F700 SUY

[Austin-Rover]

Some pictures from today of Tony's new MG Montego 2.0 EFi Estate - the one and only original Austin-Rover version.

Unfortunatley, we couldnt get it started - even with an interesting method devised by tony involving a towing bracket and his VDP Maestro! (No VDP's were harmed during the making of this photograph)

[Austin-Rover]

The colour is very rare Atlantic Blue, not usually applied to Montego's or Maestro's

[Austin-Rover]

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[Austin-Rover]

Oh yes....and not forgetting Tony's scrap car - bought on the same day. which is...err...a bit too good to scrap!

[MGTurbo]

My Efi Maestro was Atlantic blue. Didn't really like the colour though.

Gareth

[Alan the Vanner]

Too good to scrap? Too right! I haven't seen healthier looking rear wheel arches on a Monty since I went to Portugal!:laugh:

[G51 NAV]

Nice to see it's gone to a good home. Cars just don't get any rarer than 'one-off', which this is.

Good to see that it's still sporting its original wheels after all these years; it would have been oh-so-predictable for someone at some stage to have changed them for MG Montego cross-spokes and spoiled the originality of this very unique motor.

I haven't seen the car since it was photographed by MG Enthuisiast magazine soon after it was made. I know photos can be flattering but it's in much better condition than I expected; there are rougher-looking M-reg's round my part of the world!

Shame that the tailgate seems to have sustained some damage at some point (or is it just a bad reflection). Seeing MG 2.0i on the back of the tailgate looks odd, because it's not something you're used to seeing on the back of a Monty estate, but if any Montego estate rightfully deserves those revered letters on the back, then it's this one.

Good luck Tony; I will look forward to seeing it hopefully sometime in the future

[tony]

Originally posted by RDGelder
Oh yes....and not forgetting Tony's scrap car - bought on the same day. which is...err...a bit too good to scrap!
well you was right it was too nice to scrap and it has been saved now ,mot in a couple of day and likely to have a better life that i was going to give it:)

[matthewsemple]

I saw your little picture on another thread and recognised that plate "F700SUY" immediately and thought - could it be? And this thread confirms it is - wow! It is amazing that it is still alive and now with Tony - collector of ultra rare MG Montegos.

Atlantic Blue was available for about 18 months on E and F reg MG Maestros cars I believe. A rare colour like the Strata Grey. The rationalised colour scheme on post facelifted cars (BRG, Red, Black, White) enable Rover to produce less of the colour coded parts like the mirror covers and the grilles which saved money, apparently. This was about the time the red belts and carpets went after the bean counters put in their twopenny worth.

We are seeing it again with the faclifted 75s and ZTs. And have you noticed how the engine size badges have disappeared from 75s flanks? I digress...

... looking forward to seeing you Monty estate at shows thsi year - is it a seven seater?

[tony]

Originally posted by matthewsemple
I saw your little picture on another thread and recognised that plate "F700SUY" immediately and thought - could it be? And this thread confirms it is - wow! It is amazing that it is still alive and now with Tony - collector of ultra rare MG Montegos.

... looking forward to seeing you Monty estate at shows thsi year - is it a seven seater?

may not come out this year :eek: lots of work needed,and very little time,going to the mg day 2005 tho,montego 21st birthday.
no not a seven seat would have been nice:) .seven seat may have been a step too far with a mg estate :)

[tony]

just to show , there is still work happening, hears a updated pic

[SimonR]

Very nice, Tony! Have you got a new front end to go on, or didn't it ned it...?

What's happened to the engine?!

And, while I'm asking questions, what happened to the monty that you bought for scrap and then decided not to...?

Keep up the good work!

[tony]

What's happened to the engine?!


the engine that was in it had 135,000 miles on it and no compression , we whipped the head off there was a very bad lip on the top of the bore, so that engine was rested,


And, while I'm asking questions, what happened to the monty that you bought for scrap and then decided not to...?

The gold montego , was sold on to rich smith only to find some very bad bulkhead rot , so the engine came back from that car and it now ready to go in .
as for the body work i have stripped the front end down, treated rust, primed, painted and laquered and about to build it all back up with engine going in next weekend with some help.

:thumbup:

[e692wtt]

Ah, ‘Twig’ (from the registration number H153 TWG) the gold Montego 2.0 SLX… there’s a pic below of the hole in the bulkhead (yes, it reaches from near the bracing right to the inner wing!), and the sills were shot, there was no metal at the base of the A-posts and other ‘odd’ corrosion about the rear end.

And look at the carcass in the other pics – my mum ‘did’ the windscreen with a hammer, as therapy for having a scrap car there for, errm, too long (the screen was smashed anyway) and she felt much better for it! It was a reasonable request, I feel (he says, having taken the mickey for too long :laugh: ).

But ‘Twig’ lives on largely in Monty (3 resprayed doors, new dash and centre console, seats, electric mirrors and windows) and his heart will live on in F700 SUY of course…

But was he gold or silver? I am reliably informed that he was Pulsar Silver or Silver Birch or some such… looks more like ‘antique gold’ or some such shade to me. :laugh: There's an abandoned Maestro ...Surf near me in the same shade and the arguments have ensued again :banghead: .

[D87 SMW]

But was he gold or silver? I am reliably informed that he was Pulsar Silver or Silver Birch or some such… looks more like ‘antique gold’ or some such shade to me. :laugh: There's an abandoned Maestro ...Surf near me in the same shade and the arguments have ensued again :banghead: .

It doesn't look the same shade to me. This ...Surf must be that champange colour and Twig one of the aforementioned shades of silver.

'Bout time people saw the ...Surf ;)

(Photo courtesy of Austin-Rover.)

[e692wtt]

The ...Surf lives a few streets from me and has been sat there for a couple of months, apparently abandoned but taxed until 31:01:05. It is still, to my utter amazement, untouched, unvandalised and unmolested by passers-by (normally a patch of land opposite the car has a burnt out wreck on it a couple of times a year). It actually seems a 'proper' car in good condition.

Anyway, what colour was Twig? I will admit that I never really sussed it, I would say, as before, 'antique gold'-ish, but it doesn't really matter now as his carcass was dragged up my mum's drive in April.

I pulled out Twig's old boot seal from my back bedroom the other night, and while it had traces of paint on it I wouldn't have said it was silver paint.

So I dunno... I don't even think there's any of Twig's original colour visible on his doors which are now on Monty to check. Sorry! :laugh:


Poor Twig... how little we knew ye.

[ChrisM]

What's the law regarding rescuing the surf?

[MG MAL]

first you must prove that you have made all efforts to contact the registered owner, then you must contact the council and police . and then wait1

[Jonathan]

It's a bit of a frustrating siutuation actually, I looked into doing similarly with an abandoned MG Maestro 1600 many years ago. Most councils procedure is to issue owners of abandoned cars with a notice that unless moved they will be towed off and dealt with in the usual manner. Legally almost everythng has an owner and if every effort to contact the proper owner fails then the car would become the property of the council so just taking it home is still going to be theft. And if you do get the council or salvage yard to sell it to you I would think that getting it registered with DVLA might be interesting. It all seems a bit risky and complicated.