I think a modern version of the corporate car park competition still exists. Companies I visit seem to abound with vehicles which are models which look better than they go rather than ones which go better than they look.........
'twas ever thus.....
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Difference these days is that the range of company cars available is usually much wider.
In the old days many companies had one or two makes in the fleet so the model denoted quite a lot. If everyone had a Ford, a Cortina was obviously better than an Escort, the hierarchy was clear
Now, with a larger range of makes and models available it's not so clear cut.
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I watched this program back in 1994 when I was 12. To do this day I still remember that Meastro (not seen this program since 94) and I am still very angry with that man and his snobby wife for turning up their nose at that Meastro. I am sure it was a dull slow car but people like my dad were perfectly happy with their 8 year old Ladas at time...,.
If I was his boss after seeing that programme I would have given him a Morris Ital on a B plate.
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Rattle
you never had one, Had I been salesman and was given that car I would have left. Clearly what his boss was hoping.
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But it was a lot better than most the cars at the time. Even by the mid 90's a lot of people were driving MK1 Astras with holes in the wings. As for Meastros I have never driven one but my family had a lot of Montegos/Meastros and yes I know they were ugly but from a passangers point of view were very comfortable and spacious.
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you never had one Had I been salesman and was given that car I would have left. Clearly what his boss was hoping.
When I worked for a London borough we had six Maestro vans on our section. No two drove even remotely the same, some were quick, some were not, some had a decent heater, others didn't, the engineering must have been pure guesswork from van to van. One of them used to go from showing full on the dipstick to no reading at all in just over a week, another had a headlight that was half full of water (and amazingly still worked). Build quality was shocking, what could fall off did fall off, all the trim rattled so much you could hardly hear the engines and there was one that no one would dare take through the depot carwash as it leaked everywhere.
Whenever I feel nostalgic for the days we had a car industry, memories of those and BSM Metros soon make me glad most of it went.
And Rattle, they were NOT better than most cars at the time.
Edited by Robin Reliant on 14/03/2009 at 17:08
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If I could find my picture of that Lada my dad had you will see my point. Bt 67k 3rd gear did not work, it drink 1 litre of mineral a week, it got about 12mpg, going roudn a corner at 30mph felt like you were in a rollcoaster, the gearbox whined like a 3 year old kid. Nothing on the dasboard was in its original place, the door card bits were all snapped.
That said it give was 6 years motoring for £800.
I just remember so much at that time I wish my dad had a proper car like a Meastro and I think this why that programme annoyed so much. The car I dreamed after as a kid though was the Mondeo, as sad it soudns back in 1994 it just felt so modern to be in. I think any company driver who had a Cavalier CDI would dread the sight of a Mondeo Ghia!
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Back in 1994 the Meastro was probably one of the worst cars on the market but not on the road. By then even Maranas were not such a rare sight and every morning on the way to school all I used hear was the start of cars trying to start. 15 years later there are not really any truly awful cars left on the road.
I remember my grandad had a Y reg Meastro 1.3 HLX he had for two weeks before my uncle built a 2.0 Montego for him out of his collection of scrapped BL cars!
Maybe I just have a sort of soft spot for those cars as they were apart of my childhood and compared to what we were used to (Ladas) they were luxery.
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>>If I could find my picture of that Lada my dad had you will see my point. Bt 67k 3rd gear did not work, it drink 1 litre of mineral a week, it got about 12mpg, going roudn a corner at 30mph felt like you were in a rollcoaster, the gearbox whined like a 3 year old kid.
sounds like my Reggie...... (still looking for a replacement car...(as well as the Reggies exhaust... hub caps....and other bits that fall off))
I remember my grandad had a Y reg Meastro 1.3 HLX he had for two weeks before my uncle built a 2.0 Montego for him out of his collection of scrapped BL cars! Maybe I just have a sort of soft spot for those cars as they were apart of my childhood and compared to what we were used to (Ladas) they were luxery.
Yup.. Id say you have a soft spot for them - back then many wished they did - quicksand or the such like!
Edited by the swiss tony on 14/03/2009 at 17:30
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The Maestro was probably one of the worst cars on the market but not on the road ...
I drove a series of Maxis in the 1970s. When the Maxi run ended I considered its replacement, but one quick look made me change my mind. I drove a Cavalier estate for 4 years instead, very nice car. Never went back to 'British Leyland' again.
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I remember seeing bits of the series first time round and the berk who believed the badge on his Cavalier was the basis of respect.
There was also something else about your place in the hierarchy being identifiable by what you had hanging on the coathook in the back of the car, IIRC.
At first I laughed at it - then it made me somewhat depressed.
