Today I shall be mostly reminiscing about...

[Cavcraft]

...Maestros.

 

Were they really as bad as some people painted them?

 

I say no. They were cheap, pretty reliable and (because BL Rover Austin MG's R&D department was just a cupboard full of dust) a decent successor to the Allegro and Maxi. They didn't set the world on fire but what car in that class ever really did?

Few models to chose from ranging between the ultimate minegbag spec to a tasty turbo with an MG variant to re-enact the best of badge engineering which AR where so famous for back in good old days.

Personally found the 1.3 and 1.6 to be decent enough to be used everyday and the shape is unique, you couldn't mistake one if you tried. I even had one that had a special passenger seat that swivelled round to face the pavement for disabled passengers. I loved the way even some plastic bits used to look rusty, nice brown streaks ala Montego rear wings for comedy effect.

 

Had about four from memory only one of which was broken for spares and that (sadly) was only really because it was worth more in bits at the time. Never had a breakdown or major problem and due to the shape of the wheelarches when (not if) they went rusty they were a piece of cake to fibreglass/filler/lollipop stick then paint over.

Five doors, decent sized interior and boot and the ability to be completely ignored by badge snobs which is no bad thing.

Had a 1.3 van with a four speed box that I loved to bits and trying to race a TD hatchback in my Cavalier SRi and having my arse handed to me on a plate was one of things I'll never forget.

Long live the Maestro: cheap motoring for the masses at it's best.

 

*pictures to follow.

[CreepingJesus]

Never understood the popularity of these things. It seemed to me, that all the ones I came across in the trade, at the time, were rusty, crusty, faded and generally unlovely. Given that the TD had quite a few fans, I still find it hard to have much love for them.

That and every Motability one I ever worked one smelled faintly of wee and/or lavender.

[Pete-M]

I dislike Maestros, but the MG EFi jobs were quite nice things to drive - if not to look at. Huge inside, too.

 

Part of my dislike of the things comes from working for a place that had a small number of 1.3 automatics, the other part of my dislike is because I find the Maestro wilfully ugly.

 

The 1.3 autos featured a manual choke, which didn't have a lot of fine control so when cold they'd either splutter and cut out constantly or idle at 4500 rpm. Selecting drive meant either a couple of minutes trying to get the bloody thing to start again, or trying to reverse out of a crowded garage at 40 mph whilst stamping furiously on the brake pedal trying to slow the bloody thing down. This was the only time the autos would actually go well, rest of the time they were sluggish and 'orrible.

 

Quite liked the late spec 'Rover' Montegos. Wouldn't buy one, but they're not terrible things.

[Shep Shepherd]

As a fan of late 20th century industrial design and 'folded paper' car designs, I find that the exterior style of the Maestro appeals to my aesthetic sensibilities, so I'd entertain owning one for that reason alone

[Guest]

Weren't these the cars we sold TKD to Iran?

There were a load untouched and someone bought them back to the UK and was seling them brand new/built fro £3.5k or something 15 years?

[Pete-M]

Weren't these the cars we sold TKD to Iran?

There were a load untouched and someone bought them back to the UK and was seling them brand new/built fro £3.5k or something 15 years?

 

Bulgaria methinks. Someone on 'ere was flogging one lately, a Ledbury Maestro.

[richardthestag]

Quite liked the late spec 'Rover' Montegos. Wouldn't buy one, but they're not terrible things.

 

My pop had a MG Montego, nice enough thing if a little dated and gimmicky. It was quick and comfy though and used to shed trim parts with absolutley no provocation whatsoever.

 

I don't mind Maestro's and would probably take a closer look at one at a show (but don't tell 944morris dude on Pratical Classics website) but have no desire to own one, unlike an auto 1.3 Marina you never forget your first lesson in cronic understeer

 

p.s. fugging hell Pete - Camberwell carrot anyone? Going to have to watch that again now

 

comments>

[scooters]

they represent good daily shite....I would't have had one new bout would welcome one as a cheap daily -

 

like so many of this class of car they seem to fall into 2 camps -

 

shagged ones bought and not maintained

 

and mint ones bought and maintained impecabbly

 

Torsten is the resident expert!

[MK5 Escort]

The best Maestro's in my opinion were the early ones. The likes of the HLE’s and MG's. The later ones had those awful part metal half-bumpers which shown the valances and the rust… They have a very distinct budget, utilitarian feel about them. I wouldn't mind a spin around in a Ledbury example though... Ideal 'modern(ish)' car for an autoshiteist!

 

I thought it looked pretty good from the front but it was pretty ugly from every other angle. The back has always looked awkward to me and I don't like the way the rear lights jut-out at the sides. The Montego was a much prettier car in my eyes.

 

A gardener cousin of mine with his own gardening business started off (going back about twelve years) with an ex-waterboard G reg Maestro van. White top with the bottom third painted blue with grey plastic seats. He was perfectly happy with it and in the three years or so he had it, it didn't give him a moments grief to his surprise. No, it didn’t set the world alight and it had the usual rust scabs but mechanically it kept on going to it's credit.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

I would love a late 2.0TD. I think it'd make a great 'anti' car, they have no mainstream appeal at all - it'd just engender reactions along the lines of "what on earth are you driving that for?"

Fitted with an intercooler and the pump wound up, it'd be quite quick too.

[scooters]

you know....I do get a semi for a brown Montego Countryman with rusty rear arches...proper vicar's motor!

[trigger]

I've drove dozens of them over the years, I was never a fan, I found them uncomfortable and to have a alfuw gear change, When ever i see one all i can see and rotten wheel arches, door bases and cracked bumpers and the smell of filler and driving along with a roof lining on my head.

 

I remember driving a BRG 2.0TD Countryman estate once that smoked like a train, I think the best one i drove was a J plate 2.0 GSi Estate, what was pretty decent.

 

We had a G reg 2.0D Van in one of my old jobs which was a ex-BT van, That was quite good fun but only because it was dieing so i used to rag it to death, It ended up sat in the yard for 5 years being used as a shed.

[face]

No real love for these here, apart from the MG versions. I'd love an original 1600MG one

 

[theorganist]

I had a 1990 Clubman Diesel when it was 8 years old. I bought it of an AA man for £1,600 which was the most I had ever spent on a car (I have only spent more than that once since!).

 

It went like a tank and would cruise at 70 all day. It was also very roomy and rode nicely. The engine seemed a lot more refined than the Orion diesel it replaced.

 

However it was very dull inside, grey everywhere!! Mine being the Clubman had the metal ones which went rusty and the corners did fall off.

 

After a couple of years of quite heavy use the electrics were giving up, the windscreen wipers would only work if you waited with the engine running for ten minutes, although I did find that jiggling some of the relays around set them off and the headlights stopped working. I had to use a screwdriver to adjust the heater as the lever had fallen and at the end the drivers seat started reclining on its own accord, rather startling when you are doing 70 on the motorway!!

 

However I wouldn't mind one with the plastic bumpers and in a "strong" colour, particularly an earlier one, or maybe a Turbo Diesel.

[ProgRocker]

In the early 1990s we became a 2 Maestro family.

 

My parents bought an early 1983 MG Maestro 1600 in 1988.It was just like the one in face's post. It had above average reliabilty, apparently. The voice synthesiser would indicate of problems such as low oil and low fuel when it wasn't the case. A few seconds after the engine is switched on, there would be a *BING BONG* & Nicolette Mckenzie nannying us to "Please fasten your seat belt". The digital dashboard would not illuminate on hot summer days. It was a good car for the 5 years they had it.

 

In 1991 (?) my sister bought a blue 1987/8 E reg Maestro 1.6 Mayfair. Not quite a Vanden Plas but I thought it was a great car. Looked good with it's bright chrome on the outside. Only real problem with it was the alarm kept draining the juice from the battery.

[freebird]

Never had the car but i was given a brand new H plater van to replace the Ital van I had ragged the arse off and made "uneconomic to repair."

Brilliant van, it was the facelift model, better seats, chunkier steering wheel than the earlier models, it drove beautifully. The little A series was very willing and frugal, seriously comfortable and, yet again, i cant, for the life of me, understand how Fords managed to outsell their rival with a model, in no way, better than the lil Maestro van. Compared to that Ital, it was like comparing a turd to a bar of gold.

My affair with her ended, some two years and 18,000 miles later when my job description changed and i had to go and swap it for a single wheel transit box van.

I suppose i was lucky really, the other guys had to swap theirs for Sherpas.....

Oh, Trigger, are you certain that the van was Ex BT? I never saw any Maestro Diesels on the fleet and we had them from C plate up to J plate when they went over to Escort diesel vans. If it deffo was ex BT, it was probably an "experimental" one that went on trial with the firm.

