RE: Austin Maestro van: Would You Really Want To
Discussion
Dr Interceptor said:
I love old things, and get overly nostalgic over the weirdest British Leyland rubbish, but I can't find any love for a beige Maestro Van.
I'm out.
Likewise. It's a van.I'm out.
I wonder if it would be more desirable as a nostalgic show vehicle if it had some sort of period livery - gas, telecom, something like that!
The price seems high but then again if you bought a rough one it'd cost a lot more to get it like this.
I'm always impressed with anyone who keeps mundane vehicles like this concourse clean, it makes no real sense to do it but it's the base spec stuff that becomes rare, I remember seeing an old fella at the Trentham Gardens transport show a few years back with a base spec white Toyota Carina E that was absolutely immaculate! That and the carbon bodied, space framed 600bhp Ford Anglia with its equally immaculate V6 Transit tow truck were my 2 highlights of he day. And that last sentence says a lot about why I like cars now I come to think of it...
I'm always impressed with anyone who keeps mundane vehicles like this concourse clean, it makes no real sense to do it but it's the base spec stuff that becomes rare, I remember seeing an old fella at the Trentham Gardens transport show a few years back with a base spec white Toyota Carina E that was absolutely immaculate! That and the carbon bodied, space framed 600bhp Ford Anglia with its equally immaculate V6 Transit tow truck were my 2 highlights of he day. And that last sentence says a lot about why I like cars now I come to think of it...
To start with 8K is what he's asking, what it actually goes for is a differant matter, anyone who knows anything about selling cars (especially rare ones) knows you allways ask for at least a 1/3 more than you want, at least, that gives the buyer the room to make a cheaky bid and feel good when he finaly pays 5 grand for a 3 grand motor 
There's one of these round the corner from me, it has sat in the garden for the last 15 years at least, used as a shed, i asked to buy it about 10 years ago but as the owner said "give me what it would cost to buy a new shed and i'll sell it" , pass.
There's one of these round the corner from me, it has sat in the garden for the last 15 years at least, used as a shed, i asked to buy it about 10 years ago but as the owner said "give me what it would cost to buy a new shed and i'll sell it" , pass.
lucido grigio said:
njw1 said:
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Maestro van basically just a Marina van with a Maestro front end (and fwd)?
There we are, it was the roofline that made me think they were basically the same van, a bit like the Sherpa being derived from the J4.
There are definately some similarities there though!
When I started doing mobile discos in the mid-late 90's I did a bit of work with a guy that had a Marina van, followed by an Ital van which was followed by a Maestro van so I've got fond memories of being wedged in the back of one of these vans between some huge speakers on the way to a gig somewhere, good times!
njw1 said:
lucido grigio said:
njw1 said:
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Maestro van basically just a Marina van with a Maestro front end (and fwd)?
There we are, it was the roofline that made me think they were basically the same van, a bit like the Sherpa being derived from the J4.
There are definitely some similarities there though!
Drove one of these plus the Metro van (310?)- the Maestro was so much better than the Metro that I managed to spin on a cattle grid just off the M5 / M50 junction on the way back from Tewkesbury car auctions. I worked out that it was leaking fuel from the filler cap that was just ahead and above the rear tyre. Horrible.
The dealer has some eclectic stuff, virtually all of which I'd prefer to the Maestro Van.
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/dealer/900...
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/dealer/900...
KGF had a similar van (slightly higher mileage 36k) advertised at £3k back in 2013.
Eight grand is wildly optimistic.
http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/146636/perfect...
Eight grand is wildly optimistic.
http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/146636/perfect...
I used to drive one or two of these for work. We had a pool of vans, mainly of the Maestro and Astramax variety.
We used to fight over the keys... If you ended up with one of the Maestros, you'd lost.
I can think of several things I'd rather do with £8k, one of which includes throwing it all off the top of a tall building, laughing like a deranged Maestro van driver.
We used to fight over the keys... If you ended up with one of the Maestros, you'd lost.
I can think of several things I'd rather do with £8k, one of which includes throwing it all off the top of a tall building, laughing like a deranged Maestro van driver.
sgtBerbatov said:
My uncle had two of these, he brought one over to Ireland with him and it was his work horse for many years.