It occurred to me just now that idiots like that are by now probably the heads of banks and captains of industry. And suddenly the reasons for all the recent mayhem fell into place...
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I think that also got me at the time too. Would itbe fair to say that car snobbery is a lot less common now? If I see somebody with a basic job with a nice car I just think its either a company car or you have taken out a stupid loan to get that, I don't have any more respect to somebody driving a brand new 5 series than somebody with a 10 year old Punto.
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We do not have company cars in our office, everyone buys their own and claims mileage as appropriate.
So we have the following vehicles: -
MG ZR
Honda Civic Type R (old model)
Honda Civic (new model)
Yaris
Focus Mk 2
Subaru Outback
Saab 9-5
Mitsu Spacestar
Corsa
So no snobbery and the least likely modern car park going.
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I remember my grandad had a Y reg Meastro 1.3 HLX he had for two weeks before my uncle built a 2.0 Montego for him out of his collection of scrapped BL cars! >> Maybe I just have a sort of soft spot for those cars as they were apart of my childhood and compared to what we were used to (Ladas) they were luxery.
I gather that visitors to Longbridge in non-BL cars had to park a long way from the
reception, but BL drivers had a handy slot nearby.
As our company supplied thousands of crankshaft dampers to Austin, Triumph, Jaguar and Rover each week; the company salesmens' cars progressed from Marinas, Itals and Princesses to 1.6 Maestros and Montegos, with a similar mix of pool cars.
Driving these when they were fairly new (and carefully maintained in the company garage) they certainly seemed fast, reasonably comfortable and stood up pretty well to the thrashing pool cars get.
Having said that, I have not seen them at classic car shows while other models of the same period are fairly plentiful, which says something about their popularity and/or longevity :-)
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Mrs P had one as a company car in 1988 - it was a reasonably turned out motor, far superior in the dynamics than the equivalent Escort. Bizarrely when cleaning the car I found (what I hope) a fossilised dog turd in the boot - we didn't own a dog then !
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Re the fossil in the boot. I think I know what it might have been. I think it was Ferrari who sometimes used to give its customers a toy one as a gift when you bought a real one ?
Well, maybe the "fossil" was actually a model Maestro ?...........
;-)
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My brother had one in an appropriate colour - Maestro, that is.
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A customer told me last week he had a Marina 1.3 which I assume was an A series? (actually I thought the max was 1275?) until fairly recently. He said he took it to lots of classic car shows and it won award but could not keep up with the rust, he sold it in the end and he now reckons its been scrappeed as even as a very care car it would have cost £1000's to restore properly.
For some odd reason Morris Minors don't seem to rust that quick and parts are very cheap anyway , evden on the mini you can buy fibreglass replacement wings etc. On cars like the Marina when they rot repairs are very vert expensive and this why they are now so stupidly rare. In the past ten years they have been one of the most scrapped cars and even ten years ago they were rare!
As mentioned my dad has lots of Ladas and other crap cars, but he said the worst car he has ever driven and has nightmares about is the 1.7 Marina. He says his Fiesta feels like a Ferrari to him and has never understand why the media always go on about handeling but when it came to the Marina he thought the press was spot on. he said when you went round corners it was just completly random what happened.
Now my dad knows nothing about cars so for him to make a comment like that they must have been bad!
As for the Montegos if I had the money I would buy a good one cheap and store it for ten years, then it would be very rare, I believe these are future classics providing you can store them in an envirnment where they will not rot. Also I cannot remembet the last time I saw a Cavlilier these seem rare now but I probably see about two a week still
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Maestros and Montegos were the UK equivalent of the AMC Pacers and Gremlins. That is why both BL and AMC are no more ;-)
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Forget BL if you want an unusual car...try and find a Talbot Tagora. I had one for a while as a trade in and it was top class for it's time.. 2.2 litre engine. 19300 made from 1980 to 83. designed to replace the Chrysler 180.2litre which didn't sell well.
Can't be many left now !
Ted
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The series as a whole is a classic. I have most episodes on video when it was first broadcast. The 2 funniest ones are the youff one (1st episode) and the company car one. The guy from S. Yorks who knew all specs of the Mk3 Cavvy and would pull over for those who had a higher spec than him was hailarious back in 94 and still funny now.
I think there's a family motoring one next, ISTR a yellow Cortina of the 'rent-a-wreck' variety featuring (unless it's already been on).
The BBC should see if any of the people would do a follow-up series 15 years later. I wonder how all the youff got on with their Metros, 2CVs, Clios and Renault 5 turbo's..
cheers,
Stu
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The Tagora I don't remember ever seeing one in the flesh but I know about them. People just bought their Grandads and Carltons instead didn't they?
As for a reunite sadly I bet not all the people in the series will be still living.
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