In all the Max Power and Fast Car performance tests using tuned up RS Turbos, Novas with C20XEs or turbos, R5 GT Turbos, 205 gti turbos etc all modded the fastest FWD 0-60 and general performance was taken by MG Maestro Turbos! They out accelerated EVERYTHING! Often hitting 60 in under 6 seconds in the 90s was incredibly impressive!
The press cars had the boost turned up, showroom cars were slower but still comparable to their competitors just don't take much notice of road tests from any of the press cars.
That was a blast from the past., I worked at Huxfords - the dealer which supplied this car for several summers in the valet department. Chances are I prepared this when it was new!
Barn finds coming thick and fast! Love watching these after listening to the Weekley Smith & Sniff podcast, knowing all Jonny has to go through behind the scenes to make these happen for us every week. Whether that's baking a shit all day or running out of petrol 😂
A hatch that deserves to be saved. Too many fine pieces of BL/Austin Rover/Rover products are forgotten about. All the best recomissioning it gents. My Daughter Rona will enjoy this episode!! Cheers Jonny!!
I had a red one on loan for a week in the 80's, whilst my golf gti was in for work.. Now I get why it was so quick! 150bhp! Corners were bad but it shifted!! 👌
I absolutely loved driving this actual car felt well cool back in the day so fast I turned some heads in till I wreaked the sump and was no longer allowed to drive it
Yes very much enjoyed! Dad had the 1985 MG Montego which I thought said EFI on the back brand new. It was maroon and seemed so cool at the time. He let me drive it on airfield at 15 years old and it was so so responsive but I drove it like a truck… A young friend at work a bit later in time 1987, had a D reg Black Maestro Turbo which looked awesome. Unfortunately it was already struggling and feeling the effects of the regular abuse it was being subjected to and not running properly. We couldn’t understand how he could have afforded such a car at 17 years old so we guessed it was stolen.
I had a Nissan Bluebird ZX turbo back in the day. Forget your RS turbos, 205 gtis etc, the only thing to give it a run for its money was the MG Maestro turbo
Kid in Sunderland had one it was green Tuned to bits Kept crashing it and repairing it Would appear a different colour after the crashes Blue over silver then orange
Just read about the MG Maestro Turbo after watching this and in 1984 Austin Rover had developed a version of an MG Turbo but didn't bring it to market as it was Too Fast! Imagine if they did it would have been the king over the Escort RS Turbo and 205 GTi and how many they could if sold and made their brand more popular. The management killed the brand with their own incompetence
My parent’s friends had a Maestro in the 80s and I’ll never forget hearing it telling me to put my seatbelt on. A CAR THAT SPOKE LIKE NIGHTRIDER. My tiny little mind was blown 🤯
I’d love to see some follow up shows on previous barn finds, where you get to see the car fully restored and test drive, you could put a link at the end of each barn find video too so it would naturally boost traffic for your channel.
Right, this maestro i doubt my uncles gonna restore it any time soon, keep getting onto him but life gets in the way and hes gotta fix his mk4 golf gti aswell, thats why that red honda jazz is there at the start of the video. Hes usually got a whippy car but at the moment no. If any restoration happens its 100% gonna be filmed and hopefully get jonny back on after
I remember these when I had my RST S2 in 1993....brutally fast but had had a bit of an image crisis going on! My mum's neighbour has a white D reg MG Montego Turbo in his garage. The old boy was a MG Rover development engineer and has owned the car from new and it is absolutely mint...museum quality. I've spoken to the chap a few times and looked over the car and it's incredible. It very rarely comes out but it is pristine!
This channel is now my top car channel. I love the barn finds. And I love that you are so passionate about what others would say are ordinary cars. Freaking love this show.
There was a guy at my local cruise in Maidstone, who had a red turbo Maestro. Nobody would race it because they didn’t want to get beaten by a Maestro! Another great barn find, Jonny. Please keep them coming.
Ask me yesterday if I would enjoy a video about an MG Maestro I'd say you were bat shit crazy but that took me back to the days of acid techno and boy racers on the sea front car parks..mint
2 episodes in one weekend. Heaven. The E9 with Gor was a sensation as it brought back so many favourable memories of growing up with a BMW mad dad and now this MG Maestro, over which my eldest bro salivated. Thank you Jonny. From the top drawer of TH-cam. Fact. Keep ‘em coming
@@TheLateBrakeShow Just scrolled the comments looking for anyone who knows about the Maestro turbo racing series - my friends were all partakers and I helped prepare one in particular from snotter to widow-maker! We tested at Bruntingthorpe track days, I took 35mm pic's I still have - Vicky B.H. was there on at least one occasion. The racing took in a lot of the known circuits inc. Brands and Spar. Krazy _daze_ !
Time definitely changes perspective, thought these were awful cars when I was younger xr3 astra gte etc looked miles better, but that looks really nice now, also not too bad rust wise, though it'd take some work to recommission definitely worth it, love these barn finds rapidly becoming one of my must watch video series, no dramas no fakery just interesting well made content
My mom had a brand new '85 2.0 Efi. That long stroke engine had plenty of torque (around 180 Nm) so it pulled like mad but the chassis and the brakes were no match for the engine. The shell was made of numerous small panels all spot welded together. It twisted like a wet noodle and the paint on the seams cracked and started rusting quickly.
With only 79 MG Maestro turbo's being produced in white it makes for a very rare MG. I'm a massive fan of these motor's and have one myself so I can say for sure that it would make for a lovely fast MG saloon once restored. Great find and a brilliant video!
