WTH??!?! Have you seen this item on ebay.

[Andrew1967]

I too was working at a BL garage as a 17 year old in 1985 and can also say that the Triumph Acclaim certainly was a much better car than the Maestro or Montego, although the Maestro Turbo was great fun on road test

Almost a weekly occurrence was 3rd motion shaft bearings in Metros (strangely never did one in a Mini) and head gaskets on Rover 2300/2600 SD1's.

We had a Marina van as the workshop van. Finding reverse was sometimes a challenge

[floormanager]

My Metro Turbo had a 3rd motion shaft bearing replaced at a BL garage. Next time, the diff went I replaced it all myself!

[kit of bits]

Mrs wife’s mpi had 3 gearbox’s under warranty then we fitted the 4th that’s still in it nearly 20 years later & yes I have a fully rebuilt one on the shelf just in case
D

[and.rs1800]

what did BL have to compete with a fiesta xr2 or escort xr3i?
Montego or maestro or mg metro?
I’ll have the Ford please.
Then there is the Ford RS models...
Even better

[Exminiman]

what did BL have to compete with a fiesta xr2 or escort xr3i?
Montego or maestro or mg metro?
I’ll have the Ford please.
Then there is the Ford RS models...
Even better

Peugeot 205 GTI ......

[Supersonic]

Another nice early Mk1 848cc Mini. I'm not sure about it being 1960, look at the roof gutter

Alan

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/383817112346 ... 489wSLnFtg

[Andrew1967]

If it's a late 60 then the gutter is correct Alan

[Old English White]

I know that build date and registration date are not the same but it was first registered March 1961.

[Supersonic]

If it's a late 60 then the gutter is correct Alan

Thanks Andrew, as Old English White said March 1961 registered, you could be right, nice car, and indeed much more rare than a Cooper 997 / 998 /1275 S

Alan

[Costafortune]

I too was working at a BL garage as a 17 year old in 1985 and can also say that the Triumph Acclaim certainly was a much better car than the Maestro or Montego, although the Maestro Turbo was great fun on road test

Almost a weekly occurrence was 3rd motion shaft bearings in Metros (strangely never did one in a Mini) and head gaskets on Rover 2300/2600 SD1's.

We had a Marina van as the workshop van. Finding reverse was sometimes a challenge

SD1 head gaskets.

The standard trick on those was to remove the oil drain back valve, the one that used to stick and starve the cam of oil. We reckoned the way the engines were built was faulty as once they'd ben done properly they were OK. Montegos suffered from everything, oil leaking onto the clutch being the biggie. If you want to know what the S in S stands for......
The 2.0 O Series with the Honda box wasn't as bad as the 1.6. But they all rusted. At two years old, you'd remove the rear screens from one and there would be rust growing. Cut the back wing off for an accident repair and it would be really rusting in the arch seam.

Typically, the last of the Ambassadors were pretty well sorted and not much trouble. Neither were the Sierra and FWD Cavalier.

The standard MG Metro 1300 was a cracking car if you got a good one. The XR2 was a horrid harsh thing by comparison.

We had a customer with a 1965 Morris 1100 that he'd had from new. Even then it was a relic. The paint had turned chalky pink so one lunchtime when it was in for a service we ran a mop and some compound over it. The finish was better than the new stuff.