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MG Maestro Turbo 96/505
My wife and I owned many fuel-injected MG Maestros over the years, always impressed by the sporty yet functional package they offered: fun when driven hard but able to carry five adults plus luggage on holidays with economical ease. We brought our son Ben home from hospital in one 22 years ago, so I suppose we are long-standing fans! I always wanted one of the rare turbocharged versions: 0-60 in 6.7 seconds and 130 m.p.h. top speed made them an interesting drive. The bodykit fitted to all MG Maestro Turbos from new by Tickford is not to everyone’s taste, but I think it looks good. The acceleration figures made the MG Maestro Turbo quicker than many rivals in the 80s. Advertising at the time billed them correctly as “Faster than a Ferrari,a Porsche, a Lamborghini a Lotus an Aston…”I realised my dream when I bought a red one in need of restoration in 2000. I learnt to weld and got the car in to good shape, enjoying it for a couple of years before selling it.
I had always fancied a black MG Maestro Turbo, as they only made 49 in this colour and I think it looks great, so I just had to view one I saw locally for sale back in 2002 with only a little over 50000 miles on the clock. I paid the princely sum of £550 for the car, which had been standing on a driveway for the previous 18 months. It didn’t look too bad but wouldn’t start as the electronic control unit had failed. Having towed the car home I was able to assess its restoration needs.
The turbocharger had been replaced not too many miles before and the car had been resprayed and some good second-hand doors fitted. This was because it had been stolen and recovered in the 90s. Where it had not rusted it still looked very nice! There were, however, some issues: water had got into the tailgate and the glass was no longer held in along its lower edge-there was just rusty metal and fresh air and you could wobble the glass in and out quite easily! The rear of the boot floor had therefore also rotted out-only really visible once the boot carpet was lifted-even more so with the fibreglass rear bumper removed. I was able to source a rust-free tailgate at a scrapyard and changed it from blue to black using aerosol cans (came out well!) I needed a driver’s door and front wing but was lucky enough to find replacements in scrapyards in the correct colour. They cost peanuts and just bolted on. The ever friendly and helpful Maestro Montego Owners Club found me a boot floor panel at a very good price and I unpicked the spot welds and plug-welded it in-easier than I expected. The only other welding was to the sills: the rear half of each outer sill needed replacement, so I bought one sill panel and cut it in half to do both sides. I also bought two front seats from another enthusiast as they were in excellent condition and my originals had some tears in them. When I first began to drive it there was an infuriating intermittent problem-the engine would die and leave me stranded every so often. Then I noticed it only happened when the fuel was low. It turned out that the fuel pick up pipe inside the fuel tank had rusted because the car had been parked nose-down on a sloping drive for so long, so when the fuel fell below the level of the pinhole air was sent to the engine instead of petrol. Once I realised what the issue was I solved it with a second-hand tank.
I have introduced subtle modifications:
Lower springs and uprated shock absorbers help with the handling and the suspension is polybushed throughout. The front brake discs are slotted and grooved and the flexible brake lines are braided stainless steel. The wheels are from a Montego-they look the same but are half an inch wider with correspondingly wider tyres. The turbo and carburettor have been uprated to allow more boost and maintain the necessary fuel to air ratio. The intercooler is alloy not plastic and the exhaust is a bigger bore stainless steel system. Inside I have changed the manual sunroof control to an electrically operated one (again from a Montego) and put in wooden door cappings from a Vanden Plas Maestro instead of the original grey plastic originals (just a matter of personal taste I suppose!)
The car is great fun to drive and I use it from spring to autumn each year, “fettling” it as necessary in the winter months, when it lives in a nice dry garage. It has covered 69000 miles from new.
Photos courtesy of Rob Hawkins/MG Enthusiast magazine
Here is a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbIGw8buotY&feature=fvsr
Phil Pope
My wife and I owned many fuel-injected MG Maestros over the years, always impressed by the sporty yet functional package they offered: fun when driven hard but able to carry five adults plus luggage on holidays with economical ease. We brought our son Ben home from hospital in one 22 years ago, so I suppose we are long-standing fans! I always wanted one of the rare turbocharged versions: 0-60 in 6.7 seconds and 130 m.p.h. top speed made them an interesting drive. The bodykit fitted to all MG Maestro Turbos from new by Tickford is not to everyone’s taste, but I think it looks good. The acceleration figures made the MG Maestro Turbo quicker than many rivals in the 80s. Advertising at the time billed them correctly as “Faster than a Ferrari,a Porsche, a Lamborghini a Lotus an Aston…”I realised my dream when I bought a red one in need of restoration in 2000. I learnt to weld and got the car in to good shape, enjoying it for a couple of years before selling it.
I had always fancied a black MG Maestro Turbo, as they only made 49 in this colour and I think it looks great, so I just had to view one I saw locally for sale back in 2002 with only a little over 50000 miles on the clock. I paid the princely sum of £550 for the car, which had been standing on a driveway for the previous 18 months. It didn’t look too bad but wouldn’t start as the electronic control unit had failed. Having towed the car home I was able to assess its restoration needs.
The turbocharger had been replaced not too many miles before and the car had been resprayed and some good second-hand doors fitted. This was because it had been stolen and recovered in the 90s. Where it had not rusted it still looked very nice! There were, however, some issues: water had got into the tailgate and the glass was no longer held in along its lower edge-there was just rusty metal and fresh air and you could wobble the glass in and out quite easily! The rear of the boot floor had therefore also rotted out-only really visible once the boot carpet was lifted-even more so with the fibreglass rear bumper removed. I was able to source a rust-free tailgate at a scrapyard and changed it from blue to black using aerosol cans (came out well!) I needed a driver’s door and front wing but was lucky enough to find replacements in scrapyards in the correct colour. They cost peanuts and just bolted on. The ever friendly and helpful Maestro Montego Owners Club found me a boot floor panel at a very good price and I unpicked the spot welds and plug-welded it in-easier than I expected. The only other welding was to the sills: the rear half of each outer sill needed replacement, so I bought one sill panel and cut it in half to do both sides. I also bought two front seats from another enthusiast as they were in excellent condition and my originals had some tears in them. When I first began to drive it there was an infuriating intermittent problem-the engine would die and leave me stranded every so often. Then I noticed it only happened when the fuel was low. It turned out that the fuel pick up pipe inside the fuel tank had rusted because the car had been parked nose-down on a sloping drive for so long, so when the fuel fell below the level of the pinhole air was sent to the engine instead of petrol. Once I realised what the issue was I solved it with a second-hand tank.
I have introduced subtle modifications:
Lower springs and uprated shock absorbers help with the handling and the suspension is polybushed throughout. The front brake discs are slotted and grooved and the flexible brake lines are braided stainless steel. The wheels are from a Montego-they look the same but are half an inch wider with correspondingly wider tyres. The turbo and carburettor have been uprated to allow more boost and maintain the necessary fuel to air ratio. The intercooler is alloy not plastic and the exhaust is a bigger bore stainless steel system. Inside I have changed the manual sunroof control to an electrically operated one (again from a Montego) and put in wooden door cappings from a Vanden Plas Maestro instead of the original grey plastic originals (just a matter of personal taste I suppose!)
The car is great fun to drive and I use it from spring to autumn each year, “fettling” it as necessary in the winter months, when it lives in a nice dry garage. It has covered 69000 miles from new.
Photos courtesy of Rob Hawkins/MG Enthusiast magazine
Here is a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbIGw8buotY&feature=fvsr
Phil Pope
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