I have never understood the width of British/Irish garages!. If you were "wealthy" enough to have one it wasn't worth parking a car in. Love the video.
I have literally only seen one Maestro Turbo still running on the road in recent years... It was in absolutely stunning condition and was in Black. Saw a Montego Turbo too once upon a time. Absolutely loved 90's hot hatches.
I was operating a tractor and baler in Lincolnshire, I was amazed by how many of those cars live over there...cars I've not seen in decades still driving in that county! Amazing what you see over the hedges!
Having owned both an MG Metro Turbo and Montego Turbo concurrently in the 80s this brings back many memories. My Montego suffered similar rust problems that appeared ridiculously quickly and resulted in body repairs under warranty. A great episode to watch!
I owned No.40 in British Racing Green. I fitted electric windows to the rear (they weren't standard in the rear), and the electric motor and switch/wiring to the sunroof from a Montego VDP. Also, I fitted the talking digital dashboard, from a "A" plate MG 1600 Maestro, which was plug and play (apart from the speed sensor and fuel computer sensors). The speed sensor used was from a Rover 820e. Scorpion exhaust, and larger VW front discs (Corrado I think), using caliper carrier adapters. After upgrading the carburettor needle and putting a hybrid Garret T3 turbo on, 248 bhp was recorded on a rolling road in Padiham (i'm sure it was a mini specialist). I never fitted the quad headlight kit I bought. Google "Two Tone MG Maestro", and photos are available to be seen. Oh, two tone cos the bottom of the car/bumpers was a lurid Fiat snot green 😂
If these are like the Metro Turbo (the entire fuel system looks very similar, down to the intake manifold to my eye), they run a bosch 044-style fuel pump and a pressure regulator. I think it just needed all the fuel you could give it. Really, really glad to see it lives. 👍🏾 Good luck with the car Uncle Scott. Thanks for not scrapping this Iconic MG
@@TheLateBrakeShow 100% No way the thing would have survived out in the elements. Even the rain during the shoot was like "Ah, nice to see you old friend, ready to rust.. sorry, rock and roll?" 🤣
I had a british racing green MG Maestro Turbo it was a very nippy car but the brakes were next to usless.The main problem for me with the car was scum bags trying to steal it. I ended up putting a chain through sterring wheel and around the seat mount.After the 3rd attempted theft i decided to sell the car, Cool video and brought back some happy memories
When I was little my dad had a standard rover Maestro and it was terrible, still not sure on its appearance now to be honest 😂 It’ll be a good when we get “barn finds revisited” and see all these cars back on the road
There is a minter with 93000 on the clock in Leek on EBay for £20k from a dealer. Or another one, on a G plate for £9600 so holding their money if you can find one.
My recollection of the time is that the SU carb had a habit of catching fire a little while after the engine was switched off as heat transferred from the block to petrol in the carb. BL added a fan cooler / vapour dissipating system which was linked to ignition off with a timer to cool/ventilate the SU for a few minutes after stopping the engine.
It wasn’t a fire risk it created hot starting problems due to fuel vaporisation from the heat soak from the turbo - the fans were known as anti percolation fans - my 5 GT-turbo had two fitted and my Renault 11 turbo had one too blowing on the solex carb, the trick when they had hot starting issues was to open the throttle butterfly wide open and keep turning over to draw lots of air through and eventually they fired - but they only really had issues if you thrashed the hell out of them or it was a super hot day
I was born the year this car rotted, funnily enough I live 2 miles away from whereabouts it had it MOT done in Fareham that place is a Skoda/Suzuki garage now
The Maestro originally had a 1600 motor with twin webers, then there was a 2.0 EFi Maestro and Montego but the Turbos (Montego 2.0 Turbo as well) all had carbs.
I owned a green maestro turbo 20ish year's ago also. I stupidly scrapped it because it needed sills, rear arches and engine work. Regret it now when i see one 😢.
Dunlop D8's were terrible tyres. I had them on my R21 Turbo (88 vintage) always felt like bulged, or oval, swapped to Pirelli's. Cured. Had MG 1600 Maestro when they came out. Great cars let down by underfunding. The Maestro was detuned, so not to outdo Montego MG Turbo. Maestro much better handling - wheel on each corner.
Crazy to think that in the 30 years since this was created, you've got the 208gti, Polo gti, Mk3st, manual Golf Gti and Fiesta St. All modern hot hatches that would be seriously sweating trying to beat this in a 0-60 race. It must've felt like a fucking rocketship back in the late 80's.
They did. No-one could touch mine except my mate's cousin who had a Sapphire Cosworth and even that struggled to get ahead below about 80mph. Had mine to over 130 on the clock a few times and it was still pulling. Happy days, empty roads and no cameras....
Tin worm was the biggest downfall of these cars :( but they were so fast pulled and pulled massive torque. The red mg montego turbo my dad had, many a times he dragged againt RS turbo's and the odd cavalier gsi2000 he always won the only car that came close to keeping up was an old modded fiat supermirafouri. I also have an original mg metro/maestro/montego brochure/manuals that my dad got when he got the car. but I've always had a soft spot for the mg montego/maestro.
The marketing blurb said it came with ‘Homofogal’ headlamps. Still don’t know what that means. I test drove one and chose the Peugeot 205 1.9 instead. I felt the build quality was at least as good if not better than the competition. Nice car. Just slightly less engaging than the Pug. A good car to be proud of certainly.
That's interesting - I'd never heard of that, so I looked it up on Wikipedia: "Starting in the 1980s, headlamp reflectors began to evolve beyond the simple stamped steel parabola. The 1983 Austin Maestro was the first vehicle equipped with Lucas-Carello's homofocal reflectors, which comprised parabolic sections of different focal length to improve the efficiency of light collection and distribution."
