KEEPERS
Gerald loves Maestros and couldn’t believe his luck when he found this 1.3 HLE that still had the dealer paper mats on the carpet…
‘I've been interested in cars since the age of 17 and was always taken by British Leyland vehicles, the first of which was a 1970 Minivan that I shared with my twin brother Andrew. It was not the best of partnerships, mind, with so many arguments as to who was going to drive and when, but we covered 60,000 miles of pretty much trouble-free motoring.
‘My next was an Austin Maxi, in which I spent many enjoyable and also trouble-free miles – yes really! After this came an Allegro saloon then an estate. I also owned an MGB, Triumph TR7, Ford Cortina 2000 GT MkIII (which was actually my father’s ex-company car) before an Austin Ambassador; all proving to be extremely reliable and enjoyable.
‘My keen interest in cars naturally led me to classics,cs, the first being a 1933 Austin Seven followed by an unrestored 1951 MG YA, then this Austin Maestro. I drove the latter back in the mid-Eighties when they were company pool cars where I worked. I still vividlyidly remember their excellent roadholding, huge glass area, comfortable seating, good economy and reasonable power output.
‘As time passed I spotted this one for sale, which I thought was too expensive at the time so I let it ride. However it re-appeared on sale at half the price six months later in 2017, prompting me to take a look. When my brother and I arrived at the vendor’s address our first impression was “What a wonderful looking car” and a deal was struck for the agreed purchase price of £5500. We trailered the car back to Stoke-on-Trent because it had the grand total of 102 miles on the clock at the time.
‘The paper floor mats with the supplier dealers name printed on them were still there, as was a protective nylon cover over the driver’s seat but there was very little service history other than the log book and the original tax disc that had expired in August 1987.
‘Why such a low mileage? Nobody knows for sure but it’s thought that the original owner died suddenly and the Austin was placed into storage.
‘There have been a few issues to sort out but the by-passed leaking heater matrix was the biggest. I contacted the Maestro Montego Owners’ club who told me that it would be a dash-out job to replace, but said that it was more likely to be the inlet and outlet pipes corroding internally. The advice given by the club was exactly correct which made the whole thing a much easier repair.
‘I also replaced a wheel bearing and a number of hoses at 600 miles. A full service, including flushing out the radiator and filling
