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  • You may know me from such films as...

    ... the 180,000 mile Maestro.



    I finally got my shtuff together and signed up here, hopefully you lovely folks will help me get my battered old City X fighting fit again. It's certainly not the best example of the breed, and that's fine. I'm embracing its survivor 90s aesthetic and doing what I can to keep on top of all the important things since this is the car that gets me about every day at the moment since my Princess is out of action awaiting an engine rebuild, and the Lanchester isn't finished yet.



    It's a remarkable thing really. The first owner used it from new until they couldn't drive it any more, the second owner lightly recommissioned it and got an MoT on it, and I'm now using it as my everyday transport as the third owner. It's just a good basic car that's been doing what it was designed to do for just over thirty years non-stop. Pretty good going, really.

  • #2
    Looks in pretty good nick, nice to see them still earning their keep, the 'as new' (or in some cases better than new!) restorations are great to see and generally win the prizes at shows, but I do like to see some with a bit of patina as well! The video link didn't seem to work though?

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    • #3
      That's strange, it's working fine when I click on it here. If it shows up as a black square with a grey play button, just click on the button and it should play.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Vulgalour View Post
        That's strange, it's working fine when I click on it here. If it shows up as a black square with a grey play button, just click on the button and it should play.
        Strange, I tried it again & it did work!, maybe my computer was having one of it's funny turns..

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Vulgalour View Post
          ... the 180,000 mile Maestro.



          I finally got my shtuff together and signed up here, hopefully you lovely folks will help me get my battered old City X fighting fit again. It's certainly not the best example of the breed, and that's fine. I'm embracing its survivor 90s aesthetic and doing what I can to keep on top of all the important things since this is the car that gets me about every day at the moment since my Princess is out of action awaiting an engine rebuild, and the Lanchester isn't finished yet.



          It's a remarkable thing really. The first owner used it from new until they couldn't drive it any more, the second owner lightly recommissioned it and got an MoT on it, and I'm now using it as my everyday transport as the third owner. It's just a good basic car that's been doing what it was designed to do for just over thirty years non-stop. Pretty good going, really.
          Well done , all those miles and still looks good

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          • #6
            It's mostly fine except for the few bits where it isn't... like this little mishap when I washed it recently. Not with a jetwash either, just a bucket and a hose!

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            It's okay though, I 'fixed' it.
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            I've got the tools and materials to put this right properly, so I'll be welding it up properly once I've got a decent bit of good weather and free time together.

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            • #7
              If I ever move back to the UK I'd be happy with a 1.3 later Maestro as a daily driver.

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              • #8
                Just make sure it's a five speed if you want to go on the motorway, the four speed is a bit shouty over 60mph. I've now got that arch all back together again, not a nice job, especially since I was having to improvise with front wings. Looks okay, inside is now all sealed and painted (I did that after this picture) and the outside just needs a skim of filler and some fresh paint. Then I'll get to do it all again on the passenger. At least panels are available for the passenger side so that will save me a lot of time, I'll do the same trick of using an outer arch to rebuild the inner arch where it's rotted away since inner arch panels aren't available to my knowledge.

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                If I can get hold of a couple of driver's side rear arch repair panels then I'll definitely redo this so the profile is better and so I can improve some of the inner arch repair work. Chopping a lot of the outer wing off makes repairing the inner a lot easier so you can then do it from the outside rather than trying to get your head inside the wheel arch. I just wasn't sure if I had enough of everything to do it that way on this side since my repair sections were somewhat limited. Paint is the other nuisance since normally I just pick something up from Halfords to get it done quick, they don't do Targa Red. They do sell Mazda Classic Red which is a close enough match, if a little darker, so I'll be using that instead providing our local has it in stock. Then I'll be ordering some proper Targa Red to redo the various bits around the car that need it. There's not much point getting too fussy at any rate, this is a daily driver not a show car.

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                • #9
                  It's done. Three days of hard graft all in. There's a couple of spots I need to improve the profiling on but I wanted this in paint rather than bare filler and primer since I'm having to do this outdoors and the weather has been threatening to change today. I'll go back and finesse the areas that aren't spot on at a later date. For this car, it doesn't matter, what matters is the lack of rust and filler.
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                  So there you go. You can replace a rear arch with front arches. I'll release a full video on this in a few weeks/months (I film in advance to keep my upload schedule organise) showing the whole adventure and, when my membership status on the forum matches my actual membership status, I'll be happy to make a build thread/diary on this car over in the Members Cars section.

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                  • #10
                    Good job, spotted this on retro rides. I don't often sign in anywhere but thought I'd say hi. Hi.

                    Managed to get my arch welded at the garage around the corner last week, looking much smarter and was able to add new tin without needing a new arch donor.

                    I've had my own issues with tracing leaks so your posts on that were quite familiar. I managed to pick up a slightly dented, but not rusty, tailgate a few months back. That's in prep but hopefully should solve at least part of my problem and stop bits of the current one breaking off in my hands whenever I close it..
                    Last edited by A+MAESTRO; 13th September 2021, 13:31.

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                    • #11
                      Hopefully the leak hunting vids etc. are useful. I'm keen to get the practical info out there for other Maestro fettlers. I'm still on the lookout for a tailgate of any sort, even a rusty one would be useful so I can have one fitted while I repair the other off the car. Running and working on a car simultaneously is quite a challenge sometimes.

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                      • #12
                        I find them useful. I found your issues with the cold running interesting. Mine struggles to get to a decent temperature, I've only recently realised my heater actually does work because it eventually did run warm, I've had the car two years.
                        I haven't really looked too far in to it for the moment though. Just trying to make good on the rust and give some longevity to it's life.
                        ​​​​If I see one I'll let you know, mine is too far gone to offer I'm afraid. It regularly leaks and I'll likely be using the screen out of it.
                        I've read quite a few of your posts over the years actually, you seem to appreciate the more unusual retro. I was convinced to buy my maestro by reading about Jim the maestro on retrorides though.

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                        • #13
                          Glad to be of service I've finally cured the cold running issue (videos on this in the future, they're stuck in the schedule queue) which was due to a knackered radiator and the thermostat being in the wrong tier of the housing. I'm currently chasing an electrical ghost that's living somewhere between the new fan switch and the wiring, I suspect it's the original connectors on the wiring loom that aren't making a great connection since everything else checks out fine, including the new switch.

                          Recently got the exhaust blow fixed too, finally. It'll be a while before there's a video on that, suffice to say it was a take-it-to-a-garage job. Took the Maestro to Maidstone Exhaust Centre on Bower Lane, in Maidstone obviously, service was top notch and price was very fair given how much of a fight the exhaust put up. Very glad I didn't try and do that one at home! They treated the car with much more respect than I expected, especially since it's a bit cobwebby thanks to the spiders that have taken up residence inside the door mirrors recently. I've got a few more things ordered recently so there's brake work coming up and I'm hoping I get the time to sort the bodywork out that's important for MoT, I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss something since I can't get the car up at ramp height at home so we'll have to see what happens on that front in December.

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