abingdon

[tony]

i was talking to someone the other day and he was saying about a company at abingdon or called abingdon that did some austin metro and montego conversions ,can anybody shed any light on this ?anyone know of a website?can anybody help?







getting men in space-its not rocket science you know

[tony]

i have just seen this on e bay item no 2418043369

[matthewsemple]

I have never heard of Abingdon but there was a company called Crayford that did conversions of the AD016 - Morris, Austin and MG 1100/1300 and they also did a convertible Austin Allegro - so perhaps they did your Montego!

More likely your conversion was done by Top Hat Coachwork Conversions. This company produced a cabriolet version of the MG Metro and I have a picture of one that has an anti-roll bar and hood cover with poppers on rather like the pictures I have seen of your car. Also the car has cheesegrater alloys which were fitted to the MG Metro in 1984/85 when your car was built so the same era.

I'll scan it post it up when I get a chance

[matthewsemple]

I have just had a look at that ebay auction and posted the pictures. This conversion is different from the Top Hat one which is more open and does not have the rear window surrounds.

This one is a Metro turbo and so quite an interesting car. The auction has ended but the reserve was not met even though the highest bid was £370 - I wonder if the vendor sold it to the highest bidder?

[matthewsemple]

Rear of same car:

[topgear]

Nice idea, but i have to say that metro looks awful! Really doesnt suit it!

[D87 SMW]

Maestro Maestro Maestro. I have seen Monty Cabrios, and this Metro, but why not the Maesty? :( :banghead: :rolleyes:

[tony]

the maestro is like royalty and just rises above it all:p

[topgear]

good point that one.. why not? Although, maybe its a good thing, i may be wrong, but that conversion just doesnt suit that metro, and it might wreck the image of the maestro. Looks great on a montego though cuz the proportion matches it somehow!

Of course you could just accidently make your sunroof a little larger? :eek:

[D87 SMW]

If I had one to start with. :laugh: Although I could just 'accidently' do this while installing one! :laugh:

[topgear]

sounds like a plan to me! :) How about installing three on a row in the roof? Best of both worlds then!

By the way, has anyone every considered adding air conditioning to the maestro? Im presuming its far too complex to even think about doing?

Its either that or do away with the windscreen, which lets face it would solve a lot of problems! lol.

[Austin-Rover]

you could try those long, full length sunroofs that British Leyland used to fit to Princesses and 1100's. I think one of those would go well on the Maestro without spoiling its looks.

It would certainly stop any problems you would have with sagging headlining!

:laugh:

[tony]

if u take the windscreen out we can deal with the rust round the screen:p ,aircon it must be fitable as it was fitted to export montegos to the hot countrys like the middle east whethere it can be done her is somethink else possible robbing it out of rover 200/400?

[matthewsemple]

The Top Hat conversion that I refered to earlier looks better than that Abingdon one - I'll have to scan that picture and post it up.

The main problem I see with these coversions is that the Maestro and Montego are four door cars with framed doors so you cannot get that completely open look. The Top Hat one is better because it has no rear window frames - not sure what it looks like with the hood up.

The question of why the Maestro did not get a conversion is similar to why the MG Maestro almost didn't get a Turbo charged version even though an MG Maestro Turbo in 1985 would have been a huge success for Austin Rover. There is no logical answer. The MG Maestro was the most convincing Hot Hatch they produced - but it wasn't developed as much as teh Metro and Montego - makes no sense!

Instead they waited until the MG versions were about to be discontinued and after the Rover 200/400 models were launched which was pretty silly. Pure speculation but as the MG Montego turbo sold around 7000 examples, the Maestro Turbo would have sold at least 15,000 if it had been in production for the same amount of time - but all we got was 504 plus the 2.0i which was converted to a Turbo for the 1988 Motorshow.

[tony]

did they do just over 500 maestro so they can quailfy for rallying?

[Jonathan]

I don't think small cars are that well suited to cabriolet conversions either, they very rarely manage to look attractive.

But what about the Maestro? This is what a chopped version could look like if it were technically possible. Perhaps it is, to the best of my knowledge it's never been tried. Artwork by Simon / Agony Uncle - get your colouring pencils out :)

[matthewsemple]

Originally posted by tony
did they do just over 500 maestro so they can quailfy for rallying?

505 MG Maestro Turbos were built because they couldn't sell any more. Some of the 505 were registered on J-plates even though the last one was built in November 1989

I reckon that they would have built nore and it wasn't supposed to be a limited edition. I have a price list for 1989 limited editions which lists cars like the Maestro Advantage, but not the MG Maestro Turbo.

Also Tickford built 1500 kits - three for each car. This wasn't done to have plenty of spares. Instead expected higher demand.

Another theory is that MG Maestro Turbos were put into production to get rid of the old engines before the ERIC unleaded approved engine was put into the Montego. No Maestro turbo ever had official UL approval.

[matthewsemple]

Originally posted by RDGelder
you could try those long, full length sunroofs that British Leyland used to fit to Princesses and 1100's. :laugh:

Like the Webasto roof that was popular on MG BGTs

[matthewsemple]

Originally posted by D428CHO
But what about the Maestro? This is what a chopped version could look like if it were technically possible.

That image looks great and if they had built one I would definitely have bought one by now!

Aftermarket conversions have never been that neat. Think of the Baur conversion of the Mk1 B*W 3-series compared to the full production version. There are always several problems that only a manufacturer can cure at production stage:

1. frameless doors
2. rigity of body
3. proper hood with waterproofing
4. neat stowing of hood

All the conversions of saloons into cabrios overcome these problems by having huge compromises and cars that are not fully open.

The Rover 100 and 200 cabrios are more successful but the 100 in particular cost about £12,000 - nearly twice the price of the basic 100. They took 4 days to produce and they had to be built by hand. Most mass-production cars take about 6-8 hours to produce.


http://www.rover100.co.uk/cabrio_4.JPG

http://www.rover100.co.uk/cabrio_hood.JPG

http://www.rover100.co.uk/cabrio.jpg

Pictures from www.rover100.co.uk - great site well designed and researched.

[D87 SMW]

Here's my version of the Maestro cabrio... (obviously not finished yet) :laugh:

[e692wtt]

How do you get in via the rear doors except limboing under the front part of the roof? Only kidding.

Crayford seemed to do pretty well with their Ford Cortina conversions, with respect to rigidity, toughness etc, so many of the above problems can be overcome if the original design is ok... the Baur BMW retained a 'T-bar' which was reinforced, which is a cop-out to avoid massively upgrading the chassis to make it much stiffer.

Crayford attempted to make a convertible Allegro, but had massive problems achieving ANY rigidity at all, even after they had filled the sills with concrete. To be fair, though, one or two other companies managed to make a rigid Allegro convertible... but a rigid car is an essential prerequisite.

I remember seeing a convertible Corsair, and the cracks in the side of the car where the rear ends of the rear passenger doors had been welded up , in an attempt to convert the car to 2-door and thus more rigid, was a sight to behold!

Happy days...

The other other Rich.:laugh:

[matthewsemple]

If I was making a Maestro convertible, I'd probably start with a van which is already a two door and is a bit longer so a full foor seater could be made and a large boot/hood stowage area created. Clearly this would take much work and welding new panels in.

You could put MG Metro seats in the front to enable entrance to the rear and then a Montego bench seat in the rear with the nice centre arm rest. Or maybe leather seats from a Metro GSi/Vanden Plas and Montego GSi or Vanden Plas. This would be a bit more waterproof.

I think a roll-bar is just about acceptable if the car bas frameless doors. However creating frameless doors would be a right headache.

Lots of obstacles:banghead: