Advance to Mayfair!

My experience of Austin/Rover Maestro's and Montego's stretches back to 8th August, 1988, and encompasses approximately 100,000 miles of these much-underrated cars. Previous to this date I used to run around in bangers (mainly BL), so I suppose it was nice to get behind the wheel of a relatively new car of my own. I chose a Maestro, having always admired their combination of (to me) purposeful good looks and versatility. A Montego followed this, then two more cars later, back to a Maestro again- this time a Mayfair- hence the title of this story.

Car No. 1 Austin Maestro 1.6 HL (B962 JNN)

This was first registered in January 1985, and at the time of purchase, was showing 34,000 miles at just over three and a half years old. It cost £3,000. The car was finished in Silver Leaf metallic, the only option specified, and had Ice Blue plain and moonstripe cloth trim, looking eye-catching and tasteful. This was the car that introduced me to the joys of Maestro ownership. Despite its age, when I got it, one of the first things which required rectification was the rear wheel arches and front windscreen pillar to roof panel joints, both of which showed signs of rust bubbling through. Fortunately the usual rubbing down, rust killer and re-spraying cured this effectively. The silver paint was very easy to match, for a metallic, the repair being truly invisible- my practice on old bangers had well and truly paid off! The fine appearance of the bodywork was to remain throughout my ownership of the car.

The performance was mixed, excellent cruising ability coupled with fantastic fuel economy, yet initial acceleration was always sadly lacking- as if the timing was out. I tried everything; from rotor arms all the way to ECU swaps and being accurately set-up by Crypton Tuning, but the problem refused to go away. The idling speed "hunted", cold starting was accompanied by either excessively slow or excessively fast idling speeds, and worst of all, the clutch developed a progressively worsening judder throughout ownership. However, all those problems disappeared at steady speeds, which is what the car did most of. The formation of a creamy emulsified oil coating inside the oil filler tube led to me fitting an Austin/Rover modification kit, including some insulated lagging to keep it warm- this was fitted as standard to later models, so the problem must have been widespread. I have always done my own servicing, and repairs including, on this car, my first ever timing belt change, and one of the biggest success stories was curing its high oil consumption by replacing the camshaft carrier cover gaskets.

Looking back to the late 1980's it is amusing to remember the accessories that I fitted, such as an "Audioline" digital display stereo (big mistake- pile of rubbish), a "Moss Electronic Security" remote control alarm (all the rage then), and a high-level third brake light which kept falling off the rear window, until I permanently fixed it with clear sanitary sealer (top tip!).The car, unfortunately, had two accidents- the first occurred when it was empty (I was at work) when some fool in a hired Montego (Ha!!) drove into the rear of it causing about £1900 worth of damage. This was repaired to a fantastic standard through the insurance, although the rear screen always leaked afterwards. The second accident occurred at 48,000 miles in October 1989 and was, unfortunately, terminal. This involved me colliding with a stray gypsy horse, which ran into my path on the Braintree By-Pass, rendering the car a total loss. I wrote it off for £2,600- look at the damage:

Despite the shell being not too badly mangled, they wrote the car off due to possible mechanical damage, which they said, would be difficult to assess properly. In actual fact, when I returned to the scrap yard where the Maestro was taken, I found that once stripped of outer panels, the shell was almost undamaged…. Oh well we live and learn.

The untimely loss of this car was a shock, because I was not planning to replace it for a couple of years and I had grown very fond of the Maestro, so the search was on for a replacement. Unfortunately, there was a distinct lack of suitable replacement Maestros that fitted into the Model/age/price parameters I had set (1.6 HL, HLS, Mayfair, VP; C-E reg. up to £4500 and 45,000 miles) but plenty of Montegos that were, as I discovered about my travels. This started me thinking seriously about Montegos- a change is as good as a rest after all, so the hunt was on and I ended up with:

Car No.2: Austin Montego 2.0 HL (E722 LYN)

