Tragic loss of lovely Maestro Mayfair

[mtamin]

God I'm depressed. At 3 o'clock on Saturday our much loved Maestro Mayfair Auto Azure blue 1.6 Auto with 49,000 on the clock was broken into and moved into the next road. Because they could not get the steering lock off they decided to syphon the petrol into the mint interior and set fire to it. Result one gutted car. Amazingly paint not damaged anywhere but obviously total wreck inside. A crying shame and a waste of a lovely vehicle which had given us much pleasure and been totally reliable. Will be very sadly missed and I doubt whether I will ever see another as nice as bodywork was SPOTLESS even on rear arches.

You may have seen us at the show in Peterborough last year which was the first and only show we have attended. Photograph of E825GRX was posted on the events section-thankyou to wheover took the photographs and paid us kind compliments on how well the car was turned out. Hopefully it will not be the last and I will return with another one day.

Sorry about all that.. just had to get it off my chest.

[Maria]

Oh no, that's really terrrible news. I remember that car so well from the show, parked with a similarly immaculate car, and remember being so impressed at the pair of them.

I can't believe one's gone :(

I don't suppose there's any chance of restoring the interior with second-hand parts, is there, if the paint's OK?

Is there any chance of catching the bastards that did it? It's no consolation, but it would be some revenge to see them get what they deserve.

[SimonR]

Huh, bad luck indeed. I really don't understand why someone would do that :(

What are your plans now? If you can't restore your car to its former glory then you could possibly save Topgear's VP from certain death. I have quite a few of the bits you'd need to do it including the all-important unleaded clyinder head.

Here's (http://pages.zoom.co.uk/wonkeydonkey/NenePark/Big/Maestro3.jpg) a picture of the car that I took in the summer. As you said it was in lovely condition and much admired.

[malcsmaesty]

That's absolutely awful news,such a fine example:(
no chance of an interior swap? i maybe even able to come and give you a hand:)

[H48HPE]

Its good luck if its not too bad, id'd definitely repair it if it was possible, if only to stick 2 fingers up at those that did it.

I must get round to completing the fitting of my alarm. my cars got a disklock on which is good but whats happened to that car wakes you up to what that sort of thieving scum is really like. I'd be gutted if it happened to me. when that happens to a car you've cherished its like losing a pet or member of the family. you have my sympothy. it has happend to one of my dads old cars (not a maestro though)

good luck , whatever you decide to do

Andy

[Beaker]

Sorry to hear about the car :( I hope they catch who ever did it, but in all likelihood they probably wont.

I hate to ask but are the chrome wing mirrors okay? I am after a set if the car is off to the scrapyard. They are very difficult to find of late.

Skatie

[Alan the Vanner]

Originally posted by H48HPE
Its good luck if its not too bad, id'd definitely repair it if it was possible, if only to stick 2 fingers up at those that did it.

I definately agree with you on that score!
I remember that scene in Christine when those thugs were suprised by Arnie's car running round after they had totalled it.
"If any s:censored: r came between him and Christine, watch out!"

[G51 NAV]

That's an absolute disgrace, but even if you could prove beyond reasonable doubt who had done it, from the Police's point of view what damage have they caused? £800 tops for your completely mint example? Not enough to get the perpetrators anything more than their wrists slapped and some community service.

Me? I'd chop their bloody fingers off. They wouldn't do it again, and if the punishments fitted the crimes in this laughable country of ours the criminals may well have thought twice about doing it in the first place! There's no real fear of persecution.

Of course while your car was getting vandalised the local bobbies were too busy hidden in lay-bys on empty A-roads in the middle of nowhere waiting to chase cars doing 10mph over the speed limit.

Makes my blood BOIL!!!:rage:

[Jonathan]

I'm not usually a believer in capital punishment but I think we've just found one offence that almost justifies it. What goes through the minds of these people?

Very sorry to hear about this, E825 GRX was indeed one very nice car when I saw it. :(

[E_T_V]

The question is will anyone one refit the interior? It can be done if you want to. Maybe with that one that was mentioned in gloucester :D

[D87 SMW]

Oh god, I'm really sorry to hear that.
I hope the bar-stewards who did it will feel as bad as we all do one day. How would they like it if it were to happen to their own car??
As H48 said, try and get it repaired and be proud of it. You cannot let a:censored:les' like that get away with it.
If I knew who it was, and saw them about, I'd likely run the b:censored:ard over. Or at least make him s:censored:it himself.
As G51 says, the punishments nowadays do not fit the crime. As a result of this, more and more crimes are occurring, and further to that, the Police don't want to deal with it. It's a viscious cirle, and it's getting wider all the time.
You are also unable to do anything yourself to combat this. If you were to smack, or do worse to these criminals, they cry out that they have their Human Rights... These people shouldn't have been born. They make me physically sick.

Sorry if that was O.T.T...

:mad:

[Dave]

Be quite careful messing around with the interior - after all that plastic has been burned there's some pretty nasty toxic stuff left. I know its a shame, but you may be safer just letting it go.

Sorry to here about this one.

Dave.:(

[MaestroMatt]

Terrible shame. It was a terrific example, and clearly kept in good hands by someone who wanted to keep it that way.

