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1984 Austin Maestro 1.3HL (A333 SCK)
Forgotten Maestro returns home...
I've owned this Maestro since the end of 2007, but it's spent the last couple of years in a barn on a farm on Anglesey...out of sight, out of mind!
Enough time had passed that I thought I really should do something with this car this year, so a plan was hatched to get it running and moving then return a few weeks later to MoT and tax it, and drive it home to Huddersfield.
One weekend in May, it was extracted from the barn looking a bit unloved and filthy. A freshly charged battery and some new fuel hose saw it running again and a trip down the lane to the farm saw the brakes cleaned off and working. Some road legal tyres with snazzy alloy wheels were also fitted.
Last Saturday, I returned to take it for it's MoT a short trip away over the Menai Bridge in Bethesda. A full tank of fresh Unleaded en-route and it was ready to go!
Yet another cheapo rotor arm did it's best to scupper the plans, an increasing misfire on the way from the petrol station to the A55 eventually saw the car cut out on the roundabout at the bottom of the slip road. I was prepared this time, as I had one of those posh 'red' rotor arms ready to go in the glove box - problem solved! (Oddly the same car burnt out another rotor arm starting in the same place and dieing on the A55 last time it was on the road. That occasion ended up with a six hour drive home courtesy of the AA!)
Minor drama over with, the MoT went swimmingly and a fresh ticket obtained with no advisories (not bad for two years off the road!). A stop off in the Post Office had a new tax disc in the window and the car legal to drive home.
A good clean up back at home gave me time to get reacquainted and draw up a 'to do' list. There's plenty of bubbling paint and scabby bits for me to tackle before they get any worse, plus an oil change and other mundane stuff. It's also without a choke at the moment as the ECU is kaput (not so much a problem in summer!). I may take it to the BMC/BL show at Gaydon this coming weekend 'as is'.
Future plans involve returning it to its original 13" steel wheels, replacing the driver's door, which is rotten and the previously mentioned localised scabby bit repairs.
A bit of background information on A333 SCK.
New to Mr. Werner Fuchs in Zurich, Switzerland it was driven every year to his holiday home in Southport (yes, really) until 1988 when he decided he was getting too old for the drive and he had the car registered in the UK and left it here choosing to fly to the UK for his holidays instead. It saw very little use, having covered only 40,000km when I bought it in 2007.
It features a Swiss market only emissions control system which comprises of an air pump driven by a double bottom pulley and an injection rail delivering air into the exhaust ports. It's pretty much what was fitted to American ADO16's and MG Midgets.
It's roughly equivalent to a HLE/HLS in the UK model line up, but features tweed door cards (to match the seats) and a five speed box as standard.
I've owned this Maestro since the end of 2007, but it's spent the last couple of years in a barn on a farm on Anglesey...out of sight, out of mind!
Enough time had passed that I thought I really should do something with this car this year, so a plan was hatched to get it running and moving then return a few weeks later to MoT and tax it, and drive it home to Huddersfield.
One weekend in May, it was extracted from the barn looking a bit unloved and filthy. A freshly charged battery and some new fuel hose saw it running again and a trip down the lane to the farm saw the brakes cleaned off and working. Some road legal tyres with snazzy alloy wheels were also fitted.
Last Saturday, I returned to take it for it's MoT a short trip away over the Menai Bridge in Bethesda. A full tank of fresh Unleaded en-route and it was ready to go!
Yet another cheapo rotor arm did it's best to scupper the plans, an increasing misfire on the way from the petrol station to the A55 eventually saw the car cut out on the roundabout at the bottom of the slip road. I was prepared this time, as I had one of those posh 'red' rotor arms ready to go in the glove box - problem solved! (Oddly the same car burnt out another rotor arm starting in the same place and dieing on the A55 last time it was on the road. That occasion ended up with a six hour drive home courtesy of the AA!)
Minor drama over with, the MoT went swimmingly and a fresh ticket obtained with no advisories (not bad for two years off the road!). A stop off in the Post Office had a new tax disc in the window and the car legal to drive home.
A good clean up back at home gave me time to get reacquainted and draw up a 'to do' list. There's plenty of bubbling paint and scabby bits for me to tackle before they get any worse, plus an oil change and other mundane stuff. It's also without a choke at the moment as the ECU is kaput (not so much a problem in summer!). I may take it to the BMC/BL show at Gaydon this coming weekend 'as is'.
Future plans involve returning it to its original 13" steel wheels, replacing the driver's door, which is rotten and the previously mentioned localised scabby bit repairs.
A bit of background information on A333 SCK.
New to Mr. Werner Fuchs in Zurich, Switzerland it was driven every year to his holiday home in Southport (yes, really) until 1988 when he decided he was getting too old for the drive and he had the car registered in the UK and left it here choosing to fly to the UK for his holidays instead. It saw very little use, having covered only 40,000km when I bought it in 2007.
It features a Swiss market only emissions control system which comprises of an air pump driven by a double bottom pulley and an injection rail delivering air into the exhaust ports. It's pretty much what was fitted to American ADO16's and MG Midgets.
It's roughly equivalent to a HLE/HLS in the UK model line up, but features tweed door cards (to match the seats) and a five speed box as standard.
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