Acceptable in the '90s

[Vulgalour]

There'll be a full video on this repair job on my Youtube channel in the future, for now I thought you'd all appreciate seeing the little discovery I made today in the 180,000 mile City X that I recently literally washed the rear wheel arch off. In the process of clearing out all the rot ready for welding in fresh steel I hit a bit of filler and rather than disappear in a cloud of it, opted to chip it off since it was loose... to reveal a sock!

In the arch that fell off I also found part of a carrier bag mixed in with the filler. I've seen this sort of thing on other cars, never had it on one of my own. Also learned that the plastic on the fuel filler neck is actually cling film which seems to have been used to mask it off from the underseal and then not removed and of course now it's a nightmare to deal with because it has all the stability of a Nice biscuit in a cup of tea.

This is all okay though. I'm embracing the 90s vibe with this car and accessorising it accordingly. If you've any suggestions for things you remember from the 90s that would look the part on a Maestro do let me know! I'm going more the allotment grandad look rather than Max Power look, as you can see here with my earth strap and Keep Your Distance sticker. I'd love to get hold of some red wiper boots, I just haven't been able to find any yet.

[Mr bump]

I'm about to throw a set of red wiper boots away, so il put them to one side for you.

[Vulgalour]

Well that couldn't have been timed more perfectly! Send me a message with whatever details you need for payment/postage etc. and we'll get that sorted

[Mr bump]

I don't want payment mate, il put them to one side for you.

[digital efi]

Towbar.

National Trust and 'Give Blood' window stickers.

Mudflaps all round: not the pukka Unipart ones, rather some wide ribbed universal ones, possibly with 'Austin' emblazoned on them.

[Vulgalour]

Thanks, Mr Bump!

Good call on the National Trust and Give Blood stickers, shall have to see if I can find ones of the correct design. Maybe one of the old A Dog Is For Life yellow stickers, and an RNLI sticker too, both things I remember being on just about every family car back in the 90s, our own included.

I did get lucky with mudflaps, fellow red Maestro owner Vampire Echidna on here donated a set of proper motorfactor looking 'sports flaps' with MAESTRO printed on them in red and white. They look absolutely perfect for the sort of look I'm chasing.

Did they ever make a Hella grille for the Maestro? Perhaps there was an Autoplas or Unipart one, I'm sure they did one for the Metro. Failing that, a pair of rectangular spotlights under the front bumper would do nicely I think. Not going to fit a towbar on this one, I could fairly easily but it's not something I'd ever actually use and it's one more thing to keep in working condition for MoTs... though there is a certain appeal about a little plywood box trailer with the spare Maestro steels I've got on it.

The black side stripes will probably disappear as I work my way through repairs, I'll probably replace them with some sort of custom graphic to look like more motor factor upgrades, perhaps something that says 'Maestro' on it in an appropriate font.

I also managed to find a period looking steering wheel wrap and a dashboard compass that looks very similar to the ones I remember so they'll hopefully help pad out the interior a bit. I'd like some wind deflectors too, I just haven't found any for the Maestro yet.