get a replacement calliper from anywhere. When did motorfactors get so shit as well? Most near me don't go any further than typing the reg number in to their desktop PC and suggesting I try eBay. Yeah. Great. I'd not thought of that! I eventually head over to my old haunt of Quines in Unsworth, Bury, Lancs who made no less than six phone calls for me whilst I waited. Sadly they didn't manage to find a new calliper. They did however make me up a new brake line for four quid, which was excellent service.

Another week rolls by and I decide to attack the bleed nipple one last time and... success! It's out. Another trip to Quines sees a new nipple provided. They also said the day after my last visit, one of their suppliers called back to say they found a brake calliper in a dusty box. Very impressed they kept looking!

 

So, over the weekend it was all put back together and the system bled up. It's back on tyres and next stop is behind the dashboard...

[Austin-Rover]

Another update;

 

The dash was coming out to cure the leaking heater. I had assumed that the pipes coming through the bulkhead were rotten. That seems to be the usual story with other Maestros and Montegos I've had that dump coolant into the foot well. It was therefore a nice surprise to find that it was a leaking gasket that sits between said pipes and the matrix. Hmm...I wonder if you can still get the gasket? Cue the Rimmer Brothers website, and; a lifetime supply ordered (enough for my other examples) at around three quid each. Leak cured, dashboard back in. It's pretty much ready to escape the garage!

[Austin-Rover]

...but before it comes out of the garage, it could probably do with an oil change, especially as there was yet another Euro Car Parts discount code over the bank holiday. A filter and a bottle of Castrol Magnatec for just over 20 quid was fine by me!

Yesterday after work, the driveway was re-arranged and it's now out and awaiting a good clean and polish. I've got an MoT booked for it on Saturday 8th September. Fingers crossed!

 

 

[Squire_Dawson]

 

I've got an MoT booked for it on Saturday 8th September.

 

Good luck old chum