montegos?????

[Keefy]

andyimp, please say it was the same guy each time!
man, i have just literally LOL!

edited to add - montegos are in with the metro.
they should all end up like this ...
and like the metro, i think many did didnt they ;D

[trg1984]

i like metros aswell, people just don't see the potential they have, they think theye just a shity car.

ive just remembered we had a maestro before the monty and i hated it, they're rubbish, really ugly too. they look like a diagram for a maths question.

[Harold Ramp Bumface Fandango]

I likes them! I have got (if it` still where it was stored) a Maestro van though unfortunately it`s a petrol not one of those fantastic Perkins diesels.
Anhows, if these are your bag then here`s a forum for you... www.maestro.org.uk/

On the subject of the Victor Meldrew mobiles (213 and 216) they were actually not too bad a car. 1.3 was the Honda lump, 1.6 was Austin/Rover`s own lump.
One car everyone on here should try and drive is a Honda Balade (sure I`ve spelled that wrong) which were just Honda`s version of the 213/216. I had a Balade 1500 and you had to have driven it to appreciate how quick it was. Top fun in traffic light grand prix and would crack a ton no messing with 4 heft blokes in it.

Back on topic, Maestro`s are not a bad car once you get over the rust. Bloody cheap to run and pretty easy to fix too.

[Imperial]

keefy said:

andyimp, please say it was the same guy each time!
man, i have just literally LOL!

i can and i will ;D coz it was ;D, the same loser everytime,and all he got was 100yds down the road and a broken harry moss radio which was even more broken by the time he got it out judging by the bits left behind.my neighbours thought is was funny ,waking me up to move my car,luckily i saw the funny side after a while.
what sort of dumb
A; Nicks the dodgiest,ex-minicab, galactic mileage montego
B; Cant even get the steering lock off
C; Can't even hot wire it (i can and did to get it home one morning)
D: Cant even get a radio out a dash without wrecking the radio and the dash?
E: and then gets caught trying to nick the local drug dealers 5 series?

ANSWER
some stoopid curse word with a broken arm!!!

[trg1984]

this is the sort of think id do to a monty, if any one can photoshop it then that would be cool.

[bryn]

I'm sorry but I don't see any redeeming factors in the Montego, Maestro or Rover 216... I don't have any distinct feelings on any of them. I've droven all three extensively in the past too, owned one or two of them aswell. I found them completely devoid of any character.

A base model Metro has character, these were just souless. Dynamically I didn't rate them either, could never get comfy in one, or really enjoy driving them. I'm not a huge Austin Rover fan, but that's blighted by their arrogance in selling us curse word for so many years when the rest of the world was moving on. Give me some J tin, I'd take a Charmant or Cressida over a Montego and some sort of Colt over a Maestro anyday.

I can usually see the good in everything, these just leave me cold.

[zeus]

trg1984 said:

this is the sort of think id do to a monty, if any one can photoshop it then that would be cool.

Find me a decent source pic and I'll have a go.

[jiminwatford]

? maybe bit small

[trg1984]

I'm struggling to find any decent pics of montys, i think someone is trying to hide the fact that they ever existed

[Mr K]

we had a white monty saloon when i was a kid... i thought it was bang on! i loved it! and it never let us down blah blah blah.

also had one of those rovers (400?) at the same time for dad to commute in, i thought it was proper luxury with all that walnut and what not! dad still maintains that it handles well, not suprising considering its the same suspension as mk1 cr-x, which is contender for the best handleing car in the world if you can find a solid one!

[slater]

Was it ever going to look bad? Someone get off your ass and get it built!!!

[arthurbrown]

Now that ^^^ looks the bizznack.

Probably impossible to achieve in reality, like, but inspiring none the less.

[marinanut]

Montegos....had one as a company car back in the day, just after Russ Swift did the 'carpark' ad so I had a go at the full lock and boot it turn through 180......it worked! The 1.6 kicked the out of Sierras and Cav's (I ended up with a Mk3 Cav after that....pile of rancid sh*te) and my boss had a 2.0 VDP with electric everything and full leather which went like sugar off a shovel. Dad bought one of the first Perkins Prima engined diesels.....100+mph, 50+mpg and comfortable, it only went because the sunroof seals went and my Mrs got p****d off with getting wet...now I wish I'd kept it.

[Pillock]

my great uncle had one.... pale metallic blue on a 'B' reg, 1600 HLE I believe (although we're going back to when i was 3, he sold it in '88 when i was 8). Came with the same buscuit-coloured cloth trim that every single 1980's Austin Rover had, they must have bought billions of tonnes of the stuff. Remember it being fairly reliable and never rusty, but he was a definate sunday tinkerer and the poor thing never really got left alone long enough to go wrong!

Traded it in for a Maestro, think it was the LX (limited thing, 1988 was getting towards run-out models i would have thought) which had - wait for it - electric windows! First car i ever got to press the window button in. Remember sitting in a Montego Countryman, in the oh-so-flimsy flip-up seat, whilst he was in the dealer ordering it.

[PhoenixC]

pillock said:

Traded it in for a Maestro, think it was the LX (limited thing, 1988 was getting towards run-out models i would have thought) which had - wait for it - electric windows! First car i ever got to press the window button in. Remember sitting in a Montego Countryman, in the oh-so-flimsy flip-up seat, whilst he was in the dealer ordering it.

Wasnt a run out in `88. I think some were registered nearly 10 year later, definetely seen one P reg one anyway

[spottedlaurel]

Should anyone want to read more about them......

cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&item=180034382258



Shameless plug!

Here's one I saw recently.....





Very rare I ever see saloons nowadays.

[Odin]

I thought I'd throw this Maestro I just spotted on the 'bay into the mix:



Looks alright on those MGTF(?) rims, I reckon. I'm seriously considering a diesel Maestro van as my next daily...beige, black Wellers and a complete battering with the stick.

[BenzBoy]

phoenixc said:

Wasnt a run out in `88. I think some were registered nearly 10 year later, definetely seen one P reg one anyway

Weren't they the CKD kits that were destined for Bulgaria or somewhere, but ended up being built over here and registered as new P-platers? I think the Countryman estate lived on after they killed off the saloon and the Maestro.

I love them because they are so utterly shitola! I'd love a rotten-looking Maestro van with MG Turbo running gear. That'd be cool.

[street]

Love the Monty! Heres my current MG 2.0i, lowered 50mm
















I love them because they're so unloved, but in reality a great car- very roomy, very well equipped, and very quick

Currently it has some irritating electrical fault thats bieng sorted to get it back on the road again..... and its in white primer
Contemplating a Rover 800 turbo motor transplant to make it even more fun!

But when was the last time you passed one? Just dissapeared

[spottedlaurel]

CKD kits like this you mean?

cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROVER-MAESTRO-1-3-T-REG-LEDBURY-MODEL-1999-MOT_W0QQitemZ250032912044



As I posted on the eBay thread with this quote.....

Little oddities abound, such as the drivers’ heel pad in the carpet being on the passenger side, and the dash having Montego switches – again a throwback to the Ledbury legacy, when apparently their team had to scour scrap yards throughout the UK to source front seats, dash boards and dash tops etc in right hand drive form. Luckily there seemed to have been enough RHD steering racks about in those days …