My friends step Mom , had a Maestro EFI 2.0 , boy did we spank that car ! we were just 17 years old and just qualified drivers , and that car was so fast ! It must have been 1988 or 1999 , bless my mates step Mom , she would ask us to run errands and collect shopping , in the car , it was a" on trust " , type deal , we never crashed it .
Wow this brings back memories! My first new (company) car was a red Maestro. Admittedly not an MG Turbo but a humble 1.6L! No probs apart from the petrol tank splitting after a week! 😵
Great video. I've just restored an 88 2.0 EFi the sound of a non starting O series was the sound of this spring 😮 A few things caused it but the main culprit was the tank. Before you do anything with this take the tank off have professionally cleaned and fit a new fuel pump Sadly there are so few parts available, luckily this seems to have a non cracked dash but panels are very scarce and windscreens NLA I had to have one made. There is a bloke in Portugal on ebay who has a few rare parts Hope it sees the road again I've messed about with them for nearly 40 years I used to have turbo No7 Cheers Russ
I pdi,d 1 of these when I was an apprentice our dealership sold 2 a red one and a British racing green one absolute rocket ship I wasn't allowed to testdrive it though
My Nephew has one of the white MG Turbo's and took it to a car show in Coventry City centre prior to the Covid lock down. It was in a slightly better condition to the one featured today.
I had one of these F400SLL white bought in from colchester car auctions...took it to motorbuild had a tubo boos upgrade upgraded springs and bushed a k and n panel filter etc it handles like it was on rails and would just about take most cars out ...what a car!
I had the Metro, MG turbo I loved it I was 18 and the world was my lobster😂 I always liked the look of the Montego MG turbo for my next car, but in the end I bought a Nissan Silvia 1.8 turbo, as you can tell I was hooked on the turbo boom of the time👍😆
A 1.3 Maestro was the first new car I ever owned, I bought when I was working in Cyprus. The car was shipped back to UK when I returned in 1985. I sold the car about a year later to my Dad! It was a worthy replacement to the Maxi
Jonny, you need to have a word with Richard, because Top Gear crashed 2 of these for a ‘James Bond barrel roll stunt’ bit, and I’ve always wanted to know why. Dear god why?!
Another fantastic barn find, I'm not a maestro fan but these are a curiosity and definitely worth preserving, still unbelievable that these were rotting at 3 years old.
I had a mate back around then, who along with his father bought two brand new Lada's' & both were rotted badly by 3yrs old. Austin cars of the era were similarly riddled.
I bloody love an mg maestro. Hope it gets sorted and put back on the road. If not then I have a solid £150 ready to offer - that’s how much my last one cost!
I came out of a nightclub one night in the early 90's and watched a guy run straight up the back of a parked 'Panda Car' Maestro and without missing a stride boot the blue light clean off its roof. By the time the two bemused Bobby's had got out, he was long gone.
The first car I remember my dad having was a brown Austin maestro. It got stolen and broke down a lot. I can't say I'm a big fan of their looks, but they definitely bring back memories
Great upload, Johnny! Have you thought about doing some Barn Find (revisited)'s? Going back to previously featured barn find cars that the owners have restored, or merely brought back to usable status? I'd tune in for that fo' sho'. 👍
I had a turbo montego MG back in 89....it was so fast just through being so light at under a ton....handled awful, .....but I managed to keep up with a well driven cosworth Sierra once and a V8 Ferrari and I'm not telling porkies....I'd still give it a chance over what I drive today.... The punch mid range was epic....a simple bleed valve liberated about another 25 ponies which you felt
My old man bought a brand new Montego Countryman estate in 1990. The turbocharged Perkins engine was still going strong over 250k miles but the body just rotted around it. Let's be honest, Maestros and Montegos were ugly old dogs but I was still strangely fond of them.
At the beginning of the video I was thinking it must be an uno or Tipo IE turbo or maybe an MG metro turbo. I'd completely forgotten about the maestro. There used to be a fella in wythenshaw Manchester had a blue maestro turbo and he used to bomb around, it was rapid for the day!
You're not going to believe this, I mean, I barely can and it was my eyes. But just this very day I saw a MG Montego Turbo. What a coincidence that this episode came up. My partner was a bit bemused with my gushing as I struggle to explain the rarity of that car.
Had no idea these were so rare. I remember encountering a white Maestro Turbo back in 2003, it absolutely left my Nova GSI for dead! Just disappeared into the horizon. Good times! 👍
Take it down to Retropower Limited in Hinckley LE10 3EF and get it restored, would be a shame just to keep leaving it shut away and not getting any used out of it, could then be a summer/show car 🙂.
I always dreamt of owning an MG Maestro Turbo in red but just could not afford one. Ended up with a Friday afternoon MG Metro Turbo, that was pants. I was convinced the Turbo only powered the boost lights on the dash, as it did little else. However, I really wish that I had it back now, as I miss it.
I also had a Metro Turbo back in the 80’s and paid a 2 grand for it - hilarious fun and pretty reliable. I sold it to my mate who was a mechanic and he got all the problems! On mine the LED boost gauge would also work by tapping the dashboard near it regardless of engine revs. I was also glad to see the back of it but wish I had it now 😢
Love it; this is what TH-cam is all about! You can keep your McLaren's, Ferraris and Porsche 911 GTS 4x4 TI Turbo Sports Superlites... show me a Maestro Turbo any day. Cheers Jonny!
