Cars that just vanished. No.1: Montego.

[davocano]

Seen a few at shows but the last one I caught in the wild was back in 2012. Not diesel! 1.6 LX automatic.

[Shep Shepherd]

22 hours ago, Rovorsche said:

You can have the very last Montego if your pockets are deep and full.....

£7500 for an auto ?

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1176812

That turned up on the back of a beavertail in November at the scrap metal merchants on the estate in Shoeburyness where the company I work for is located. Even from a distance, I could tell that it was really nice and was genuinely concerned that they were going to frag it. I'm glad that they didn't, but nobody is going to be interested in buying it for the price that they're asking, not even hardcore Monstro fans.

I was going to find out how much they wanted for it, as I quite fancied it myself, but it disappeared from view just before Christmas and I've not seen it since.

[Jimbob McGregor]

I had a really nice BRG DLX TD estate. 1992 K plate that I bought from girlfriend’s aunt for £250 in 2002. Was a great car. Fast enough, a bit wooden chassis-wise but fantastic engine and economy coupled with space.

Regularly towed a large Ifor Williams horse trailer around Exmoor with it (that was pushing it a bit). It was just a great ‘jump in and drive anywhere’ car that was very reliable.

A few years prior I bought a H plate Maestro DLX with velour interior, PAS (oh yes) and electric windows etc that was a part-ex taken at the Rover dealer where my brother-in-law was a salesperson for £800 (7 years old).
I absolutely caned it everywhere. Did 30,000 miles in 11 months (as a student on year out working) at 48mpg, then I sold it for £750 having only replaced a tyre with a part-worn for a tenner, so cost me £60 depreciation with no repairs.

Bloke who bought it turned up in a Rolls Royce.

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Shep Shepherd said:

That turned up on the back of a beavertail in November at the scrap metal merchants on the estate in Shoeburyness where the company I work for is located. Even from a distance, I could tell that it was really nice and was genuinely concerned that they were going to frag it. I'm glad that they didn't, but nobody is going to be interested in buying it for the price that they're asking, not even hardcore Monstro fans.

I was going to find out how much they wanted for it, as I quite fancied it myself, but then it disappeared from view just before Christmas and I've not seen it since.

I’d love to have been at the discussion where they were deciding what to price it at. £7.50? £7.5 million? £7,500? Yeah that sounds about right...

[Shep Shepherd]

I was going to offer them £500, which is no doubt far more than they paid for it.

I reckon it would sell quickly if they reduced the asking price to £2000.

[Austin-Rover]

I've had five Montegos since 2003 (currently without one). They were mostly 1600s. One 1300 and one MG 2.0. Countless miles in them over the years. The earlier ones I found to be much better that anything post D reg. Later cars were built out of tinfoil and rusted very badly. The earlier cars that survived into the noughties were generally pretty good. That 1600 S Series was an excellent engine (oil leaks aside), and the 1300 A Series isn't as bad as you think (It's not much bigger than a Maestro after all - same bloody car!) Daily use does take its toll though, even with washing inside the arches and inside the door bottoms every single wash!

I'd have an 84/85 car again tomorrow, simply for the purity of design. The 'Rover' era ones are quite anonymous!

[Richard_FM]

I remember my Dad hired an estate Montego from Avis to do a long distance journey while his Cavalier was having a collapsed wheel bearing sorted out.

He reckoned the road handling wasn't as good as his Cavalier.

When I was on Rhodes in 1994 I was amused to see one as it was the only biggish British car I spotted while there.

[Vince70]

I remember my uncle splashing out on an automatic 2 litre HL back in the late 80s and the reason he bought it was because the auto box had an extra gear I think compared to the Cav and Sierra autos.

My dream Montego would be a very early turbo on a B plate preferably Black with the knight rider talking dash, A mate of mine had an early turbo and at the time nothing anyone else had could touch it and I think back then they were a rarity.

It did suffer from serious torque steer I was told but I think at the time I had an old ropey Truimph 2000 so didn’t know what torque steer was.

 

 

[beko1987]

I followed @cms206 for many miles on a motorway when we pulled away from the bus to open up the yard after sf18 (I didn't mean to, but he was leaving the convoy anyway and I was in the wrong lane for where we needed to be so I lost the convoy anyway)

It shifts nicely, and looked 100% fucking Bob on going down the road, looked great nestled amongst the modern saloons at 75

[cms206]

I adore Montegos. My current EFi Mayfair is only my second and it performed daily duties admirably until the water pump failed. To my shame I have not yet fixed it. 40-plus mpg easily from the 2.0 injected O-series on a run (think it was doing about 35mpg round the doors), spacious, comfortable and to me still one of the best looking 1980s saloons on the market at the time. Also compared to the Stellar it drives like a modern, it even handles.

The Mayfair is my second; I had about eighteen happy months with a J-reg Roverised 1.6LX (J714 MCK) saloon which was equally as good bar some electrical niggles - the passenger side electric window only worked with the lights off, for example - but it was quick, comfortable and 100% reliable.

 

I also had a Maestro, a 1.6L (E532 TYD). I fucking detested it.

[anonymous user]

I have never owned a Montego, but did point a mate in the direction of one when he was desperate for a car. It was pretty ropey and being sold by the friends of another friend who had been given a better car (back in those days I was more sociable and had friends). Mate paid £80 for it and used it for a few weeks until his engine change on his car was sorted. He stuck it in the freeads for £80 and sold it for £72.50 to three lads who intended to drive it back to Scotland as it was cheaper than train fare. (It made it). I went in it once, it had suffered the collapsed headlining, which had been cut out, so you got orange dandruff from the foam padding that had been under the fabric. At the time no worse than any other get you around cheap car.

[overrun]

On 1/30/2020 at 3:58 PM, NorfolkNWeigh said:

The fastest? D red 2.0i VdP estatethat had been a demo for Mototune , lowered, noisy exhaust, some sort of induction kit etc,

Was this the name of the company that used to advertise in the back of Max Power and the like?

I recall a luminous yellow Montego with ‘THE FULL MONTY’ in what looked like brush painting, on the lower half of the doors, and I know they were all tuned cars from that company.

I wonder if the BRG Maestro Turbo from Clarkson on Cars survives, too.

I have had very limited experience of Montego’s, but an EFi Maestro was the first car I saw ‘150’ in, as a passenger. E111 DAG.

I remember looking for a Maestro or Montego Turbo, must be ten years back now, as an idea for a runaround - zero.

[bigstraight6]

These things rusted so quickly and badly, I remember a company owned 1990 diesel estate that was rotted out almost everywhere by 1993. Awful bloody thing really, the only redeeming feature was the Perkins Prima engine....

[DeeJay]

I know this is about a Maestro and has been on here a few times but it's always worth a repeat.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMCFeoR9oSg

Especially when all the office staff came out to laugh at him.

[St.Jude]

On 1/30/2020 at 3:10 PM, sierraman said:

Didn’t Joe Sugden in Emmerdale have one? 

I think he did yes. Made famous with them gawking out of the windscreen with a flaming wing of a plane flying over it. 

Think it was a Countryman too. 

[Cookiesouwest]

Two Montego Countryman parked in a barn on the shepton malet to Glastonbury road. Although they look like are only held together by rust holding hands, one of them is often parked in a different place in the yard. Either it still runs or the owner likes to push it around sometimes