gstuart

D3 Grandad
Full Member
hi
came across this picture and it seems that the freelander was designed from it, it looks like a maestro

don't know how true it is but just wondered if anyone knew the full story please

just curiuos and thks in advance
 

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Its one of their test donkeys - I think I just made up that term. There's a couple of pages on the web with the Freelander history and they usually reference this car.
 
It's old news and was well reported after the Freelander was launched, it also gets included in the history on a regular basis. It was a clever way to allow the mechanicals to be thoroughly tested with no chance of the final vehicle design being discovered. The Maestro was a common enough sight on the roads at the time and to the untrained observer it would pass un-noticed. Even if the industry spies and/or Auto journalists saw it, they would gather nothing than perhaps the approximate dimensions of the track & wheelbase.
 
I had a maestro van, it was so noisy my missus could hear me driving down the road 10 mins before I got home! Good old days
 
The L Series diesel in Freelander was a development of the Perkins Prima used in Maestro/Montego. Then the TD5 was a (major) development on the L Series - so Maestro/Montego technology lived on a long time after the last one rusted away.

But did they?

Look at the condition of this (1 owner 60K miles) 25 year old baby..

M.G. | Montego | 1989 | For Sale | Buy | Turners

Looks like its in pretty good nick and its in a "scrap" auction because it fail its WOF (MOT) on rear brakes!
 
cheers guys for the info

seeing this maestro reminds me of the other cars around

like the terrible ital , where the back end useto slide out and people put lead over the rear wheel arches, lol

for rust I don't think nothing could touch the old alfasuds for being rust buckets

owned a dolomite sprint and vitesse , still miss them to this day , was a joy working on the vitesses engine with the bonnet lifting right out of the way and sitting on the tyre
 
My first car was a Vitesse - as you say fantastic car and I miss it to :) It failed its MOT so I stuck it in a garage I rented off the council. When the garage bill got to £80 - I sold the car for that to cover the bill - mad things you do when your young!

2nd car was an 1850HL I bought off my mate who had crashed it (on that tight bend iin Merstham on the A23 if anyone knows it). I had it repaired and a replacement engine fitted in Canning Town. It broke down in the middle of the Blackwall Tunnel driving it home ! I then crashed it in Brighton a couple of weeks later! That was the end of that.

3rd car was a Spartan built on a Vitesse. That had a hinged wooden board for a "back seat" - underneath it were 3 lumps of lead moulded in oil cans :)
 
My first car was a Vitesse - as you say fantastic car and I miss it to :) It failed its MOT so I stuck it in a garage I rented off the council. When the garage bill got to £80 - I sold the car for that to cover the bill - mad things you do when your young!

2nd car was an 1850HL I bought off my mate who had crashed it (on that tight bend iin Merstham on the A23 if anyone knows it). I had it repaired and a replacement engine fitted in Canning Town. It broke down in the middle of the Blackwall Tunnel driving it home ! I then crashed it in Brighton a couple of weeks later! That was the end of that.

3rd car was a Spartan built on a Vitesse. That had a hinged wooden board for a "back seat" - underneath it were 3 lumps of lead moulded in oil cans :)

mine failed in the end, the rear outrigger rusted away, so when u slowed down the wheel moved sideways, scary, lol

had the 2 litre model , was very thirsty and great with the roof off, was cherry red , gold wheels and a gold thin strip down the side

if I had the money would love another one, could blaim it on a mid life crisis ,

another car i always wanted back then was a Jensen interceptor, but well out of my price range, think it was a 7 litre v8 , sounded awesome ,

also would have liked a rover 3500 cc, coupe, can't remember the model but had all leather interior and was an auto as standard

did also have a triumph 2500 cc pi , that went through injection pumps like no tommorow , lol

my dream would be to have a garage, a 4 post ramp and buy a 90 defender, take it completely apart down to a rolling chassis , put a tvr v8 in it along with an autobox, snorkal , the works

oh well nice to dream
 

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