1978 Austin maxi 1750HL

No badges , no spot lights , keep the over riders .

Think you’re gonna get a few different opinions on this 😂

👍

Another day of not getting the brakes done because I'm too busy messing around with shiny bits. Took the austin letters off the bonnet, which wasn't a 5 minute job as they've been on there for years and the sticky had sort of bonded with the paint. Once all residue was off I lightly sanded the front edge of the bonnet and polished it. And then stuck an S badge on.



Then added more shiney bits


Then took the shiney bits off and stuck the austin letters on the chrome trim under the grill.



Although I like it with no grill badge I'm tempted to get an early shield badge that has a silver Cross instead of the red checks. And the overriders might be going and may be replaced with mini clubman underriders, or nothing.

A busy few weeks with the car, serviced the brakes front and rear, changed the sparkplugs and fitted new air filters which were slightly overdue


It was running very rich but the filter changed improved things, I've slowed the idle down and weakened it off abit but the carbs still need balancing, it's running a lot better now and doesn't stink which is a good thing.

Another maxi came up for sale in banger circles on fb, was offered in maxi-land but got snapped up by another racer. A maxi person managed to trace where it had gone abd contacted me to let me know as it wasn't too far away. So off I went. The car was a blue '76 hl with blue interior. It was absolutely rotten and had been parked outside for a couple of years with a window open and had become a home for the local cats. Still, I got me some bits.





I was hoping for the blue interior but most of it was rotten and filthy, but I got the seats as the frames were straight, and some other bits including bumper irons and bolts, as the irons on mine were slightly bent and missing afew bolts. Also rear quarter windows abd rubbers, badges, wipac fog lights, steering wheel centre, the wheel itself was knackered, and some other bits abd bobs, all for a drink 😁
I didn't take any before pics of the seats as they were so filthy that I didn't hold out any hope that they would clean up OK. But I had a go. The rear seat isn't perfect but its good enough, the front seats however. ..


.. and will be going in the car when they're dry. I wanted to change the seats as dad put ambassador seats in which look great, but sit far too high. Finding these blue one so soon is slightly awesome.
And I've been out driving it. Still afew bits to do but I'm really enjoying it, and reminding myself how much dad thought about when he built it. It's got competition bump stops on it, and makes it more like driving a big mini.



Next jobs, bumper and seats.

Ain't it just. Its weird how these things seem to have a habit of falling into my lap.

Today marks 55 years since the Maxi started production, so to mark the occasion I decided to pop down to my cars birthplace, dad's old lockup.



Same place almost 35 years ago. The original TTN at the back


So glamorous


Then I got a vaguely suitable beer 🍻

Good choice. To me those Ambassador seats just look wrong in there.

In the pic from when I picked them up you can see the state of the rear seat, the front seats looked even worse, grubby, covered in cat hair and various bits of crud, and I know from previous experience how delicate the centre material is. I really didn't hold out any hope they'd be any good. I used a hoover for the loose stuff and a wide roll of super sticky double sided tape to lift the dirt off, and some vanish to Finnish them off. The main problem with the rear seat is rot in the material, holes and oil patches. Not alot I can do about that unfortunately.

Got its face back on today. Number plate used to hang off the bumper from 2 lovely British leyland bodgery brackets, now it's mounted on the front panel on some slightly nicer brackets I made this afternoon. Tidies it up nicely.



I've got some nesh to go in the 4 holes in the front panel next week and that will be the front end done I think. Took it out for a drive this evening and it drives so smoothly now, tuning those xarbs has transformed it.

Thanks. It's not perfect by any means, the vinyl roof has shrunk abit and is lifting in places, and the paint is a bit of a mess in various areas








Other areas are flaking off possibly where the body want keyed properly before it was painted. Heres afew chips in the paint and areas of minor rust. It's got a couple of oil leaks, some gaiters need looking at and the knock in the steering rack. But, there's nothing bad, I'm just doing everything I can do without spending too much on it. It is what it is and that's the most important thing. I think I prefer it's patina than imagining it with a full respray.