I have to concur with most of the above views on what should be done to the perpetrators. Nothing that a good lynch mob couldn't cure.


Matt

[mtamin]

Thankyou all sincerely for your kind remarks. It is really nice that those of you that saw E825GRX appreciated it as much as we did.
Although I personally would have had the inspiration to set about a rebuild of the interior, my wife (who drove it on a daily basis) felt that she would not feel quite the same about it after the fire and I am mindful of Dave's comments re the toxic nature of the plastics etc.
The last few days really has been a period of mourning daft as it sounds. Maestros eh? You gotta love em.

[mtamin]

Originally posted by Skatiechik
Sorry to hear about the car :( I hope they catch who ever did it, but in all likelihood they probably wont.

I hate to ask but are the chrome wing mirrors okay? I am after a set if the car is off to the scrapyard. They are very difficult to find of late.

Skatie

With regard to the mirrors they were fine but I do not have access to them as the car has been recovered pending insurance claim. I do however have some brand new ones boxed but they are for the electric versions and would require some disecting in order to fit as manual ones. Cost me £30 as spares but never used them.

[Maria]

We sold our Cavalier, Mr Frosty, who'd been with us for 150,000 miles and 4 years, recently, and both went through a period of "mourning" for him. It's silly, but I for one can't help getting attached to cars. :(

[Simon]

No surely not....oh and by the way, it's MR FROSTY to me!

What's Mr Frosty been replaced by/with?

:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Maria]

Oh god, you're going to hate this...

Meet Sam.

[D87 SMW]

Tut. Not a Fraud Mundano. :giveup: :horror: :nonono: :rolleyes:

[tony]

it will serve to remind you why you like your better cars ,should be a good towcar though:)

[Simon]

That's okay, I like the colour too. Looks like a Ghia? I had a Mondeo for 3 years (L reg bought at 2 years old). It was a 1.6 litre so it was very slow, but it was a GLX. Bit of a rare combination. It still lives quite locally to me and looked in excellent condition when I last saw it on Friday afternoon. Someone obviously looks after it well.
:)

[Maria]

Yes, it is a Ghia. Nice plush interior and some electrical gadgets. Best of all, it's only had 2 owners, one of which was Jaguar Cars, came with only 63k on the clock and FSH, and was a pretty good price at £2,300ish. The bodywork's in great condition, everything works, and yes, it should tow well.

Mr Frosty had some advantages over the Mondy. We miss the top tint windscreen and the useful storage spaces like big door bins, the recess above the glovebox and the ability to put things on the dashboard without them being flung across the car when cornering! :laugh: It'll be nice to have one less car to have to work on all the time though.

It's funny how you don't realise what you have until it's gone :(

I'll stop hijacking the thread now - sorry mtamin :o

[secubis3]

Sorry to hear about your loss. If it is any consolation we had ours vandalised recently. On the bright side I saw someone in the local area hanging around the cars looking a bit iffy, he is now feeling sorry for himself after what I did to him. So the next one I catch I will think of your loss and convay your regards to him.

[Sleepwalker]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Vandals. Absolutely disgusting. In Singapore it's always the Mercedes' and BMWs which get burnt. Because they are considered the better cars, and these people's mind are something which we fail to comprehend.

[SimonR]

Originally posted by secubis3
Sorry to hear about your loss. If it is any consolation we had ours vandalised recently. On the bright side I saw someone in the local area hanging around the cars looking a bit iffy, he is now feeling sorry for himself after what I did to him. So the next one I catch I will think of your loss and convay your regards to him.

I think I'd better post a picture of myself so that if I'm in Glasgow and you see me hanging around your Maestro you'll realise I'm just admiring it! I'm sure that my compulsion to check the mileage and condition of every 'exotic' maestro I see will land me in trouble some day! :)

Btw, mtamin: how's it going - have you heard about how damaged your Maestro is yet? or have you decided what to do with it?

[Beaker]

Originally posted by mtamin
With regard to the mirrors they were fine but I do not have access to them as the car has been recovered pending insurance claim. I do however have some brand new ones boxed but they are for the electric versions and would require some disecting in order to fit as manual ones. Cost me £30 as spares but never used them.

Yes I would love them please, if you want to part with them. I could possibly uprate my VDP with chrome electric mirrors, or has you say could convert them back to manual like my chrome ones now so as not to lose the authenticity.

Would the £30 you paid for them plus the postage be okay? I can be emailed on lindsey.smith@NOSPAMmaestro.org.uk (remove nospam bit).

Cheers

Lindsey

[Beaker]

Originally posted by F153JUE
I think I'd better post a picture of myself so that if I'm in Glasgow and you see me hanging around your Maestro you'll realise I'm just admiring it! I'm sure that my compulsion to check the mileage and condition of every 'exotic' maestro I see will land me in trouble some day! :)

I had better post mine as well :D As I always stop and look through the drivers window to see what mileage, etc is on it.

Lindsey

[secubis3]

Originally posted by Skatiechik
I had better post mine as well :D As I always stop and look through the drivers window to see what mileage, etc is on it.