This was first registered in London in January 1990, and was a one-owner company car from new. It was one of the duo-tone White Diamond over Hurricane Grey colour-coded examples, and had covered 40,000 miles, which was a little higher than I would have preferred, but the price was right at £3850. The car can be seen to the left in summer 1991. This Montego was an HL model, although it was much better equipped than the Maestro that it had replaced, featuring tilt and slide glass sunroof, central locking and power/heated door mirrors. Strangely, especially for a 2 litre model, power steering was not fitted, neither were electric windows- both, however were optional. I was impressed by the car's performance (although some lumpy idling and acceleration hesitancy was perceptible), economy and also luxury, but there were some niggles such as rattly sunroof blind, the mobile phone aerial permanently located on the rear of the roof, the steering, which was sensitive to "bump steer" and changes in camber of the road which was much improved although not totally cured by a change of front dampers and the peeling paint caused by surface corrosion behind the rear bumper, despite the car appearing to be accident free. This was to be my first touch-up job on the car; done this time with a thick coat of white smooth Hammerite (the area being virtually invisible anyway), which, I'm pleased to say, stood the test of time. The car remained relatively rust free during my three years of ownership, although the screen pillars, wheel arch to sill joints and leading edge of bonnet all needed a little work with the aerosol for an invisible and long- lasting repair. One rainy day I noticed that the nearside front window was plain whereas the remainder were tinted- this was to stay like it. As you can see from the photo, I fitted the later model front grille and bonnet badge for an updated look. I wanted to fit the genuine Rover rear spoiler, but I wasn't going to pay the £150 that the local dealer wanted for it, and they were unheard of in scrap yards then so I fitted a Richard Grant "Aero 1" accessory item which although much cheaper was much more inferior. I did fit the red reflective boot trim, however that made it look like a MG from the rear, and that was the effect that I wanted. I resisted fitting an alarm, because I figured out that they were gimmicks unless factory fitted. I had a top tint windscreen fitted, and that stopped a leak into the car, which was beginning to form. I've had these windscreens in my cars ever since-they work well for me in cutting out glare. Apart from routine maintenance, plus alternator, battery and water pump changes (with the inevitable timing belt renewal) those expecting major mechanical disasters will be disappointed, except for one fault which caused interesting symptoms of the sudden appearance of the oil warning light, coupled with a misfire. Uh-oh, big bill time? No, in fact the Lucar connector on the oil pressure switch was loose, and this also controls the electrical feed to the fuel pump. One squeeze with the pliers and everything was running smoothly once more. Another strange phenomenon was the car's appetite for upper steering column bushes-I fitted three in as many years due to excessive play developing. The inner column was as straight as a die, and smooth. I suppose it might have been an outer column fault, but it only took me minutes to change them.

A lot still to be learned about 'tasteful' upgrades in 1990!

This car remained extremely reliable and economical and was the opposite of what most ill informed people judgements were of Montego's-especially the press. Yes it was a good car, and in January 1993 with 88,000 miles on the clock, it was part exchanged for a 1990 low mileage Rover 214 16v finished in "oyster Beige" which was a colour that nobody liked except me. Once again this was 100% reliable. Was this anything to do with thorough DIY servicing perhaps? After 50,000 miles, this in turn was replaced by a Ford Mondeo 1.6GLX.5-door TRAITOR!! I was going to buy one of the Rover 214 SEi models with the alloy wheels and leather interiors, but at the time the Mondeo was the car to have, and I was impressed with all its goodies. Just in case you have forgotten what a Mondeo looks like (they are so rare after all) here is a picture of mine to drool over:

You can see that I mainly bought cars about 3 years old and kept them for 3 years, then trade them in to begin the cycle again. However this was to change as a direct result of Mondeo ownership because I decided that I'd had enough of cars that were too complex to fix at home without specialised computer diagnostic and rectification equipment. The Mondeo had numerous problems that I was unable to fix-including the dreaded catalytic converter, so it was time for big garage bills. Added to that was the sharp depreciation in its value, the general sluggishness of the car as a result of being a little over-bodied and also gradual realisation that I would have been better off with a Rover, led me to the conclusion that it was time for a cheaper, simpler car which would, as it were, put me back in control. When I learned that an Owners Club was being set up for the Maestro, and discovering that good ones were starting to be viewed as collectable, that was it-time for another! (Also time for 'er indoors to get a brand new Peugeot 306 Diesel).

This is my present car and had done 74,000 miles with its one owner, and is in good condition, except for the inevitable rusting around the rear wheel arches, especially the offside and the choked crankcase breather system which is causing oil leakage, most notably into the air filter housing. It was first registered in October 1988, and finished in Pulsar silver over Hurricane Grey-the metallic paint being the only optional extra specified. I missed the lack of power steering and electric windows after the Mondeo, but I appreciated the Maestro's increased performance and stability.

All the Ford's goodies had spoiled me a little, and being a bit of a gadget fan I set about the current task of upgrading the car, and the plan is to use as much of the Austin/Rover parts bin as possible. Unlike my earlier experience with Maestro's and Montego's where most of the desirable parts were at main dealer prices, today we can go to the scrap yard to raid the bin of much-valued add-ons at reasonable prices. The first thing that needed doing was the radio, which I replaced with a Philips RC578 RDS unit capable of having remote control and a 6 or 10 CD changer fitted, which I will add at some stage (The original wiring harness/plugs were retained, and an in-line adaptor was fitted). The illumination of this set matches the instruments perfectly- orange and green. I fitted a small active (built in amplifier) subwoofer unit (ahead of the centre console) for a little reinforcement of bass sounds. Recently, I have added electric window lifts to the front doors, the two power regulators and control unit coming from a scrap MG Montego. This all fitted easily due to my car being pre-wired for them, although the multi-plug terminals in the doors were corroded, and the regulator had to be adjusted so that the 3 studs would line up with the holes in the inner door. The holes in the door trims were covered with the proper blanking discs, part nos. JPC 5972 and JPC5973 (inner and outer). I have fitted Rover twin-jet windscreen washers, and installed the proper interior lamp delay unit, which takes the form of a plug-in relay, finished in yellow and is fitted into the appropriate socket on the fuse box. This is a particularly useful refinement, since all four doors operate the courtesy lamps. The next upgrade is electric mirrors, and when I've done that there will be a further update.

Maestro/Montego satisfaction: 11 (out of 10)

Update, Summer 2000.

Since the last report there are a few changes to describe. Firstly I fitted a pair of clear/white lens side indicator repeater lamps for a more unified look and I bought these mail order from The Mini Shop, Enfield for £7-90 including VAT, post and packing. The kit included the special orange bulbs and was considerably cheaper than the official Rover price for what appears to be the same item. By carefully looking for parts that are common with other models and shopping around, bargains can be had. Progress on the car is slow at present due to the united constraints of time and money, although I'm sure this situation is familiar to most people.

One notable problem that the car has always suffered from was a sunroof that was stiff and clunky in operation, requiring the strength of Hercules to wind the handle. At Easter when all the rain poured down, the sunroof mechanism gave up leaving the glass panel half-retracted. The winding handle had no effect on sunroof movement, so obviously it was a drive gear problem. I managed to force the panel closed to keep the rain out, but some drastic action was called for and I decided to fit a complete electric sunroof unit that I discovered on a low-mileage K-Reg. Montego Estate I found in the scrapyard. This did mean doing scary jobs such as removing the headlining and laying on the electrical supply to and from the fusebox, although such tasks are much simplified and the "fear of the unknown" factor is reduced by careful forward planning and research. The wiring was carried out as a copy of the installation in high specification Montego's before the 1988 facelift. The job was carried out within a day, single handed and it works really well.

I also fitted electric mirrors, although this initially led to some confusion on the wiring. Basically the multi-plugs under the dash were there as were the terminals and fuse in the fuse box, so I assumed that the car was already pre-wired. In fact these multi-plugs indicated that only the main loom was wired up, but the switch wiring was missing on my car. Detective work led me to discover that the switch wires were part of the wiring for the instruments behind the dash, so I obtained what I needed from another scrap Montego, then I had to remove the dash, unwrap my instrument wiring and include the new wires. I obtained all the wiring and both mirror motors for £2-what a bargain! Electric mirrors are a real bonus, especially when parking and is no mere gimmick. A pair of low-profile tweeters were carefully incorporated into the panels where the little levers for the old mirrors sprouted, these looking factory fitted and enhancing stereo separation.

I have always liked orange instrument illumination and had missed it since I sold my Rover 214. I find it more soothing than the usual green, and it is more contemporary these days, so I set about changing this on my car whilst retaining the original instruments. Now everything on my dash - clock, cigar lighter, column stalks and heater as well as instruments - glows orange at night and once again it looks as if the car came out of the factory like that.

Rear head restraints were the next addition, using the same ones as on the front, and for this I had to strip down the rear seats to attach the brackets necessary to support the plastic channels in which the head restraint "prongs" fit. The hardest part of this job was trimming the seat foam-not pleasant by any means. Once again as if to labour the point this modification looks factory fitted-just the way I like it, and so much better than the usual solution of jamming the head rests in the gap between seat and parcel shelf, or using clips to secure them to the back of the seat.

The dreaded MoT test looms and I will probably need a pair of outer rear wheelarches replacing for that. This will also give me the opportunity to deal with the rust bubbles and blemishes that have appeared, although the bodywork is in good shape for a 1988 car. The mileage is showing 98,000 and the piston rings are worn quite badly now. Oil is being forced up the breather system and out through the air filter, and other strange places. The crankcase fumes are gassing me as I drive and the engine has now started to burn oil leading to smoky exhausts gassing people behind too, not to mention blowing big holes in the ozone layer no doubt! For the sake of my health and that of following motorists I need to get the engine reconditioned, and this will also present a good opportunity to get the cylinder head modified to suit unleaded fuel too. With all this work to do and the planned electric rear windows and headlamp power wash, it looks like I'm going to be busy!

Maestro Satisfaction: "sufficient" (out of 10)

Spring 2001 Update: Life beyond 100.