Love the video 👍 been a while since I’ve seen one of these! I have a ‘88 Peugeot 205 1.9 GTi sat in a garage that hasn’t seen the light of day for over 15 years if your interested?…….
Yet another cracking episode Johnny and it awoke a particular memory for me as a friend managed to write his red one off by misjudging a bend at night and putting it on its roof in a farmer’s field. Retelling the story in the pub a few nights after, he made us all roar with laughter by saying all he remembered was coming too upside down and still held in the drivers seat by his seatbelt and hearing the digital dashboard saying ‘warning, low oil pressure’ 😂. He was a bit of a legend in his own lunchtime in truth and managed to total quite a few cars back in the day - even rolling his 2CV into a ditch. He has also managed to write off his CX9 by swamping it on a flooded road and ran his Nissan Murano into the back of a Porsche Cayenne in recent years, so I doubt he will ever change. 😂😂
@@arkhsm The story stems from the journalist Chris Goffey having the exact same accident during the launch of the Maestro and people the using the tale but changing it to be about 'a friend'.
@@mrdainase I can assure you mine is a first hand true account, we saw the car at the recovery yard the following week and like I say, he was notorious for wrecking cars (and motorbikes too), so much so that he must have used several of his nine lives already.
I honestly cried watching this... my grandad had one in white same year same interior. 12000 original miles sat in his garage sadly he has passed but my grandma still lives due to a family feud I've not seen this car for a while but I still know of its existence, that to be sat in the garage. Honestly hand on heart best barn find for me by far.
Hitched a ride from Junction one to J25 on a desperate Sunday evening.. A lady screeched to a halt on the slip road in a red one of these.... said... "I hope you like Reggae Music", and in 60 minutes we had completed the 125 mile trip.. Thanks Ducks... whoever you were.
0 to 60 in 5.9 once as I remember. I had about 20 EFI Maestros then 6 220 coupe turbos. one being a mark 1 Black which was written of by a Skoda in Longbridge whilst looking at a knackered Sapphire Cosworth. That was a sad day.
In all the Max Power and Fast Car performance tests using tuned up RS Turbos, Novas with C20XEs or turbos, R5 GT Turbos, 205 gti turbos etc all modded the fastest FWD 0-60 and general performance was taken by MG Maestro Turbos! They out accelerated EVERYTHING! Often hitting 60 in under 6 seconds in the 90s was incredibly impressive!
We still fawned over those lesser-powered models instead of giving MG the credit they were due
They were certified super car bothering weapons back then. According to 90's legend only the vauxhall astramax van was faster.
The press cars had the boost turned up, showroom cars were slower but still comparable to their competitors just don't take much notice of road tests from any of the press cars.
@@popuptoaster That's still the case.
Fast in a straight line. Not quite in the same class as some others in the twisties though but yeah, a bit of a monster back in the day.
That was a blast from the past., I worked at Huxfords - the dealer which supplied this car for several summers in the valet department. Chances are I prepared this when it was new!
Barn finds coming thick and fast! Love watching these after listening to the Weekley Smith & Sniff podcast, knowing all Jonny has to go through behind the scenes to make these happen for us every week.
Whether that's baking a shit all day or running out of petrol 😂
A hatch that deserves to be saved. Too many fine pieces of BL/Austin Rover/Rover products are forgotten about. All the best recomissioning it gents.
My Daughter Rona will enjoy this episode!!
Cheers Jonny!!
I had a red one on loan for a week in the 80's, whilst my golf gti was in for work.. Now I get why it was so quick! 150bhp!
Corners were bad but it shifted!! 👌
I absolutely loved driving this actual car felt well cool back in the day so fast I turned some heads in till I wreaked the sump and was no longer allowed to drive it
Yes very much enjoyed!
Dad had the 1985 MG Montego which I thought said EFI on the back brand new.
It was maroon and seemed so cool at the time.
He let me drive it on airfield at 15 years old and it was so so responsive but I drove it like a truck…
A young friend at work a bit later in time 1987, had a D reg Black Maestro Turbo which looked awesome.
Unfortunately it was already struggling and feeling the effects of the regular abuse it was being subjected to and not running properly.
We couldn’t understand how he could have afforded such a car at 17 years old so we guessed it was stolen.
I love that is has a labelled compartment for loose change.
It was the 80s...
I worked at a garage where the bosses mum (our admin lady) had a white one of these. I had crazy torque from what I remember. They left GTIs standing
These are great films so interesting and they bring my motoring history back to mind.
Another nice owner of another fab motor. Keep 'em coming Jonny!
I had a Nissan Bluebird ZX turbo back in the day. Forget your RS turbos, 205 gtis etc, the only thing to give it a run for its money was the MG Maestro turbo
Cracking content, keep it going Jonny 👍
80s hot hatches are just the best! Great video!
Kid in Sunderland had one it was green
Tuned to bits
Kept crashing it and repairing it
Would appear a different colour after the crashes
Blue over silver then orange
Always wanted one of those but was too young to get insurance. They were seriously quick, almost supercar (at the time) quick.
I am always worried about those ancient timing belts.
I remember the Vanden Plas version had the talking dash
I was certain it was going to have red seat belts when you showed the interior 😮
I think that was the earlier non Turbo MG cars, as they also had the talking dash.
Just read about the MG Maestro Turbo after watching this and in 1984 Austin Rover had developed a version of an MG Turbo but didn't bring it to market as it was Too Fast! Imagine if they did it would have been the king over the Escort RS Turbo and 205 GTi and how many they could if sold and made their brand more popular. The management killed the brand with their own incompetence
what a guy
Great find Johnny, I have an MG Maestro Turbo in BRG. It’s number 267 with only 47k on it. Great to see another one.👍
I have a BRG Turbo ,number 272, motd taxed and on the road ,had it since 1994.
