1976 Austin Maxi HL beigeness!

[bmcnut]

After my old green maxi got written off a couple of years ago ive had afew cars but ive always wanted another maxi. I went up to Wimbledon a few weeks ago and a good mate of mine was racing this


(note 'spares by cookie on the top of the boot, that me that is ;D) this inspired me to get another maxi because after his first race he came up to me saying 'that things well rapid, handles sooo well etc etc'............
In short, 2 days later I found this!





Its a proper twin carb HL in lovly harvest gold, ironicly I found it in banstead which is half way between my house and wimbledon. Mechanicly its perfect but the bodywork needs a fair bit of work. Its a rare early HL with colour coded bump strips and a brown vinyl dash (they should be black) and the webesto roof is beige too. The whole car just screams the 70's! Its 100% standard appart from the steering wheel which I changed yesterday, even the tailpipe which was unique to these HL's and allegro VP's is still there, they usualy rot. The trim isnt in great condition but I don't care, I'm back in a maxi, its brings the 'toad of toad hall' out of me! Plans for it are............ subtle.

[dollywobbler]

Cool! Quick work too - only two days to find one? I look forward to the unveiling of your plans sir!

[bmcnut]

I only found it by chance looking on the maxi owners club site, it had only just been put on there! When i saw it was a HL and had the same area code as me i thought i was seeing things! It was all very surreal! I also got given a new 'kingston badpuss' at wimbo, but thats another, very long, story.

[bmcnut]

This was my old one and........



this is what happened to it........

[dollywobbler]

Yikes! Yeah, can't really argue about that being wri tten off! What happened?!

[arthurbrown]

MMmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Maxi!

I could really perv over one of those.

[bmcnut]

I got rear ended on the way to work one day, all the impact was on the tow bar and totaly screw the floor and any thoughts i had of restoring it, it was a real shame as the body was totaly rust free, perfect infact, just very tatty. As a result it got stripped of all its good bits and banger raced. The above picture was taken in the services after the meeting. It did itself proud, untill someone blasted it in the DD! lol

[dollywobbler]

Oh phew. There I was thinking that you were some sort of iron man! ;D

[paulmi16]

I do like that, especially the Webasto rof and the dash. Also noticed the radio speakers in the front doors. Hope it does you proud.

[Lankytim]

Best thing about maxis is you don't need to take the radiator out to race them!

[bmcnut]

lol The green one lost its rad after the second race, along with all its water and STILL carried on going!

My Uncle popped round just now, so I took this.




Same colour, base model and HL, mine just needs a good polish.




EDIT#curse word, its blurred#

[dollywobbler]

That shot is ace! You'll have to find an excuse to do it again now. Know anyone else with one? ;D

[bmcnut]

What, the same colour? Club members yes, but no one close to hand. Saying that, a mate of mine who goes to oxford uni turned up at a mates house on the day i got it and said 'i took a picture of this well clean maxi outside the uni last week, thought you might like too see it'. He knows i like maxis, but had no idea id bought one. I told him too look out the window, and on doing so went My dads got a HL in sandglow, another HL in dark blue and a rally replica. Photoshoot tomorrow. ;D

[alan105]

Great car there bud, the only problem is the colour, I had a Marina in the same shade years ago, we worked out it was almost the same colour as the contents of my daughters nappy !! the car was christened THE DIAPER after that !!

[MetroLee]

Very very cool. Loving the Beigeness

[bmcnut]

Cheers, i never used to like the colour, infact it still would never be my first choice, but its kinda cool, and suits the ideas ive got in my head.
The mods started today, just fitting a decent radio, which means cutting the hole for the old style radio to house a modern set, problem is its very awkward as its stainless steel, and there are two bars behind it that support the lot. There is risk of cutting through them, and where there is risk of going wrong i usualy do. I did. So now the entire dash has had to come out along with the choke cable which is a complete wotsit to feed back through the bulkhead. And when i disconnected the speedo it didnt feel good on the thread. I'm indoors now and NOT going back outside until tomorrow. Its all good though, we got spares 8)
Its all worth the effort though, the headunit ive got looks the biz, but you wouldnt even notice it at first.....

[bmcnut]

Put some wheels on today


I lowered it as well, it took about 2 minuits to do, which was nice! One thing i didnt realise untill i took the next picture was......

Ive got a bit of camber on the front! Not much but it'll do!

There are two things i need to decide on now

1) Do i go lower (to be decided once i see how it drives as it is)
2) Do i go with satin black on the wheels (to be decided once someone photoshops it for me )

[bmcnut]

well, having driven it i can now conferm that it drives like a sack of spuds. Looks cool tho so i certainly aint pumping it back up!

jobs for tomorrow will be new carbs, engine steady bushes and a t-cut and polish unless it rains, which is likley 8(

[ironmighty07]

Chrome bumpered Maxi!!FTW!!Love these earlier models, when they fitted those hideous rubber items they just look awful.


Gratuitous old maxi shot from about 12+ years ago!

Photo was taken the day after I pulled it from a garage where it had been stored 2 years. 53k from new, one family owned and all for the princely sum of £50!

[bmcnut]

Jun 1, 2008 5:08:46 GMT ironmighty07 said:

Gratuitous old maxi shot from about 12+ years ago!

That Maxis proper griff! Luv it!
Ive always wondered what a maxi would drive like with most of the fluid let out, and i can say its ok round corners, but speedhumps need to be taken at -1mph, and potholes are like driving over landmines! Now I'm debating banding the rims with some proper strrrrreeeeeetch................

Only joking!