Friday 8th October 2010

SOTW: Montego Turbo

Crack open the synth drums and feel that turbo lag - Shed encounters an 80s Brummie hero

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Shed does not ordinarily venture into the dark territory that is the British Leyland/Austin Rover range of the 1980s - partly because so many of Britain's finest have long been sent to that great corporate car park in the sky and partly because most of AR's products of the 1980s were so unremittingly execrable. But today Shed makes an exception.

Because, trawling through the murky depths of classic car online classifieds, we dredged up this, a D-plate MG Montego Turbo in yuppie red, up for £695.

Now, the Montego might not be the most fondly remembered of cars, but in MG Turbo form it managed 150bhp courtesy of a Garret T3 turbo, and so would torquesteer its way to 126mph, with 60mph coming up in a genuinely brisk 7.3secs. That made it the fastest production MG ever at the time, don't yer know...

Picking this little beauty as SOTW also allows us an excuse to bring you a magnificently period Montego Turbo promo video (check it out at the bottom of the article) starring none other than a decidedly fresh-faced version of touring car hero Steve Soper - who also had a hand in developing the suspension set-up of the car.

This particular Monty looks as though it's seen some hard use at the hands of a pin-stripe suited rep over the years, with the MOT reading 103k (even though the speedo says 66,000 miles have passed beneath its wheels).

A few other bits have gone awry during its quarter-century on earth: there's no roof lining, the doors are beginning to succumb to the ol' ferrous oxide, the driver's seat has become a bit tatty, and the temperature gauge is knackered. But it's got three months of tax left and 11 months of MOT, so what more could you want?

Besides, as the plummy voiceover man says in the video: "As the proud owner of a new Montego Turbo, you have an exclusive luxury sports saloon, a leader among the elite of turbocharged cars". So put a note in your Filofax saying 'buy Montego Turbo'. You know it makes sense...

 

Advert is reporduced below

D REG

LEATHER INTERIOR

C/LOCKING

E/WINDOWS

USUAL TURBO SPEC

COMPLETELY STANDARD APART FROM EXHAUST.

3 MONTHS TAX, MOT SEPT 11.

DRIVES VERY WELL, WAS TUNED AT DYNO TUNE ON THE ROLLERS. THEY SAID ITS RUNNING SPOT ON.

ALSO SERVICED IT, SPARK PLUGS & OIL,

I USE IT FEW TIMES A WEEK FOR LAST 3 MONTHS, HOWEVER ONLY LOCALLY.

BODYWORK QUITE GOOD FOR AGE, NO RUST ON ARCHES, WINGS, SILLS ARE OK.

SPEEDO READS 66K, BUT LAST MOT STATES 103K

BAD POINTS

ROOF LINING MISSING, DRIVER SEAT ALSO HAS WEAR AND TEAR.

SOME RUST IN DOORS, NOTHING MAJOR. TEMP GAUGE DOES NOT WORK.

THANKS FOR LOOKING. £695.

Price: £695 As stated
Advert Type: For Sale
Category: Classic Cars
Make: Austin
Model: Montego
Year: 1986
Country: UK
Region: Nottinghamshire

[domV8]

"That made it the fastest production MG ever, don't yer know..."

Top-spec MGF's were faster I believe - think around the 7sec mark...?

[TheOrangePeril]

Love it! Anyone know if these were/are as fun to drive as the maestro?

[Strawman]

Hmmn, no thanks, they do have an enthusiastic following though.

[Twincam16]

domV8 said:

"That made it the fastest production MG ever, don't yer know..."

Top-spec MGF's were faster I believe - think around the 7sec mark...?

IIRC the TF was faster still, in period the Maestro turbo was quicker, and what about the ZT 260 V8 and SV-R?

Still an underrated car though, even though it does look a bit knackered.

[Frimley111R]

Top shedding and loving the video, that's Steve Soper right? (Don't have sound atm)

[andymadmak]

Hmmmmm
Its on the wrong wheels, got the wrong seats and has the wrong grille. Think its been butchered.

I did used to own one of these ( C555 NRB where are you now? lol) and it was great fun and very fast. Well thought of in its day. I replaced it with a Tickford Maestro Turbo (one of only 500 odd made) and thats was even more fun till it was stolen :-(

[dave-the-diver]

220 Coupé Turbo
The flagship of the range, the 220 Coupé Turbo's performance came from the T Series 2.0 litre 16-valve engine with turbo-charging producing 200 PS (147 kW) at 6000 rpm. The fastest-ever production Rover achieved 150 mph (241 km/h) and a 0-60 time of only 6.2 seconds.

According to wikipedia, so must be true!

David

[ian_touring]

Oh dear. Let it die in peace, like an old blind dog that wees itself.

[SVX]

Love it! Anyone have any idea how much scope there is for upping the boost on this engine?

[Vetch]

Love this weeks shed, I might even buy it!

[porka_boy]

Love these cars, took one out for a test drive around 10 years ago.
Quick piece of kit at the time.

Further write up on them here:

http://www.retro-motors.com/article/MG_Montego_Tur...

[Mr2Mike]

domV8 said:

"That made it the fastest production MG ever, don't yer know..."

Nicely mis-quoted

"That made it the fastest production MG ever at the time"

[Chris_w666]

domV8 said:

"That made it the fastest production MG ever, don't yer know..."

Top-spec MGF's were faster I believe - think around the 7sec mark...?

I am impressed at you misquoting the article to try and make youself look smart.

What had MG produced that was quicker when the Montego Turbo was launched?

[danielw]

The video is just superb! My friends parents had a new MG Maestro in the 80's the first car I ever saw that had a digital dash AND it spoke Not tempted though.

[newdogg06]

Mr2Mike said:

domV8 said:

"That made it the fastest production MG ever, don't yer know..."

Nicely mis-quoted

"That made it the fastest production MG ever at the time"

You beat me to it!

[Rob P]

I love the video!

[Dave_ST220]

TheOrangePeril said:

Love it! Anyone know if these were/are as fun to drive as the maestro?

Maestro & fun to drive in one sentence? Are you fking kidding?!, biggest heap of st.Ever.

[markCSC]

dave-the-diver said:

220 Coupé Turbo
The flagship of the range, the 220 Coupé Turbo's performance came from the T Series 2.0 litre 16-valve engine with turbo-charging producing 200 PS (147 kW) at 6000 rpm. The fastest-ever production Rover achieved 150 mph (241 km/h) and a 0-60 time of only 6.2 seconds.

According to wikipedia, so must be true!

David

Not an MG though

[cod man]

"un-remittingly execrable"

That means good, no?

[Rusty-C]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMTx0ZTOaIc And this was only the standard version.