You two need to meet up!
That would be great!
My parent’s friends had a Maestro in the 80s and I’ll never forget hearing it telling me to put my seatbelt on. A CAR THAT SPOKE LIKE NIGHTRIDER. My tiny little mind was blown 🤯
My mum had one - it was on the Vanden plas models
And on the MG. My brother had a 1983 Y reg MG Maestro 1600 with "digital speech synthesis"!!
@@db4096 Yup, I had the MG 2.0i version and it had it too.
I’d love to see some follow up shows on previous barn finds, where you get to see the car fully restored and test drive, you could put a link at the end of each barn find video too so it would naturally boost traffic for your channel.
Most of them are probably dead from being started with 20+ year old oil after having the bores washed with WD40.
Right, this maestro i doubt my uncles gonna restore it any time soon, keep getting onto him but life gets in the way and hes gotta fix his mk4 golf gti aswell, thats why that red honda jazz is there at the start of the video. Hes usually got a whippy car but at the moment no. If any restoration happens its 100% gonna be filmed and hopefully get jonny back on after
The foot pump is broke! Thank God, now you can get a decent compressor!
OMG Jonny , are you literally going from door to door , garage to garage ? Your discoveries just get better and better 😍😍😍😍
It's not JW knocking on the door It's JS 😂.
Worked at a Rover dealership as a mechanic when these were new, fast and the torque steer would have you swapping lanes without steering😀
You need to find a Nissan Cherry Turbo
We are always game for a challenge.
I remember these when I had my RST S2 in 1993....brutally fast but had had a bit of an image crisis going on!
My mum's neighbour has a white D reg MG Montego Turbo in his garage. The old boy was a MG Rover development engineer and has owned the car from new and it is absolutely mint...museum quality. I've spoken to the chap a few times and looked over the car and it's incredible. It very rarely comes out but it is pristine!
This channel is now my top car channel. I love the barn finds. And I love that you are so passionate about what others would say are ordinary cars. Freaking love this show.
Welcome to the club! Sorry it's taken you this long :D
Awesome! Thank you! ✊🏽
He’s a mechanic. He must know someone who could do the bodywork. Thought they were cool in era but cooler now. Who else is on ebay looking ?
@@craigrobertson7938 Bet you daren't buy one.....tick tock....
There was a guy at my local cruise in Maidstone, who had a red turbo Maestro. Nobody would race it because they didn’t want to get beaten by a Maestro! Another great barn find, Jonny. Please keep them coming.
I too remember a red one around Maidstone back in the day.
The bridges! I remember them well 😁
Ask me yesterday if I would enjoy a video about an MG Maestro I'd say you were bat shit crazy but that took me back to the days of acid techno and boy racers on the sea front car parks..mint
Ha! Thank you. Yeah, this era was a special one for both music and the car world.
2 episodes in one weekend. Heaven. The E9 with Gor was a sensation as it brought back so many favourable memories of growing up with a BMW mad dad and now this MG Maestro, over which my eldest bro salivated. Thank you Jonny. From the top drawer of TH-cam. Fact. Keep ‘em coming
Thanks for watching them!
…haha, I love your comment, thanks for sharing, Gor.
@@TheLateBrakeShow Just scrolled the comments looking for anyone who knows about the Maestro turbo racing series - my friends were all partakers and I helped prepare one in particular from snotter to widow-maker! We tested at Bruntingthorpe track days, I took 35mm pic's I still have - Vicky B.H. was there on at least one occasion.
The racing took in a lot of the known circuits inc. Brands and Spar.
Krazy _daze_ !
Time definitely changes perspective, thought these were awful cars when I was younger xr3 astra gte etc looked miles better, but that looks really nice now, also not too bad rust wise, though it'd take some work to recommission definitely worth it, love these barn finds rapidly becoming one of my must watch video series, no dramas no fakery just interesting well made content
Doesn't look like that much work. The hardest part will be getting white paint to match
DW40 isnt a penirating oil...its a water dispercing spray
My mom had a brand new '85 2.0 Efi. That long stroke engine had plenty of torque (around 180 Nm) so it pulled like mad but the chassis and the brakes were no match for the engine. The shell was made of numerous small panels all spot welded together. It twisted like a wet noodle and the paint on the seams cracked and started rusting quickly.
Did you see a lot of these in the states? I had no idea they were sold there at all.
I had a red mg maestro turbo and a black montego turbo I wish I still had them
@@FRED25111247 I am pretty sure these were not sold in the US.
Seems like europe has a thing for poorly made cars.
@@rumcove07 I would be surprised as well but I just assumed the o.p was from the states due to the use of the term mom.
Who knew Jurger Klopp had an MG Turbo. He’ll never drive alone.
With only 79 MG Maestro turbo's being produced in white it makes for a very rare MG. I'm a massive fan of these motor's and have one myself so I can say for sure that it would make for a lovely fast MG saloon once restored. Great find and a brilliant video!
I have never understood the width of British/Irish garages!. If you were "wealthy" enough to have one it wasn't worth parking a car in.
Love the video.
Same in Holland and France... Only the Germans seem to understand proper standard garage sizes 🤷♂️
I have literally only seen one Maestro Turbo still running on the road in recent years... It was in absolutely stunning condition and was in Black. Saw a Montego Turbo too once upon a time. Absolutely loved 90's hot hatches.