[trigger]

Oh, Trigger, are you certain that the van was Ex BT? I never saw any Maestro Diesels on the fleet and we had them from C plate up to J plate when they went over to Escort diesel vans. If it deffo was ex BT, it was probably an "experimental" one that went on trial with the firm.

 

I thought it was BT, It was yellow inside and badly painted white outside with all the BT racking still inside it, and it was 100% diesel, It belonged to our works electrician first before my boss bought it cheap as a runabout.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Maestros certainly weren't bad cars, but the 1600 MG's were useless and that sodding electronic choke effort a disaster. The trouble with them was that although they were a big leap forward for BL, they weren't as good to drive as the Astra Mark 1 or Escort Mark 3 - the 1300 Astra would eat one for breakfast. In typical BL fashion they were launched with lots of problems - that choke, oil leaks, gearchange failure etc. Plus they were just a bit fuddy-duddy. But they were basicaly good, and the 2.0 MG was an excellent thing and easily as good to drive as a Golf GTi.

 

The Maestro vans were good - the 2.0D versions were epic.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I quite fancy a 1.3 metal-bumper maestro, just like Torstens in fact. I reckon theyre a really neat looking car, specially with the flush wheeltrims, David Bache ought to get a bit more credit than he does for this shape I reckon. The placca bumpers really ruin the look for me though as do the 14" wheels on the diesel and the MG stick-on bits.

 

Theres an M-reg (supa late!!) 1.3 at a dealer in Wigan, i'm half tempted to ring him up with an offer.

 

I wonder if a 1.4 K series conversion would ruin the 'old boy' character of the Maestro.

[mouseflakes]

My old pop bought his van off BT when he retired. I got to drive it a few times and thought it was great - the A-series seemed to pull it along quite nicely. If I needed a car right now, I'd certainly consider one.

[Cavcraft]

At least a K-series would be from the same stable but would it be worth it? I know they're a punchy little unit and I suppose the tax saving (i.e under 1500cc or whatever it is) is worth considering but are they that much better or quicker than the 1300 already fitted to a Maestro?

[meggersdog]

I've owned this 1.3L for over a year now.It sits on hard standing in a corner of my mate's field for months on end yet never fails to start.

 

Every now and then I give it a wash and polish then trundle around in it for a few days.Apart from oil and filter the only thing it needed was a steering column bush

[freebird]

Is my memory playing tricks or did my old van ( 1.3 ltr A+ ) have a 5 speed box? I could have sworn it did.

Trig, you could well be right, unless it was an old British Rail jobbie, they were identical yellow, the amount of times I used to wave at one coming towards me and found it wasnt one of "us..."

[Cavcraft]

Mine (a 'D' plater I think) was definately a four speed job.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Maelstroms used VW gearboxes, and BL used the Formel E Golf units and rebranded it 3+E for the 1.3 HLE iirc.

I never liked the tin bumpers - the plastic ones looked best to me, along with a good early colour like Opporto red metallic.

[Barry Cade]

I was thinking what to write, but this pic says it all...

 

[Father Ted]

...Maestros.

 

Were they really as bad as some people painted them?

No.

Rampant rust and saggy headlining aside they were perfectly capable cars. I had a beige one

And it was ace. Ran well, did good MPG, no one stole it, engine was a piece of piss to work on and it had a nice big boot.

Cost buttons, sold for the same.

[Father Ted]

Theres an M-reg (supa late!!) 1.3 at a dealer in Wigan, i'm half tempted to ring him up with an offer.

The grey one? Looks quite rough - I mean, not beyond your fixoration skilorz Im sure - but a decent Ledbury could be found for not a lot more.

[HillmanImp]

I remember when I was about 17 my mate borrowed his gran's Maestro and drove us into Worthing. I remember the shame as he pulled up at the side of a load of people with the Wu-Tang-Clan blaring out of the silver giffer spec Clubman D, when someone shouted out, 'Alwight Scotty' Bollocks.

 

Never driven one, don't really intend to if I am honest unless its a turbo which I understand had a 0-60 time of under 7 secs when new. That's pretty impressive.

[Rogue trader]

My first car was a Maestro when i passed my test at 17 in 1993 it was one of the first out an 83 Vanden Plas with the digi dash and voice and I loved it but it was my first car, engine bullet proof but bodywork a nightmare rear arches mainly auto choke was a pain in the arse aswell il try and find some pics.