The Bugatti Royale disastrous? I'd love one!
They sold three. If I was selling DVDs at a car boot sale I'd consider that disastrous. They were selling luxury sedans that they'd paid a fortune to design and build.
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AngryJonny (was E34kid)
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and I always wanted a Lancia Beta Coupe ....
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Trouble with the Porsche 914 is that it's hideous. Rusted too. But a good one would be an excellent car even with the VW engine. It's all very well for Porsche to carp about the association with VW but without VW Porsche would not have even begun let alone survived. Bugati Royale is a wonderful monster, not for the citizen. Chevrolet Corvair is a genuine American classic, especially the late versions with improved handling. It's precious just because it was suppressed in the way it was by the villain Nader. Bet it makes a nice noise too.
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You won't hear me say anything bad about Maestros - ESPECIALLY vans!!
& the MG Turbo was a VERRRRRRRRRY rapid car!!
VB
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I can just see me in a Pontiac Aztec.
The XJ220 is the most beautiful thing on four wheels, it?s just gorgeous. How many horse power did that 3.5 litre V6 have out of interest?
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Needlessly rude about the Maestro. Fine handling and ride were a feature, cracking diesels sold by the bucketfull.
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The problem with the Maestro was that it suffered the same fate as the SD1 and 800 - Austin Rover used their first batch of customers to finish off testing the things. Later ones were actually quite good cars but reputations stick. However the Maestro also suffered from a desperate lack of any kind of design interest and also bad paintwork. The diesels were good although very noisy even in their day compared to PSA units.
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A friend still runs a G reg Maestro turbo. Very nice car, specially in BRG metallic.
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"Very nice car, specially in BRG metallic".
Do not agree. One of the worst cars ever.
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We are all entitled to opinions. Early cars were carp, but later ones much better. Surprisingly powerful for their time too.
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I seem to remember that the MG Maestro 2.0 EFI was the best bet: the original 1600 was a disaster and some Turbos went wrong.
I presume that nearly all have gone now to the great rust-heap in the sky.
The second car I ever owned was an MG 1100, followed by an MG 1300: there were those who said that the saloons weren't "real" MGs - but it's worth remembering that the first MG was a hotted-up Bullnose Morris. The sports cars came a few years later.
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I had a Maestro. 1983 1.6HLS. It had a lot of room inside, and after the shock absorbers failed in the first 1000 miles and were replaced, it rode and handled well. Very well in fact.
But it was a dog, appalingly built and leasing company gave up on it after a the third in a row £600 service bill at 60,000 miles. A complete shed. It went in for one repair - wont start, ready at end of day and guess what? they couldnt get it started.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Myn first work van was a j reg maestro. An amazing little thing that went on and on. Other than dated styling couldnt and still cant fault it.
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If Bugatti the Royale was a disaster then the Veyron must surely be another!
I admire the Veyron as a technical achievement, a kind of 'beat that' gesture to other car makers but that is all it is.
Boy racers fit bodykits, noisy exhausts and big daisy alloys to their chavmobile Corsas and Saxos and are ridiculed by 'serious' enthusiasts who then rave about ultra high performance cars that are, arguably, even more pointless than the modded Corsas and Saxos!!
cheers, SS
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If Bugatti the Royale was a disaster then the Veyron must surely be another! I admire the Veyron as a technical achievement, a kind of 'beat that' gesture to other car makers but that is all it is. Boy racers fit bodykits, noisy exhausts and big daisy alloys to their chavmobile Corsas and Saxos and are ridiculed by 'serious' enthusiasts who then rave about ultra high performance cars that are, arguably, even more pointless than the modded Corsas and Saxos!!
Bugatti Royale was from a different era and lost money although exquisite in a lorry-like way (Bugatti was no good at marketing). Wonderful though it undoubtedly is, the Veyron is not a practical road machine. Just look at the size of it. Same applies to a lot of fairly recent Ferraris (can't keep up with the 'model sequence'!), seven feet wide with absurd wings and the like, lumbering cautiously around in the traffic... when do you ever see or hear one of these being just slightly unleashed? Frankly I don't agree that these wagons appeal to 'serious enthusiasts'. There are cars that are right and cars that aren't. Very few of the latter can be regarded as heroic failures. You can't compare a bewinged £250K monstrosity with say a late-30s 328 BMW or a proper early-50s lightweight Ferrari barchetta with a small V12 in front and solid back axle. Those are proper cars, and there are others.
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Myn first work van was a j reg maestro. An amazing little thing that went on and on. Other than dated styling couldnt and still cant fault it.
I know several peole who have had Maestro vans and been very pleased with them. People a few doors up still run one and, like yours, it's ancient but keeps on going.
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I presume that nearly all have gone now to the great rust-heap in the sky.
Think you may be right did a search on Auto trader NO Maesro's for sale, just 1 Montego
Did a similar search on ebay 2 maetro's 1 very low mileage but even so the doors are rotten
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FWIW, I had a Beta HPE, and it was wonderful. It was a delight to drive, had a lovely cabin and controls, and was surprisingly practical. Reliable, too - more so than the VW that succeeded it.
As I read elsewhere, if anyone else had made it, it would have sold like hot cakes...
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I had an HPE as well. Not only was it all the above it didn't have a spot of rust on it anywhere. Like a fool, I sold it to a guy who spotted it in the street and told me to name my price!
Bugatti may have had problems selling the Royales but he was probably a victim of politics and world economic conditions at the time. At least he gave customers what they were expecting, which is more than can be said for the Jaguar XJ220 - a travesty of the original specification that needed extensive upgrading and improvement work, even to the brakes, when brand new. Not long ago I saw one desperate owner asking less than 80k on Ebay for what was originally supposed to be a 400k 'investment'.
Incidentally, Bugatti didn't actually use spare Type 41 engines for French railcars, the company deliberately built a whole series that were used successfully until comparatively recent times.
Like I said, don't necessarily believe all you read on Friday, 13th...
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