MG Car Club
Mighty Modded Maestro
By Stefan Bronkhorst
First some background to MGs in my life. I am 31 years old and grew up in a village called Hurwenen in central Holland. My life was surrounded by MGs, as my Father was an MG enthusiast owning a variety of MGs over the years.
As a young lad I had a succession of mopeds, go-karts and bicycles where I honed my mechanical skills, helped with tuition from my Father, who is an excellent mechanic.
When I was eight years old the MGF was introduced in Holland and I said to my parents “I am going to own one of those when I’m 18!” I was told to start saving, and just before my 18th birthday I bought one and I still have it to this day. My daily driver is an MG ZS 180 which I’ve owned for nine years.
My MG Maestro was delivered to the first owner on January 2 1984, by a dealership named “Sille”. The Maestro was a company car for many years and in 1994 it was traded in to a garage called Donker, located in De Meern. Necessary mechanical work was carried out in their workshop and it was then put on display in their showroom.
Some 19 years later the garage in De Meern decided to close down and were selling off their inventory. I went along to have a look and fell in love with the Maestro which was included in their sale. A deal was done and on June 27 2013 I became the proud owner and trailered my Maestro to its new home.
There were things to do, as it needed a new battery; some fresh fuel and a thorough clean of the fuel system. With that, it started and it was off to the MOT station. Unfortunately, it failed as the wheel bearings needed replacing. But after fitting new bearings it passed second time around.
I then started driving it regularly and really enjoyed the experience. Apart from the odd minor repair here and there all went well until I smashed the sump on a speed bump!! This kick-started the first stage of my restoration. Using my Dad’s workshop I rebuilt the engine and painted the engine bay, sourcing a lot of my parts from the UK.
I had already planned to convert it to turbocharged, and luckily I found an original O-series turbocharged engine. Alongside the engine rebuild, I had to make a lot of parts myself which I couldn’t source from specialists, like turbo pipes, brackets for intercooler, oil cooler and exhaust manifold. The second change was to the suspension which I converted to air assisted suspension.
The big moment came, starting up the engine. But with the turbo and original Lucas injection system fitted it didn’t run reliably, so what next? I fitted a new ECU, with a larger fuel pump, bigger injectors and some other parts to make it all work. After some adjusting and tuning I was driving again, but still upgrading on the way, with callipers from a Mercedes Sprinter and discs off an MG ZS 180.
Everything was fine until someone crashed into the rear bumper in September 2016; that was the beginning of a full restoration. I did the bodywork myself, stripping off the old paint to bare metal, making some minor rust repairs, and modifying the body to be able to fit larger wheels.
Other changes I made were upgrading the headlight, and number plate lights, changing the badging, modifying the rear bumper, and removing the seams on the roof. My biggest learning curve came from doing the respray. I spent hours sanding, painting, rubbing down, and finally applying the final coats of paint and lacquer, but the results were well worth it.
I rebuilt the car in just over a month with a view to getting it ready for the MG Spares Day at Houten, in Holland, which was on January 5th 2020. The Maestro was ready by the fourth! My main aim was to have it ready to compete for the best restoration of the show.
The Maestro was up against strong opposition with two outstanding MGBs, a TA, a YA and a Triple-M L-type with a special body. The Triple M couldn’t make the show on the day, which reduced my opposition, and you can imagine my amazement when I was awarded the Most Remarkable Restoration of the show having 366 out of 400 points awarded by the judges.
The car is now used mainly for shows and exhibitions, although I do use it when the sun shines. It is my pride and joy and I intend to keep it well into the future.