Since the last time there have been several significant developments associated with the car. Firstly it passed the magical 100,000-mile barrier early in October making the average annual mileage a shade under 8,500 per annum. However, to say that the car had been running well up to this point would be untrue. It had long been gassing me with oily fumes from the breather and had been prone to poor idling and cutting out in traffic since the previous March. Additionally the exhaust had been smoking, the oil filler cap kept blowing off and now oil consumption was increasing rapidly. The car had started to refuse to idle except on a cold start and was misfiring with increased regularity. Clearly something was amiss somewhere. I knew that the piston rings were worn, having the effect of pressurising the crankcase and sending oil where it shouldn't go, but this was more serious. Fuel consumption had also started to increase dramatically.

The final straw came in late November when the engine, having misfired several times, lost power and refused to restart, necessitating recovery by the AA. Eventually this was tracked down to chronic oil-fouling of the plugs. I did manage to coax the engine to life with a set of new plugs, only to find thick blue oil smoke and some steam being produced from the rear. After 5 minutes of running these new plugs oiled up and the engine died once again, so I pronounced the engine dead and proceeded with a Papworth Hospital style engine transplant in the form of a brand new unleaded spec Rover/Unipart Gold Seal 1.6 unit during the Christmas break, complete with £100 worth of later spec engine breather system, a new clutch, battery, radiator and hoses and unleaded mapped fuel and programmed ignition ECU's.

I expected the car to start up and go like a rocket after this job, but it wouldn't. No fuel was reaching the engine, and on removing and testing the pump found that it had a split rubber diaphragm, allowing fuel to mix with the oil and wash it off the bores, and oil to mix with the fuel causing fumes and running problems. A sump full of fuel is, additionally a recipe for an explosion, and contributed to the disastrous fuel economy. With a new pump installed, everything returned to normal and the car started immediately with its new engine and was ready for running in.

The first 250 or so miles were completed without incident, then one Friday returning home from work I noticed the reoccurrence of an old problem that had occasionally surfaced from time to time last summer-the no charge warning light had started to glow intermittently when going over bumps in the road. This time the light stayed on permanently accompanied by a general slowing/dimming of all electrical equipment. Replacing the alternator had no effect so it was obviously a wiring fault that made itself known in a dramatic way, with copious amounts of smoke issuing from under the bonnet. I quickly stopped the car, removed the battery terminals and found that the main alternator wiring and that for the knock sensor had shorted out and was on fire, which I quickly extinguished. Time for an AA recovery once more! The wiring had been rubbing on the gearbox presumably for a long time and had finally worn through the insulation causing a short and the fire. All wires were replaced with new, and all the wiring in the general area was encased in convoluted plastic tubing for protection against heat and abrasion.

I was very lucky, and so was the car. Since then the car has completed the running in period and has now settled down to become smooth, responsive and economical. Above all it no longer gasses me! Before the engine went bang, I sprayed and fitted an MG 2.0 tailgate spoiler and strakes, complete with the uprated gas struts that support the tailgate. Having made it perform like a new car, my next job was to change all the McPherson strut inserts to make it feel like a new car, this was also accompanied by a change to the MG Maestro cross spoke pattern cast alloy road wheels, of which I purchased a brand new set of five and low profile 195/50-15 tyres to get a real grip on the road. With these new wheels fitted, the front of the car cries out for an MG style front spoiler and I'm sure that I will get around to fitting one in due course. The bodywork is also now crying out for some tender loving care, and some drastic panel replacement, welding and refinishing is required on the offside outer sill and wheel arch to make it look new like a new car again.

F322 FRB at a recent show in August 2001

In terms of comfort and convenience upgrades, I have recently added rear electric window lifts. This is a tricky job on a Maestro because I had to lay on all the wiring myself, integrating it into the main wiring harnesses. This meant dash, seat and trim removal. Maestro's have different door trims to Montego's fitted with rear electric windows and the rear ashtray/through-flow ventilators now foul the window regulator motor and cannot be fitted properly. (Early Montego's had thicker door trims, later Montego's have a repositioned ashtray and vent). I'll probably have to do some re-upholstery based on later Montego door trim panels. Whilst the dash was off I also installed a later model Montego combination interior lamp delay and lights-on warning buzzer, to replace the original interior lamp delay unit. This was a joint effort between myself and fellow Maestro Owners' Club committee member Richard Lodge (Richard beat me to it, but I was suitably impressed) and both him and I are in constant contact regarding ideas for upgrading and modifying our cars. Twin wind tone horns from a Maestro Vanden Plas are the latest gadget to be added The best feature about all of the upgrades and modifications to the specification on my car is the fact that nobody notices them. They assume that the car was built like that as standard.

Plenty more upgrades are planned, with the emphasis on comfort convenience and stylish good taste that in my opinion, for what it's worth, was always a hallmark of fine Austin Rover cars. This car always keeps me busy and that's just the way I like it!

Maestro Satisfaction: But of course!

Simon Heap (email)