Lindsey


No need to worry my fellow Maestro lovers, one can tell the difference between people who admire and those that lurk in the night time shadows. I would like to think that I would not have to do it again, coz it did upset me a bit!!! to think that people can cause such upset by their thoughtles actions to other peoples property.

[Austin-Rover]

Originally posted by secubis3
No need to worry my fellow Maestro lovers, one can tell the difference between people who admire and those that lurk in the night time shadows.

I go out of my way to park next to others i see when i am out and about. :laugh: Plus give them a once-over aswell!

[Maria]

I park by them where possible too.

[secubis3]

Originally posted by RDGelder
I go out of my way to park next to others i see when i am out and about. :laugh: Plus give them a once-over aswell!

Do you wave to other maestro drivers when you see them just like we do????

[Maria]

Only if they're looking. I once made a Maestro van driver pause to do a double-take with his sandwich halfway to his mouth when I passed him in the camper :laugh:

[mtamin]

Originally posted by F153JUE
I think I'd better post a picture of myself so that if I'm in Glasgow and you see me hanging around your Maestro you'll realise I'm just admiring it! I'm sure that my compulsion to check the mileage and condition of every 'exotic' maestro I see will land me in trouble some day! :)

Btw, mtamin: how's it going - have you heard about how damaged your Maestro is yet? or have you decided what to do with it?

Thanks for the interest. Although the damage is not too severe as regards bodywork (no fire damage only the usual hole punch above the door lock) I have been disuaded by my wife whose day to day car this was from attempting to repair the vehicle. I was extremely tempted especially as I am a bit of a dab hand with headlinings and have perfect spare doorcards and seats.The difficult bit for me would have been the dashboard and wiring repairs as I would not really have known whether wiring insulation was damaged or not which would have necessitated a new loom I guess. None of this would have been impossible but the sight of the burnt out car over a long period would have been pretty depressing on a day to day basis so I am decided to try and just remember the vehicle as it was and turn my energies into sourcing something else to take my mind off it. As the car was used all the time and my wife only drives automatics I will not be easily able to find a comparable replacement Maestro especially as it had power steering too. So I am having to go for the next one along in the history chain for now. I'm going to have a look at a Rover 216GSI auto tomorrow. Its not a beauty just a possibly cheap decent runabout with the features we need. And its cheap. We do still have a H reg Maestro LX (the sister car at the show as it were) which is nice but nowhere near as good as the one we have lost. I also saved a 1.6L in Lipari blue from the crusher for £30 and whilst badly faded its a very sound shell and only done £59,000 miles. Its in for MOT tomorrow so hopefully I'll be running around in that for a while. Chrome handdles too and a spot on headlining. No sunroof though - basic spec.
So I'm still flying the flag and If I do ever see a mint Maestro auto with power steering I'll be first in the queue to buy it.

[mtamin]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by secubis3
[B]Do you wave to other maestro drivers when you see them just lik


It depends if it looks like they love their Maestro or not. If they are mistreating their Maestro they should be reported to the RSPC something! Me I just leave them out in the cold to get burnt to death.

(sigh)

[mtamin]

Originally posted by Skatiechik
Yes I would love them please, if you want to part with them. I could possibly uprate my VDP with chrome electric mirrors, or has you say could convert them back to manual like my chrome ones now so as not to lose the authenticity.

Would the £30 you paid for them plus the postage be okay? I can be emailed on lindsey.smith@NOSPAMmaestro.org.uk (remove nospam bit).

Cheers

Lindsey

Yes that's fine Lindsey. You will be delighted with them as they are mint. Just give me a few days to mentally part with them and I'll email you. I'm not quite ready to give them up yet as I have not quite moved on from Mayfair as it were. I'm just sorry I won't be using them myself.

Type to you soon.

[mtamin]

Originally posted by Maria
Yes, it is a Ghia. Nice plush interior and some electrical gadgets. Best of all, it's only had 2 owners, one of which was Jaguar Cars, came with only 63k on the clock and FSH, and was a pretty good price at £2,300ish. The bodywork's in great condition, everything works, and yes, it should tow well.

Mr Frosty had some advantages over the Mondy. We miss the top tint windscreen and the useful storage spaces like big door bins, the recess above the glovebox and the ability to put things on the dashboard without them being flung across the car when cornering! :laugh: It'll be nice to have one less car to have to work on all the time though.

It's funny how you don't realise what you have until it's gone :(

I'll stop hijacking the thread now - sorry mtamin :o

Its ok Maria - this is my longest thread as a bit of a newbie so I guess some good has come out of it eh?

[mtamin]

Originally posted by RDGelder
I go out of my way to park next to others i see when i am out and about. :laugh: Plus give them a once-over aswell!

Heh heh me too! Glad I'm not the only prat that parks further from my destination just to be in good company. It drives my wife mad - "are you coming or not??!!" as I'm still surveying the greenhouse effect drooling over some rust-bucket.

[SubCat001]

Sorry to hear about the car. Dont understand how people can be so destructive??? :banghead: Maybe next time there out on the rob there get caught and get the hiding they deserve. I am sure your attention your lavish on your other Maestro's will do justice.