Personally I'd have one. But then again I find the styles of the cars from the late 80's/90's to be the pinnacle of car design. They were all uniquely different to a fault. Whereas today, you'd be mistaken for thinking that Vauxhall Astra that just passed you was actually a Renault Megane.
<Jarvis Cocker>Are you sure?</Jarvis Cocker>Personally I'd have one. But then again I find the styles of the cars from the late 80's/90's to be the pinnacle of car design. They were all uniquely different to a fault. Whereas today, you'd be mistaken for thinking that Vauxhall Astra that just passed you was actually a Renault Megane.
I know what you mean about amorphous blobs that have no distinctive style but this is hardly a new thing, as Car from June 1990 makes clear
As for this Maestro, well, at least it's distinctive...
Its weird, I love seeing stuff like that, but own it, not really, it was a cheap and cheerful tradesmans daily hack that was average at the time and hasnt improved but it would still do the original job for which it was intended, glad there are folk out there that do care enough about cars like this to keep them going.
Thankfully nobody has said "Kill it with fire", I hate that, why, there is space for it, it isnt bothering anyone, then the same folks get all misty eyed over some BMW or whatever of the same era, that they havent driven either, ok, its a reasonable assumption that the BMW would be more fun/better but it is just that, an assumption and akin to how teenage girls view conservation, if its cute and fwuffy it can live, if its remotely, ugly, scally, smelly or bitey, kill it !
Thankfully nobody has said "Kill it with fire", I hate that, why, there is space for it, it isnt bothering anyone, then the same folks get all misty eyed over some BMW or whatever of the same era, that they havent driven either, ok, its a reasonable assumption that the BMW would be more fun/better but it is just that, an assumption and akin to how teenage girls view conservation, if its cute and fwuffy it can live, if its remotely, ugly, scally, smelly or bitey, kill it !
firebird350 said:
I don't have any experience of the Maestro van but at the end of the 1970's I spent a summer working for Sunblest (Allied Bakeries) which involved spending a fair bit of time behind the wheel of several Marina and Escort (Mk 1) vans - yes, in those bright, full-blown Sunblest liveries of old.
As a rally fan back then I obviously preferred the looks of the Escort because the 1970's had been the rally era of the Boreham works RS Escorts but, truth be told, the Marina was actually the better drive of the two from a fun point of view. When empty, the Marina was sooooo light at the rear that all you had to do on a wet road was drop down into second gear at around 40 MPH and the rear axle would instantly lock up. I used to love doing that in the run-up to a junction or a set of traffic lights just to see how far it would slide. Mind you, I was only 22 at the time.
You could also change up and down through the gearbox without ever resorting to the clutch once you'd used it to get off the start line. Don't know why that impressed me so much but it did! I had some great drives that summer.
Also, the 1.3 litre Marina's engine revved far higher and more eagerly than the Escort's 1.1 litre lump which always felt strangled by comparison. With that cavernous load deck to amplify the noise (when empty), rubber floor mats and no sound deadening you could really kid yourself you were in a top-end screamer in the Marina because it made quite a decent sound actually and, when empty, it weighed next to nothing and didn't go badly at all. Great car to hone a few driving skills in.
This is quality. for some reason my dad was able to change up and down without the clutch in his mid 90's Citroen Xantia. how does that work? he reckoned he could find the exact spot on the rev counter to do it. As a rally fan back then I obviously preferred the looks of the Escort because the 1970's had been the rally era of the Boreham works RS Escorts but, truth be told, the Marina was actually the better drive of the two from a fun point of view. When empty, the Marina was sooooo light at the rear that all you had to do on a wet road was drop down into second gear at around 40 MPH and the rear axle would instantly lock up. I used to love doing that in the run-up to a junction or a set of traffic lights just to see how far it would slide. Mind you, I was only 22 at the time.
You could also change up and down through the gearbox without ever resorting to the clutch once you'd used it to get off the start line. Don't know why that impressed me so much but it did! I had some great drives that summer.
Also, the 1.3 litre Marina's engine revved far higher and more eagerly than the Escort's 1.1 litre lump which always felt strangled by comparison. With that cavernous load deck to amplify the noise (when empty), rubber floor mats and no sound deadening you could really kid yourself you were in a top-end screamer in the Marina because it made quite a decent sound actually and, when empty, it weighed next to nothing and didn't go badly at all. Great car to hone a few driving skills in.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff