Final pics - Maestro Turbo 399

[John S]

Not one to be too outdone by some of the recent metallic showings on here I know pronounce my Turbo complete with an MOT and alloy wheels (even if they are temporarily borrowed from my TD!).

[The Express Valeter]

Looks very smart.

[G51 NAV]

Good to see it completed John!

Crikey by Christmas this place will be over-run with mint restored Maestros!

Get them all together for a shoot and it'll look like a timewarp back to 1989!

[D87SMW]

Good to see it completed John!

Crikey by Christmas this place will be over-run with mint restored Maestros!

Get them all together for a shoot and it'll look like a timewarp back to 1989!

Indeed.

Congrats, John! All credit to you, bud.

And yes, I'd like to have my 1989 Maestro restored at some point but as with John O, I'd be going for a later colour than original.

Good luck with it, John.

[Jonathan]

The difference here is that my restoration involved a telephone and a cheque book. You've done the bulk of this yourself and that must be truly satisfying.

Can't help thinking it's time some of these labours of love were known about more widely.

[G51 NAV]

Indeed...I had a 1/4 page feature in Practical Classics after Barney's resto and Phil Pope had a feature on his restored black MG Turbo a few years ago in one of the MG/classics mags (can't remember which one). But yes, more publicity wouldn't go amiss at all.

[Oli]

Absolutely cracking news mate
Looks fantastic, thumbs up to you sonny

[philippope]

Nice one, John, looks really good. Mine featured in "Classics" in March 2004 on a 2-page spread, as J.O. says, but it was a home restoration and I didn't get it resprayed, just touched it up myself. Unfortunately my computer crashed at the time and I lost pics of the welding I did to the sills and of the back panel I put in, like on Jonathan's car. Maybe I'll have to get it resprayed now just to keep up!

[SimonR]

John - I've been waiting to see the finished project! That's darn impressive and is a real credit to all your hard work.

So now you can get out on the road and actually enjoy driving the beast.

Can we all have some more photos of it when you're ready?

Can't wait to see it first hand.

[John S]

John - I've been waiting to see the finished project! That's darn impressive and is a real credit to all your hard work.

So now you can get out on the road and actually enjoy driving the beast.

Can we all have some more photos of it when you're ready?

Can't wait to see it first hand.

Unfortunately I don't have a better camera than the one I'm using. I think a brighter day and a really good polish (only polished the car once so far) would make it look glitzier. If I get the insurance sorted pronto there should be no problem bringing it to a show or two next year.

...And yes, I'd like to have my 1989 Maestro restored at some point but as with John O, I'd be going for a later colour than original.

Steve, I thought about a more modern colour myself for a good while but couldn't bring myself to change it! I thought maybe it would look good in a monogram colour (too expensive and also hard to touch up stone chips) or in some VW or BMW colour. At least I didn't have to go to the trouble of changing the colour of the inner roof and floor panels, not to mention the engine bay!

Unfortunately my computer crashed at the time and I lost pics of the welding I did to the sills

I can sympathise with you there as I also lost the film roll my local bodyshop did of bracing the car and cutting off the sills / prepping it for new ones

Mechanically the car is not too bad though I'm a bit wary of the amount of smoke it was spilling out after I had left it for a year without being run. I've put it down to mayo in the breathers. Hope the MOT guys did not back off the mixture too much when doing the emissions test too! I changed the oil with 15w 50 Mobil 1 fully synthetic last week and fitted a new battery. The car is soon to have its lights converted to Xenon (kit from ebay). After the oil change and lots of idling it does not smoke. We shall see. (Incidentally I have lots of good spare mechanicals anyway). Carb was rebuilt 20,000 miles ago.

cheers all!

[Austin-Rover]

Congratulations John, that looks lovely.

It's really nice to see the finished article after so many updates on your progress. I can't wait to see it in the flesh.

[John S]

An update

The car passed the Vehicle Inspectorate Check this afternoon. Took only 10 minutes! Applied for the logbook this afternoon.