Austin Rover NOS

[PaulAA]

Chaps

Just out of interest, there seems to have been a bit of chatter on t'internet about the discovery of a defunt dealer's collection of Metros, Maestros and Rover SD1s in southern Italy, dating from about 1984, all with delivery mileage only.

Anyway, five of them have pitched up here, in the Wild East. A chum of mine has them lined up outside his workshop for basic recommissioning. A little faded and crumbly, but all with their celophane seat wrappings and only one or two vital parts missing.

[Nick Jones]

Well…. That’s just bizarre! There’s even an Acclaim!

[Hamish]

V8 sd1 was a great car. And I loved the 3 acclaims I had back in the day. 
 

sad these will be LHD

[yorkshire_spam]

My mum had a Metro, first and until last year only car she had owned from new. Dad had a couple of Maestros and a Montego (MG Turbo) as company cars back then as well. 

 

[PaulAA]

12 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

There’s even an Acclaim!

... in Pensioner Beige as well  

The engines all have oil showing on dipsticks, but there is a collective holding of breath to see whether forty years of dry inertia have created an inorganic bond between piston rings and cylinder...

2 hours ago, Hamish said:

V8 sd1 was a great car.

The bloke who bought the Metro and the MG Maestro also owns five (five!) SD1s, including a V8 Vitesse manual, which is a beast.

[Nick Jones]

1 hour ago, PaulAA said:

The bloke who bought the Metro and the MG Maestro also owns five (five!) SD1s

Goodness me! So much suffering…..

[PaulAA]

A short update to this.

Both the SD1s are fettled and roadworthy. The 2 litre petrol runs nicely, the diesel not so much. Their future is currently uncertain.

The Acclaim is largely sorted and will likely return to the UK, as will the MG Maelstrom, which is in excellent bodily condition, but getting the 1.6 R-series to run anything akin to smoothly is proving to be... challenging.

The peach of the bunch is the base Metro, which has scrubbed up nicely, runs sweetly and is in the process of being registered locally. Come spring, it will be on the roads hereabouts.

[Nick Jones]

1 hour ago, PaulAA said:

MG Maelstrom, which is in excellent bodily condition, but getting the 1.6 R-series to run anything akin to smoothly is proving to be... challenging.

The 1.6 MG Maestro has twin Webers iirc and they have a reputation for being somewhat ornery…. And that’s without being sat around for 30 years.