I was operating a tractor and baler in Lincolnshire, I was amazed by how many of those cars live over there...cars I've not seen in decades still driving in that county! Amazing what you see over the hedges!
Having owned both an MG Metro Turbo and Montego Turbo concurrently in the 80s this brings back many memories. My Montego suffered similar rust problems that appeared ridiculously quickly and resulted in body repairs under warranty.
A great episode to watch!
My Montego was one of the lucky ones. 140,000 miles with no corrosion! That thing was invincible!
I owned No.40 in British Racing Green.
I fitted electric windows to the rear (they weren't standard in the rear), and the electric motor and switch/wiring to the sunroof from a Montego VDP.
Also, I fitted the talking digital dashboard, from a "A" plate MG 1600 Maestro, which was plug and play (apart from the speed sensor and fuel computer sensors).
The speed sensor used was from a Rover 820e.
Scorpion exhaust, and larger VW front discs (Corrado I think), using caliper carrier adapters.
After upgrading the carburettor needle and putting a hybrid Garret T3 turbo on,
248 bhp was recorded on a rolling road in Padiham (i'm sure it was a mini specialist).
I never fitted the quad headlight kit I bought.
Google "Two Tone MG Maestro", and photos are available to be seen.
Oh, two tone cos the bottom of the car/bumpers was a lurid Fiat snot green 😂
Think that was Moto-Build, I'm sure they had a shop at Padiham back then.
@@johnj3577 I had two Rover 820 T worked on by Moto-build, at there shop just outside London
If these are like the Metro Turbo (the entire fuel system looks very similar, down to the intake manifold to my eye), they run a bosch 044-style fuel pump and a pressure regulator.
I think it just needed all the fuel you could give it. Really, really glad to see it lives. 👍🏾
Good luck with the car Uncle Scott. Thanks for not scrapping this Iconic MG
I reckon uncle Scott saved it by squirrelling it.
@@TheLateBrakeShow 100%
No way the thing would have survived out in the elements. Even the rain during the shoot was like "Ah, nice to see you old friend, ready to rust.. sorry, rock and roll?" 🤣
The float gets stiff they were a hif44 su carb I'm sure brass float
I had a british racing green MG Maestro Turbo it was a very nippy car but the brakes were next to usless.The main problem for me with the car was scum bags trying to steal it. I ended up putting a chain through sterring wheel and around the seat mount.After the 3rd attempted theft i decided to sell the car, Cool video and brought back some happy memories
When I was little my dad had a standard rover Maestro and it was terrible, still not sure on its appearance now to be honest 😂
It’ll be a good when we get “barn finds revisited” and see all these cars back on the road
There is a minter with 93000 on the clock in Leek on EBay for £20k from a dealer. Or another one, on a G plate for £9600 so holding their money if you can find one.
My recollection of the time is that the SU carb had a habit of catching fire a little while after the engine was switched off as heat transferred from the block to petrol in the carb. BL added a fan cooler / vapour dissipating system which was linked to ignition off with a timer to cool/ventilate the SU for a few minutes after stopping the engine.
Same as the R5 GT Turbo
It wasn’t a fire risk it created hot starting problems due to fuel vaporisation from the heat soak from the turbo - the fans were known as anti percolation fans - my 5 GT-turbo had two fitted and my Renault 11 turbo had one too blowing on the solex carb, the trick when they had hot starting issues was to open the throttle butterfly wide open and keep turning over to draw lots of air through and eventually they fired - but they only really had issues if you thrashed the hell out of them or it was a super hot day
I was born the year this car rotted, funnily enough I live 2 miles away from whereabouts it had it MOT done in Fareham that place is a Skoda/Suzuki garage now
interesting barn find. My sister had an MG Montego and I thought they were fuel injected. Surprised that the Turbo has an SU carb - very old school.
I always thought they was efi to they did do a na MG efi 2.0 aswel
The Maestro originally had a 1600 motor with twin webers, then there was a 2.0 EFi Maestro and Montego but the Turbos (Montego 2.0 Turbo as well) all had carbs.
I owned a green maestro turbo 20ish year's ago also. I stupidly scrapped it because it needed sills, rear arches and engine work. Regret it now when i see one 😢.
Didn't know these existed. Would be great to see you revisit some of these in future, see how many people get their barn finds back on the road again.
Dunlop D8's were terrible tyres. I had them on my R21 Turbo (88 vintage) always felt like bulged, or oval, swapped to Pirelli's. Cured.
Had MG 1600 Maestro when they came out. Great cars let down by underfunding. The Maestro was detuned, so not to outdo Montego MG Turbo.
Maestro much better handling - wheel on each corner.
Crazy to think that in the 30 years since this was created, you've got the 208gti, Polo gti, Mk3st, manual Golf Gti and Fiesta St. All modern hot hatches that would be seriously sweating trying to beat this in a 0-60 race.
It must've felt like a fucking rocketship back in the late 80's.
They did. No-one could touch mine except my mate's cousin who had a Sapphire Cosworth and even that struggled to get ahead below about 80mph. Had mine to over 130 on the clock a few times and it was still pulling. Happy days, empty roads and no cameras....
i used to sit on the top deck of the bus when going to school just so i could see over the wall at what tickford had in the yard,
Tin worm was the biggest downfall of these cars :( but they were so fast pulled and pulled massive torque. The red mg montego turbo my dad had, many a times he dragged againt RS turbo's and the odd cavalier gsi2000 he always won the only car that came close to keeping up was an old modded fiat supermirafouri. I also have an original mg metro/maestro/montego brochure/manuals that my dad got when he got the car. but I've always had a soft spot for the mg montego/maestro.
