AUSTIN & MG MAESTRO
1983 94
Designed as a replacement for the Austin Allegro, the new front-wheel drive car – originally codenamed LC10 before later being renamed LM10 – set out to put right a lot of its predecessor’s wrongs. So it had a longer wheelbase for more passenger room, a hatchback for much better practicality and a more conventional mechanical layout for – Austin hoped – improved reliability and easier servicing.
The Maestro was conceived in 1975, with its styling signed o at the end of that year following an internal design competition between the Longbridge and Solihull design oces, under Harris Mann and David Bache respectively. It’s remarkable – considering that there would be a seven-year development programme – that the styling survived the process almost unchanged.
The basic design was overseen by the brilliant Spen King (co-creator of the Range Rover and the SD1) and was a pragmatic re-make of the Volkswagen Golf MKI with a spacious and glassy interior. Unlike its predecessor, the suspension was by coils and that car’s transmission-in-sump layout was dropped in favour of an end-on gearbox layout, just like a Golf, despite being conceived to share its A- and O-series engines.
It was looking complete and ready to go from development into production by 1978, but BL’S limited technical resources at the time persuaded the incoming new chairman and chief executive, Sir Michael Edwardes, to accelerate the LC8 – aka Austin Metro – development programme instread, putting the Maestro’s anticipated 1980 launch date back by up to three years. Hindsight would conclude that this was the correct decision to make, given that the Metro ended up being a huge sales success for BL and a vital lifeline for embattled dealers who had previously been struggling to shift an ageing model range that was suering from a poor image.
The Austin and MG Maestro couldn’t disguise the age of their basic design when they were launched in 1983, despite the late addition of body-coloured bumpers and slimline headlights. But despite that, the cars were initially praised for their roomy interiors, excellent practicality and impressive ride comfort and handling. Sold with the ‘Miracle Maestro’ tagline, it was certainly a striking new entrant to the family car market, oered with a wide range of A- and R-series engines, including a throaty twin-carburettor option for the MG 1600.
BL worked hard to develop the Maestro throughout its life so it received the Montego’s 1.6-litre S-series engine and dashboard in 1984, followed by its 2.0-litre fuel-injected engine to create the seriously underrated MG Maestro 2.0 EFI. But the car’s poor build quality and less-than-stellar reliability would soon become apparent and buyers would forego choosing a Maestro in favour of an Escort or Astra (and, later, Rover 200), meaning that it never achieved the Allegro’s sale success – let alone that of its predecessor, the best-selling BMC 1100/1300 ADO16.
And that’s a shame because the Maestro had so much unrealised potential, as well as a refreshing non-conformist style, despite the niggles. Perhaps that was the story of its maker, too.