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Maestro, please. - And Again


vulgalour
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6 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Fackin oops.

 

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My goal was not to buy any more cars but with the Lanchester out of action while we work through it and make it safe to use, and the Princess out of action and needing the engine to be removed (a job I am procrastinating about, and when I'm motivated am thwarted by schedule and weather conflicts) it was getting more obvious that I needed some personal transport.  Something basic and reliable that I know my way around, that's going to be cheap to buy and run.  This is an ideal candidate, on paper.

Whether I really can just use it as An Car or will end up getting all finicky about making it nice remains to be seen.  I just want some hasslefree pootling for a few months and normally Maestros are just that.

See this is what happens when you make your end of year tat account before December/the end of the year! :mrgreen:

 

on a more serious note, I look forward to your posts on it :) 

I dont think there are many Maestro's on the forum? so will make for an interesting read :) 

and A series powered FTW I still really want to drive something A or B series powered,

(if we did not have bloody ULEZ id have shown the for sale listing to my mum and see if I could convince her to buy it for getting to work and back :) )

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11 minutes ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

The Maestro would have felt at home in that car park when it was new.  Spice Hut was a Happy Eater then. And yes as you suspect a lot nearer Buckingham than Nottingham.

And even closer to Milton Keynes on the A422 behind the now Esso garage/ carwash.

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5 hours ago, vulgalour said:

I don't know where Spice Hut is, I suspect not Nottingham since the car is coming from Buckingham.

Ah, I had assumed that building was the place that used to be a little chef at the top of detling hill with you being maidstone way.

After a closer look, clearly not!

Mind you, been years since I was that way.

Well done on the maestro.

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6 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I'm interested as to how a 180K-mile A-series is going to hold up as a daily runner.  Mind you, apart from increased oil consumption A-serieses seem to just keep on going.

Just fine. They get a bit knocky on the bottom end when cold, smoke like a tramp steamer and have crummy hot oil pressure but so long as it's got coolant and oil it'll soldier on to 250-300k before needing major remedial work. The later 80's ones had significant improvements in metallurgy compared to the 60's and 70's ones.

Phil

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Excellent!  I was thinking about this car a lot yesterday.

In 2000, we went on a family holiday to Orkney - I was 12.  Stromness Car Hire specifically promised a 'brand new Renault' to my Dad.  We get off the ferry and... nope.  Of course, at this point you're over a barrel.

1.3 Maestro in red, E-reg - just like this one.

It really was an utter pile.  Dad reversed it into a concrete pillar ('oh well, that's at least knocked some rust off') and we had a song about how shit it was.  I thought it was brilliant and for the three weeks we were there, it took us everywhere we needed to go, reliably and economically.  Seeing this one has brought that holiday back and I'm really glad that somebody has taken this on.  It's  brilliant.

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9 hours ago, Ben_O said:

Ah, I had assumed that building was the place that used to be a little chef at the top of detling hill with you being maidstone way.

After a closer look, clearly not!

Mind you, been years since I was that way.

Well done on the maestro.

Give it time, it might end up there one day. 

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