MEET THE OWNER - PATRICK BRADLEY AND HIS AUSTIN MAESTRO 1.3L PRESS CAR

We have previously featured Patrick’s Maestro Advantage and Montego Vanden Plas Automatic, and the latest member of his fleet is equally fascinating. In his words:

This car got loaned to the press fleet manager usually for a month - to help persuade them to buy these cars in huge numbers. It is an original press car and was owned by British Leyland for the first year of its life, and then it went down to the Austin Rover fleet sales in Coventry. It was built in December 1982 and was first registered on the 21^st January 1983. It’s a 1.3 L spec. and the plan with this car is to keep it as original as possible and get it back on the road.

Apparently, an MG version was the final of a small batch of the advertising launch Maestros to leave the pre-production line at Cowley.

Austin-Rover’s Ken Clayton noted in www.aronline.co.uk that at that time, car launches tended to be in three stages:

First came the press launch, far enough ahead of the public launch to enable the monthly magazines to prepare feature articles to coincide with the public announcement of the car. Next came the dealer events, which were timed to happen just before the new models arrived in the showrooms. The fleet buyer shows just followed on because they used much of the same material as the dealer launches.

And Patrick’s latest acquisition is a reminder of the significance of the Maestro not just to British Leyland but to the country’s motor industry. It was BL’s concerted effort at a Ford Escort Mk. III/Vauxhall Astra rival. Many potential buyers had read in the press about the Austin Allegro’s replacement’s £210m development costs; £147m alone was for the robotised body facility at the Cowley factory.

Many drivers were also more than aware that Leyland’s trading loss for 1982 amounted to £126m. The Times of the 8^th January 1983 put matters bluntly: “The task for the Maestro (and the LM11) is to get BL back to at least 25% of the market, without which it has little future as a volume car manufacturer”.

So, Patrick’s Maestro had to win over the press, which is why it is such an essential part of the model’s story. We look forward to charting its restoration – and its return to the road as the “Miracle Maestro”.

With Thanks To: Patrick Bradley