This man is committed to the BFF (barn find fleece). For summer maybe adopt the BFT (barn find tee)?
The marketing blurb said it came with ‘Homofogal’ headlamps. Still don’t know what that means. I test drove one and chose the Peugeot 205 1.9 instead. I felt the build quality was at least as good if not better than the competition. Nice car. Just slightly less engaging than the Pug. A good car to be proud of certainly.
That's interesting - I'd never heard of that, so I looked it up on Wikipedia:
"Starting in the 1980s, headlamp reflectors began to evolve beyond the simple stamped steel parabola. The 1983 Austin Maestro was the first vehicle equipped with Lucas-Carello's homofocal reflectors, which comprised parabolic sections of different focal length to improve the efficiency of light collection and distribution."
My friends step Mom , had a Maestro EFI 2.0 , boy did we spank that car ! we were just 17 years old and just qualified drivers , and that car was so fast ! It must have been 1988 or 1999 , bless my mates step Mom , she would ask us to run errands and collect shopping , in the car , it was a" on trust " , type deal , we never crashed it .
I've never seen an episode of the late brake show barn find that I haven't enjoyed!!! Excellent video Jonny you are a legend!!!
i remember these being rapid as hell.
Hello mate
Wow this brings back memories! My first new (company) car was a red Maestro. Admittedly not an MG Turbo but a humble 1.6L! No probs apart from the petrol tank splitting after a week! 😵
My first car (company car) was a C reg red Maestro. Mine was a van though and I think it was only a 1.3.
*fewer
As soon as I saw those indicators in the thumbnail, I knew what this was going to be. 😅
Great video. I've just restored an 88 2.0 EFi the sound of a non starting O series was the sound of this spring 😮
A few things caused it but the main culprit was the tank. Before you do anything with this take the tank off have professionally cleaned and fit a new fuel pump
Sadly there are so few parts available, luckily this seems to have a non cracked dash but panels are very scarce and windscreens NLA I had to have one made.
There is a bloke in Portugal on ebay who has a few rare parts
Hope it sees the road again I've messed about with them for nearly 40 years I used to have turbo No7
Cheers Russ
I pdi,d 1 of these when I was an apprentice our dealership sold 2 a red one and a British racing green one absolute rocket ship I wasn't allowed to testdrive it though
My dad had the Montego 2.0efi only 115 bhp but felt so fast when i was a kid
The coolest 80’s hot hatch by far.
The fact it didn’t sell in the same numbers as the escort etc, just makes it even cooler😎😎😎
The Maestro was a car for the 80's and 90 year olds liked them too, it was never cool! Lol😂
My Nephew has one of the white MG Turbo's and took it to a car show in Coventry City centre prior to the Covid lock down. It was in a slightly better condition to the one featured today.
I had one of these F400SLL white bought in from colchester car auctions...took it to motorbuild had a tubo boos upgrade upgraded springs and bushed a k and n panel filter etc it handles like it was on rails and would just about take most cars out ...what a car!
I had the Metro, MG turbo I loved it I was 18 and the world was my lobster😂 I always liked the look of the Montego MG turbo for my next car, but in the end I bought a Nissan Silvia 1.8 turbo, as you can tell I was hooked on the turbo boom of the time👍😆
A 1.3 Maestro was the first new car I ever owned, I bought when I was working in Cyprus. The car was shipped back to UK when I returned in 1985. I sold the car about a year later to my Dad! It was a worthy replacement to the Maxi
Yes, the maxi was crap as well……only Austin and Alfa were so forward thinking as to produce cars that we’re biodegradable 🥴
Who else guessed it would be a maestro turbo?
Jonny, you need to have a word with Richard, because Top Gear crashed 2 of these for a ‘James Bond barrel roll stunt’ bit, and I’ve always wanted to know why. Dear god why?!
Another fantastic barn find, I'm not a maestro fan but these are a curiosity and definitely worth preserving, still unbelievable that these were rotting at 3 years old.
I had a mate back around then, who along with his father bought two brand new Lada's' & both were rotted badly by 3yrs old. Austin cars of the era were similarly riddled.
@@pharoahegypt To be fair most cars of that era were.
I drove one off these in the 80s wasn't my car, but it was fast as f**k😜👍🏴
The rot always gets me. Also makes you appreciate how good modern cars are now
The propensity to rot was not worse than a Mk3 Cortina.
I started working at an Austin Rover garage the year these came out, never got a Turbo to PDI but did plenty of MG`s and VDP Maestro and Monties.
I bloody love an mg maestro. Hope it gets sorted and put back on the road. If not then I have a solid £150 ready to offer - that’s how much my last one cost!
I came out of a nightclub one night in the early 90's and watched a guy run straight up the back of a parked 'Panda Car' Maestro and without missing a stride boot the blue light clean off its roof. By the time the two bemused Bobby's had got out, he was long gone.
The first car I remember my dad having was a brown Austin maestro. It got stolen and broke down a lot. I can't say I'm a big fan of their looks, but they definitely bring back memories
My first car was a beige one
So close to buying one when I lived up in Coventry in 1985/6. Got the Astra GTE instead.
Great upload, Johnny! Have you thought about doing some Barn Find (revisited)'s? Going back to previously featured barn find cars that the owners have restored, or merely brought back to usable status? I'd tune in for that fo' sho'. 👍
We will be revisiting bfs, but it's always down to the owners to repair the cars in their time. Rest assured we will do it.
