Even small but reputable garages can muck up even the simple and routine tasks, but this one caused much head scratching for all involved… Words & Pictures Mike Humble / MMOC  A great car just dying to get out? In the past, I may have made the odd pithy remark about the Maestro and Montego, [...]

KEITH ADAMS Rimmer Bros sponsored AROnline’s Polish SD1 restoration… Buying parts for your BMC>MG has never been easier through AROnline… HERE at AROnline, we receive a large numbers of emails from people all over the world looking for parts for their cars MGs, Rovers, Landies and all manner of BMC>MG cars. Given that this is [...]

Another view through rose tinted spectacles at some once common automotive sights here in the UK. This time, our very own Austin Rover features here with their own slant on the ‘Hot Hatch’  The MG Maestro EFi, but the car hardly made a flying start as Mike Humble explains. Gone but not forgotten Whatever people say [...]

The aquisition of production rights for the Maestro by Etsong intended to signal the beginning of a new venture. However, it was the First Auto Works (FAW), who took over the Etsong project. This was not their first ex-BMC>Rover product… Etsong, first Following the ill-fated Bulgarian adventure, the Maestro/Montego found a new home in China. [...]

AROnline takes a look back at some of the memorable automotive blunders in more recent times from both our own, and rival makes. This time Mike Humble offers you a treat from our very own Austin Rover. Pray silence please for the Maestro HLE… The miracle Maestro? Now don’t get me wrong, but the Maestro is by no [...]

Anyone who knows Keith Adams might be a little surprised at this choice of Unsung Hero, especially considering the chequered history he has with A-Series Maestros. But despite the dramas, there’s no doubting that Spen King’s post-Allegro Volkswagen Golf remix was far more worthy than the sum of its parts. The unfulfilled symphony If we [...]

Mike Humble takes a sideways look at one of the sheds that littered the highways and by-ways of the UK. The Montego might have been a little tired by 1989, but the addition of a turbodiesel breathed new life into it. And for Mike Humble, that record breaking economy and unburstability should be celebrated. New [...]

Keith Adams The Austin Rover Rallysprint was a legendary annual motor sport event that ran throughout the early 1980s, and saw rally drivers pitched against their F1 counterparts to see which discipline bred the best drivers. In 1983, an all-star grid was assembled that included Nigel Mansell, Jimmy McRae, John Watson, Pentti Arikkala, Derek Warwick, [...]

Yet another rebirth of the Maestro… It’s true what they say: you cannot keep a good one down. However, the current custodians of the Maestro/Montego line have seen fit to give the old girl a thorough going over. Words: Alexander Boucke Re-re-birth! The Chengdu-based Sichuan Auto Industry Group Company Ltd. has revived the old Maestro [...]

Erik van Ingen Schenau captured the van version of the Chinese Maestro in the wild. Somehow, the full-depth bumper really suits it… Erik found these Maestro vans, relating the tale thus: “In June 2004, at the Asia Village Auto Market in Beijing (this is the largest dealer exhibit of new cars in China), I found [...]

The Metro started BL on its road to recovery, but if it was going to be a long term thing, then it needed to be followed up by equally popular mid-sized counterparts. However, the Maestro and Montego failed to capitalise on the lead pulled out by the impressive new supermini. Back from the brink? IN [...]

Fancy a Maestro or Montego? Here’s what to look out for… Availability Years produced: Maestro: 1983-1994 Montego: 1984-1994 Body styles: Maestro: 5-door hatchback, van Montego: 4-door saloon, five-door estate Engine options: 1275cc A-Plus inline-four 1598cc R-Series inline-four (Maestro only) 1598cc S-Series inline-four 1994cc O-Series inline-four (104, 115bhp atmo, and 150bhp turbo) 1994cc “Prima” diesel (atmo [...]

The Ford RS200 was once a competitor to Austin-Rover’s own Group B rally car, the Metro 6R4. This modern-day reinterpretation of the RS200 uses one of the production Metro’s stablemates as its basis… Banham appears to have ceased trading in 2004, although we have yet to find out the full details… To find out more, [...]

Ever wondered what a facelifted Maestro would look like? Well, now you know… The Chinese automotive group First Auto Works (FAW) acquired the production rights to the Maestro and Montego from Etsong (who had produced the Lubao QE6400 and derivatives) and developed the car into an interesting amalgamation of the two. On 11 May 2003, [...]

The aquisition of production rights for the Maestro by Etsong was intended to signal the beginning of a new venture. Following the ill-fated Bulgarian adventure, the Maestro/Montego found a new home in China. Etsong is an important Chinese tobacco company, but they also have an industrial division, a construction group, a travel agency, and own [...]

A couple of years after production had ceased in the UK, the Montego was re-introduced in the Indian subcontinent in order to compete in the executive car market. WHEN BMW bought the Rover Group in 1994, it has been said many times that Bernd Pischetsrieder was surprised to find the antiquated Montego and its hatchback [...]

A Montego… and then some! The Montego-based Warwick limousine and matching Hebden hearse were introduced to serve the lower end of the carriage-trade market where its sub-£20,000 purchase price would appeal. It occupied a slot in the market previously served by the Princess-based Kirklees. The Warwick was also likely to have been popular with cost-conscious [...]

One of those interesting publicity stunts was staged in order to highlight the Maestro’s potential for fuel economy… THE photograph was taken as she flagged off the two teams of Oxbridge students at the start of the Austin Maestro Economy Run challenge, (presumably alongside the Thames) in London. This publicity stunt to promote the high [...]

Richard Bremner penned this piece, which originally appeared on the 4Car website in March 2003. Richard is well-known for being a highly-respected motoring scribe, but in his formative years, he worked in the employ of Austin-Rover. His love/hate relationship with the company’s products stayed with him long after he left… Maestro – My part in [...]

Ian Elliott joined the company as an Austin student engineering apprentice and remained there until 1991. Ian was commissioned to write this piece for programme for the MG Saloon Day, and it amusingly reveals that there was much about the Maestro’s launch that did not go to plan… A difficult, if miraculous birth AS an [...]