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I have a 70s fetish I think..
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My wife has a Maestro Perkins turbo diesel engine which she had new in 1993.
Still going strong with very little ever going wrong.
Apart from regular oil and filter changes the engine has never been touched.
Same injectors and glow plugs. Absolutely nothing touched.
Done all the maintenance myself and the only things changed are the battery, and one bottom swivel joint.
Replaced the radiator last year not because it was leaking but the matrix fins had virtually all gone.
Exhaust changed once.
Thirteen years old and starts on the first touch in any weather.
Coincidentally my brother had a Montego estate with the same engine in the same year as a company car. He bought it on retirement and has used it ever since travelling every day to his caravan park on a twenty mile round trip. Used as a tractor for grass mowers and the like and has never gone wrong. He has two other modern cars but still favours the old Montego with starship mileage.
No electronics or ECUs, just simple engineering and so easy to fix.
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That's nice to know - some of the last ever Austins - the ones with that splendid Perkins diesel engine anyway - harked back to the reliable Austins of old.
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I had one. A 1.6hls. 1983 vintage.
Handled very well indeed (after the leaking from new rear shocks were changed) with a ride similar to a french car. Super interior space, comfortable and quiet.
It was also the most appalingly made, unreliable heap of rubbish I ever had. In 1985 I had a 60,000 mile service bill of over 600 quid.
Mind you, the Touran is making me look at this with rose tinted specs...
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Your sense of humour keeps you going no doubt. By the way the girl in work's MK5 has the steering warning light glowing again.
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1983 - that would have been one of the early ones. That was one of BL's failings - selling work-in progress and expecting the customers to do the development work.
By the time they got to making Alvin's wife's and brother's cars they'd just about got it right.#
Are VW going down the same road I wonder? Something tells me, TVM, that your next car will be a Renault.
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selling work-in progress and expecting the customers to do the development work.
It's a shame that other makers followed their lead though !
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>>Your sense of humour keeps you going no doubt>>
What sense of humour would that be then?
By the way, I understand that TVM is thinking of entering it in the British Touran Car Championship...:)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I bought a brand new G-reg Maestro 2.0 diesel.
I was very pleased with it and was particularly delighted with the Perkins diesel engine.
I kept it for several happy years until I part exchanged it for a 3 year old J-reg XJ6; which turned out to be my best car ever (also most expensive).
When I presented my Maestro for part exchange, the dealer inspected it before acceptance. I had honestly declared the condition of the car on the phone, so I wasn't that worried. However, I was accused by the dealer of being some kind of cut & shunt merchant. He suggested that the vehicle (which I had owned from new) had been in an accident and 2 halves welded together. The reason why he thought that was the state of the paint finish underneath the car. I had noticed it was a bit wavy but assumed that all cars were like that. My response was to play the 'honest broker' and explain that I could not account for the paint finish but could say for sure that the vehicle had not been in an accident.
Happily, I managed to convince him of the car's bona fide and the deal went through, lubricated by my briefcase full of twenty pound notes.
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I am glad that the country is almost rid of these things.
They were not good cars, they suffered from the usual lack of development, mostly unreliable, were badly built and rusted at an alarming rate.
There were one or two highlights but generally within a sea of mediocrity.
RIP.
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I had a 1990 Montego as a company car, best wiper system to date, when swithched off the wipers parked themselves on a scuttle plate under the rear lip of the bonnet, they only moved onto the glass when turned on, even when the (variable) intermitent was in use they stayed on the screen between wipes and then parked themselves again when switched off.
I did 60,000 pleasurable miles in it, the only problem was a water leak, I left it with the dealer (Trident in Otttershaw, TVM will know them) while I was away for a week. When I got home the car was in the drive, over the next few days a did a good few hundred miles of hard driving before thinking that I should phone the dealer to find out what was wrong, "you have been taking it easy sir, the engine needs running in". The block was cracked, they had changed the engine under warranty, could have left me a note on the passenger seat though.
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When I used to work in Preston, there was a used car dealership which had a regular supply of nearly new Montegos - several of my work colleagues bought one and all were perfectly satisfied.
I still remember the Autocar road test just before it was launched (used to read the mag in the library) and it was full of praise for the Montego.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Had a Montego 1.6L in our family. 88 on an F plate, bought at 3 yrs old with 30k, stolen and written off at 7 years old with 95k (car thieves have no taste).
Cruelly underrated car. No less reliable than the Fords, VW's and Peugeots I've had since and went like stink for a 1.6 in such a big car.
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There's a 1991 model Montego on Autotrader at the moment with about 6K miles on it.
£1700 approx.
Don't all rush at once...
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IIRC, a certain ex moderator once had a Montego, but I don' t think he likes to talk about it ;o)
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everything in moderation i say......he will get over it when it rusts enough or the wheel bearingds go
again......................
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Seems they were sold in Ledbury until 2001:
"Parkway Service Station in Ledbury, Herefordshire ? made famous in the late 1990s for selling over 600 Maestro cars and vans that were originally destined for export - has ceased trading. Trans European Trading, who were based at the site, purchased a batch of cars and vans in kit form from Rover Group during the 1990's. They sold them from their premises in Ledbury from 1998 to 2001. In recent years, the town of Ledbury and Parkway Services has become synonymous with the Maestro and Montego enthusiast movement. Maestros sold by them (clearly identifiable by their unusual registration letters, 'R' to '51') have gained a loyal following for simple, reliable motoring and are highly prized by enthusiasts. Many Maestro and Montego owners have made use of the vast collection of new, old-stock spare parts left over after all the cars were sold"
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By the way, I understand that TVM is thinking of entering it in the British Touran Car Championship...:)
I would stuartli, but it would have to be one nearby or I woulndnt make the starting grid.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I had a 1.6 Montego from new for 4 months and around 7,000 miles.
In that time, the drivers side windscreen wiper broke, the silver peeled off all the wheeltrims and the engine electronic ignition failed due to a design fault letting water drip down the ignition lead into the ECU.
Oh and it started to rust in the sills.
Words fail me.
madf
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Your chance to buy a delivery mileage only Maestro, ex Gaydon Museum:
tinyurl.com/pwnts
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My family had a maestro, it was the 1.6 vanden plas. One night my dad parked it outside the unlocked garage, close so that the garage door could not open. In the morning the car had moved, but only a few feet and my mountain bike had been stolen! Maybe burgulars have some taste?
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£13,000 when new! Blimey, surprised anyone bought one back then, when you could have had a Golf/Vento/Passat diesel (admittedly with a smaller diesel engine) for less.
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Don't know here that price came from !. My wife's exactly the same car TD Clubman was £8080.00 new in 1993 with no trade in.
Perhaps trying to bump the price up at auction?.
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