I had a turbo montego MG back in 89....it was so fast just through being so light at under a ton....handled awful, .....but I managed to keep up with a well driven cosworth Sierra once and a V8 Ferrari and I'm not telling porkies....I'd still give it a chance over what I drive today.... The punch mid range was epic....a simple bleed valve liberated about another 25 ponies which you felt
My old man bought a brand new Montego Countryman estate in 1990. The turbocharged Perkins engine was still going strong over 250k miles but the body just rotted around it. Let's be honest, Maestros and Montegos were ugly old dogs but I was still strangely fond of them.
They were like an ugly girlfriend, do the job but you would never want to admit having one!😂
At the beginning of the video I was thinking it must be an uno or Tipo IE turbo or maybe an MG metro turbo. I'd completely forgotten about the maestro. There used to be a fella in wythenshaw Manchester had a blue maestro turbo and he used to bomb around, it was rapid for the day!
great episode. That car can easily be put back on the road. For a maestro its really rust free. cant be many left now,regardless of model.
You're not going to believe this, I mean, I barely can and it was my eyes. But just this very day I saw a MG Montego Turbo.
What a coincidence that this episode came up.
My partner was a bit bemused with my gushing as I struggle to explain the rarity of that car.
Had no idea these were so rare. I remember encountering a white Maestro Turbo back in 2003, it absolutely left my Nova GSI for dead! Just disappeared into the horizon. Good times! 👍
One of the rarest of the hot hatches
Take it down to Retropower Limited in Hinckley LE10 3EF and get it restored, would be a shame just to keep leaving it shut away and not getting any used out of it, could then be a summer/show car 🙂.
Brings back memories of my MG Montego, well underrated cars of that time, great stuff Jonny 👍🏻
4d numberplates? Hold my beer lol
rusting at 3yrs old !
I always dreamt of owning an MG Maestro Turbo in red but just could not afford one. Ended up with a Friday afternoon MG Metro Turbo, that was pants. I was convinced the Turbo only powered the boost lights on the dash, as it did little else. However, I really wish that I had it back now, as I miss it.
They had a habit of breaking gearboxes if I remember.
@@anthonyfoley5576it was clutch slave cylinders on mine, they blew roughly once a month, main reason I got rid of mine.
I also had a Metro Turbo back in the 80’s and paid a 2 grand for it - hilarious fun and pretty reliable. I sold it to my mate who was a mechanic and he got all the problems! On mine the LED boost gauge would also work by tapping the dashboard near it regardless of engine revs. I was also glad to see the back of it but wish I had it now 😢
Love it; this is what TH-cam is all about! You can keep your McLaren's, Ferraris and Porsche 911 GTS 4x4 TI Turbo Sports Superlites... show me a Maestro Turbo any day. Cheers Jonny!
I didn't realise how few of these they produced. Is this a new sub category of 'rare but you probably should care' .
Top drawer work as usual Jonny
Only 505 mad, of which 92 were white. Amazing really.
Love the video 👍 been a while since I’ve seen one of these!
I have a ‘88 Peugeot 205 1.9 GTi sat in a garage that hasn’t seen the light of day for over 15 years if your interested?…….
Yet another cracking episode Johnny and it awoke a particular memory for me as a friend managed to write his red one off by misjudging a bend at night and putting it on its roof in a farmer’s field. Retelling the story in the pub a few nights after, he made us all roar with laughter by saying all he remembered was coming too upside down and still held in the drivers seat by his seatbelt and hearing the digital dashboard saying ‘warning, low oil pressure’ 😂. He was a bit of a legend in his own lunchtime in truth and managed to total quite a few cars back in the day - even rolling his 2CV into a ditch. He has also managed to write off his CX9 by swamping it on a flooded road and ran his Nissan Murano into the back of a Porsche Cayenne in recent years, so I doubt he will ever change. 😂😂
I've heard that same story 4 times from 4 different people now.
His insurance must be mega sized by now !!
@@arkhsm The story stems from the journalist Chris Goffey having the exact same accident during the launch of the Maestro and people the using the tale but changing it to be about 'a friend'.
@@mrdainase I can assure you mine is a first hand true account, we saw the car at the recovery yard the following week and like I say, he was notorious for wrecking cars (and motorbikes too), so much so that he must have used several of his nine lives already.
@@markleadbeatter6196 So, your friend had a MG Maestro Turbo?
These are brilliant, check out the old skool plates, they always looked awesome on 5 spoke MGF alloys 👌
I honestly cried watching this... my grandad had one in white same year same interior. 12000 original miles sat in his garage sadly he has passed but my grandma still lives due to a family feud I've not seen this car for a while but I still know of its existence, that to be sat in the garage. Honestly hand on heart best barn find for me by far.
And one owner.
Families...ffs! Mine is a f#@kin disaster😂
Wouldn't be turning it over without a new timing belt if it's not run in ten years😮
The owner is a mechanic and wasn't bothered.
Love these barn find videos on a Sunday. Keep up the good work Jonnie!
Hitched a ride from Junction one to J25 on a desperate Sunday evening..
A lady screeched to a halt on the slip road in a red one of these.... said...
"I hope you like Reggae Music", and in 60 minutes we had completed the 125 mile trip..
Thanks Ducks... whoever you were.
Jurgen klopp.
0 to 60 in 5.9 once as I remember. I had about 20 EFI Maestros then 6 220 coupe turbos. one being a mark 1 Black which was written of by a Skoda in Longbridge whilst looking at a knackered Sapphire Cosworth. That was a sad day.
Seem to remember the description of these in the max power performance statistics was COSSIE EATER