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Very true but until recently these types of show tended to by things that looked like a mobile Westminster Abbey and almost as old with headlamps the size of a small planet

Things have definitely changed in the world of classic car shows too About 2010 some arse#ole with a Morris Oxford coupe more commonly known as MGBGT had a right go at me saying my Maestro EFi had no place to be at a car show. Yet to my utter amazement it won best in show at a fairly big local generic classic car show where there was a vast array of classics including beautifully presented pre war cars and even E types and big Healeys

Have you got details for the place please mate?

And a maestro van! What's the score with that?

I love that, very very rare. Looks immaculate. They are very fast , I wish my tomcat was a turbo rather than VVC

Mine is the lucas system which is a version of L jetronic with a hot wire airflow meter rather than electromechanical flap system

I remember being terrified of ECU failure when I first got a maestro EFi in the mid 80s but in all those years and owned about 10 I've only come across one with a faulty fuel ECU. It still ran but very rich. Because of this fault I bought it for 50 quid! The cause of it is catching a spanner on the battery positive on the airflow meter I've had airflow meters play up but on the whole it's a reliable system. I've managed to get hold of all the Austin rover fast check modules for setting up and testing the system. Far simpler than a modern car

Ah of course I was forgetting that was related to the L series

Is that the G series or a JLR development of the L series

Sadly there is still a lot of unfounded anti BL/Rover stuff going on A few years ago I looked at a freelander diesel at a garage in Fakenham I asked the owner what engine it had , he replied you're lucky it's the BMW. I said you're not I wanted the Rover engine. Then he started a completely uneducated rant about how the head gaskets fail on them. The L series diesel doesn't have a problem with them at all. I have cars with both and whilst the Rover unit is slightly more noisy its far more powerful and economical than the BMW in the ZT Just about everything that has gone wrong with the ZT which admittedly isn't much has been a BMW part. My missus has an MG3 not because it's an MG as its not. It was a cheap easy to service modern car. I asked the service manager at the dealership where we got it for his truthful opinion on them and his words were they are OK but not a rover. He owed a real MG ZS and a metro turbo so a decent chap! Well in my opinion Since the maestro has gone back on the road it has caused a lot of interest happily all positive. I got fuel at a garage along the coast the garage owner asked if it was OK to take pictures and his workshop staff all came out to see it so maybe things are changing. It even won best in show at a fairly big local show.

A shame there wasn't a hot princess. Someone created a princess ST which wasn't excellent. Shame they didn't do a S version possibly using the 2.6 E series used in Australia. That was even used in Marinas over there shame we never got that. South African SD1s got that engine and was said to be pretty good

The red maestro efi next to the BR van

I was the maestro EFI I have a t-shirt with it on . The turbo was even faster 0-60 in 6.7 sec. Still fast today

Early ones had pretty crap wheel bearings but so did a lot of cars of the era They all had rear drum brakes which again was common Even some modern cars still have them. I've just done the shoes on misses SIAC MG 3 absolutely cheap and nasty compared to the maestro as everything is on it

Montego don't have kingpins suspension is identical to golf . Why won't the brakes work??? I'm sorry mate but it's comments like this that we don't have a car industry anymore My ZT isn't a bad car but every time something goes wrong it's a BMW part but people won't stand up and complain that BMW aren't great because they have become must have fashion accessories

A great day toy at the BL Autumn Rally in Milton Keynes Even better as I won best in class and had award presented by Sarah Crabtree formally on bangers and cash.

Obviously you've never owned one. The MG versions were fantastic and even the EFi was faster than a golf gti and the turbos were ridiculously fast I've just had a 2½ hour drive in my efi and my back is far better than a similar drive in some horrible bland modern box

I was there with the chap that owns that. Years my red car next to it

I didn't realise that was the same vehicle I've worked with that when acting guard

I reckon it's probably batteries Gordon. The coach batteries wouldn't be suitable for starting the big train supply alternator

It looks as if that section is an opening panel possibly to give access to the generator start batteries. It's yellow things maybe some kind of locking mechanism for the door

Brilliant photos David. Was the land to the south of Nottingham Midland where the cars are parked in the picture formerly sidings?

You could build it in the style of Malton and Driffield where things got scaled back Maybe model what could have been called Broughton tunnel with a double track portal but only single track . As if LNWR started it but pulled out and was completed as an independent branch and ran by NER

The LNWR of all companies actually proposed a line up bilsdale to serve hartlepool docks which somehow they had a stake in The line was to use the Starbeck and Pilmoor branch and that connection to the ryedale line which was built but never used was supposed to be part of it No idea where it would have ran on teesside but a substantial tunnel was to be built under clay Bank I've seen somewhere that earthworks were started in bilsdale but I can't confirm this

I've got quite a few 6R4s but I had no idea anyone had done a normal 1/43 metro