RE: Spotted: Maxi rally car

[Stick Legs]

I love BL cars and I am taking the first step in admitting it.

All of my car-mad friends will laugh at me if my true identity is revealed but I have an unhealthy love of the products of the Evil-Empire. In my defence...

Triumph 2500PI (Mk2)
Rover SD1
Jaguar XJ-S (pre H.E.)
Jaguar XJ series 2
4 Door Range Rover
Land Rover Series 3
Triumph TR8
MGB GT V8
(actually almost anything with a Buick V8 in it!)


However, the case for the prosecution...
TR7
Rover 800 (original model designed under BL)
Jaguar XJ40 (designed under BL ownership)
Stag (complete with V8 issues, why it never had a Rover V8 is a mystery!)

[P7ERM]

Maxi ! Obviously designed to carry fat man and his one handed partner around the frozen bits of our country nobody else desires to visot.

[tommy vercetti]

Quite expensive, better cars out there for way less of that asking price.

[petergrimsdale]

The day my father traded his Rover P6 for a Maxi was one of the bleakest of my youth, however - this Maxi tooled for rallying has something of the purposeful toughness that reminds me of the rally landcrabs that I waved off on the London to Sydney.
Maybe its time the BL era products got a fresh look since so many of us did time in them in our younger days.

[robinessex]

If I remember correctly, the old BMC 1800 (Land Crab) had the stiffest body in torsion of any road car. Which is why BLMC used them for the London/Sidney rally. Actually, despite what people say, BLMC cars of this era, the Mini, 1100, maxi etc., were tchnically brilliant cars, way ahead of most, excpet maybe Citroen. It was the build quality that screwed them.

[ukmike2000]

I had plenty of exposure to the Maxi because we ran them as company cars and a friend and me hired one to go to the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
Brilliant car in its day - huge inside and comfortable and handled pretty much like a large Mini. Perfect family car except when you loaded the boot to go on holiday the back went down and the front went up alarmingly. This didn't stop people pulling caravans with them and I seem to recall the engine was quite torquey. Hatchbacks were still novel devices, but I have folded the seats down and slept in one, and also folded them forward and come back from Wisbech with two of us and around half a ton of apples and onions in the back. (Long story but it took weeks to get the smell off my clothes)
On the down side, the engine was a plodder even in twin carb form and even the revised gearchange needed careful handling so you never tried to beat a Cortina off the line as you would end up in 5th instead of 3rd which rather slowed your progress.
In spite of these faults, the Maxi has earned its place in the motoring Hall of Fame for its ground breaking design and packaging, and I think the styling was pretty good too.

[JohnnyJones]

There was one of these in the museum at Mouldsworth, Cheshire a year or so ago. Whether or not it was one of the two in the article I don't know.

[scudder]

Great cars - in a kind of "so bad they're good" way.

But as others have said - handling was good (great fun in the snow), the boot was the size of a small central european state and of course it could turn into a double bed quicker than you could say "Your eyes look beautiful in the moonlight.."

Gearbox was truly awful but taught you a lot about deftness of touch (bit like the bed really...) however ride was good.

Mine had a modified exhaust that was probably offset by the phlanx of spots/fogs on the front. Still, sounded good and had it off the clock once. Down a very steep and long hill...

[cptsideways]

Memories of camping trips in one as a nipper, it was huge inside, mind you I was quite small back then.

It's a nice old thing & it should be kept as is, 30k large buys you an Escort than you can use competetively though.

[dbdb]

Stick Legs said:

I love BL cars and I am taking the first step in admitting it.

All of my car-mad friends will laugh at me if my true identity is revealed but I have an unhealthy love of the products of the Evil-Empire. In my defence...

Triumph 2500PI (Mk2)
Rover SD1
Jaguar XJ-S (pre H.E.)
Jaguar XJ series 2
4 Door Range Rover
Land Rover Series 3
Triumph TR8
MGB GT V8
(actually almost anything with a Buick V8 in it!)


However, the case for the prosecution...
TR7
Rover 800 (original model designed under BL)
Jaguar XJ40 (designed under BL ownership)
Stag (complete with V8 issues, why it never had a Rover V8 is a mystery!)

I'm sure Honda had some input into the Rover 800.

The Jaguar XJ40 is an excellent car by any measure. Not only were they exceedingly competent on the road with the highest level of safety at that time (S Class also excellent), they are very comfortable, reliable and long lived cars with dubious electrics only affecting early cars. The design was long lasting too, continuing with the largely similar X300 and re-engined X308.
Not everyone likes the styling, but it is difficult to see how the XJ40 can be perceived as a bad car.

[300bhp/ton]

[dbdb]

I have to admit, that does look cool!

[heebeegeetee]

The asking price of this Maxi also gains you access to a lot of wonderful events, I would have thought.

[Oddball RS]

300bhp/ton said:

I have to laugh my folks had one, the panel thickness on them seemed to be about 3mm! no wonder they weighed so much, they were armoured!

[threespires]

The owner - Robin Shackleton - recently sent me these two pix.
Robin is well known in rally circles. He has an ambition to rally 100 different makes of car in a classic rallying. I'll post up some of the more bizarre cars he has rallied.


Austin Maxi - World Cup Rally - 02


Austin Maxi - World Cup Rally - 01

Edited by threespires on Thursday 3rd May 10:32

[threespires]

Some of Robin Shackleton's more bizarre rally cars entered in Classic Rally Tours Continental regularity rallies. I believe he finished 5th in the Taxi and around 9th in the Ice Cream Van.


Champagne Rally 2008 - Ice Cream Van


Honfleur Rally 2007 - Austin Taxi

[NickGibbs]

threespires said:

Some of Robin Shackleton's more bizarre rally cars entered in Classic Rally Tours Continental regularity rallies. I believe he finished 5th in the Taxi and around 9th in the Ice Cream Van.

Fantastic. Any more?

[Stick Legs]

dbdb said:

Stick Legs said:

I love BL cars and I am taking the first step in admitting it.

All of my car-mad friends will laugh at me if my true identity is revealed but I have an unhealthy love of the products of the Evil-Empire. In my defence...

Triumph 2500PI (Mk2)
Rover SD1
Jaguar XJ-S (pre H.E.)
Jaguar XJ series 2
4 Door Range Rover
Land Rover Series 3
Triumph TR8
MGB GT V8
(actually almost anything with a Buick V8 in it!)


However, the case for the prosecution...
TR7
Rover 800 (original model designed under BL)
Jaguar XJ40 (designed under BL ownership)
Stag (complete with V8 issues, why it never had a Rover V8 is a mystery!)

I'm sure Honda had some input into the Rover 800.

The Jaguar XJ40 is an excellent car by any measure. Not only were they exceedingly competent on the road with the highest level of safety at that time (S Class also excellent), they are very comfortable, reliable and long lived cars with dubious electrics only affecting early cars. The design was long lasting too, continuing with the largely similar X300 and re-engined X308.
Not everyone likes the styling, but it is difficult to see how the XJ40 can be perceived as a bad car.

Not judging the XJ40 as bad, just not percieved by the world as one of Jaguars great cars, yet.
I would love any of the cars on the prosecution list!
Rover 800 / Honda Legend, Project XX non?

[Alicatt1]

For it's day the Maxi 1750 was a good family car, also a good one to start a family in
Had one when I was 18, it was quite quick tho the HL model was quicker, and for it's day it was quite economical to run, I got about 45mpg out of mine and it was the first car I had that had 5 gears.

[keeef]

I too like my old BL stuff; in fact I now own two maxis!

The Carmine red 1750 HLS lost oil pressure
and a Russet brown 1750 was just too much of a temptation.