I'm aware that these vehicles haven't been manufactured for decades. I don't own a business, or have any need for a van. I can't even drive. But Ray's dulcet tones have convinced me to buy one of each.
My dad worked for BT for 13 years, when he left to go self employed in ‘92, he bought a very mint condition Ex-BT Maestro van, it was 4 years old with 30k on the clock and had only ever been used for driving between the telephone exchanges so never really had anything in the back. Fast forward 2 or 3 years of normal light use for his business and the front doors had rotted through at the bottom of the window frame, the fuel tank has rusted though meaning at one point, could only fill it to 1/3 full, rear arches had start to go but the 1275 A series engine was an absolute gem. Never failed to start and was decent on fuel. Fond memories going to work for the day with my dad as a kid in it.
I read somewhere that Austin Rover relied on big fleet orders for Maestro vans from the AA and British Telecom with the vans sold at cost just to keep the production line running.
I’ll always have a soft spot for these as grew up with them and owned them. They corroded badly but the fords and Vauxhall’s/Bedford were just as bad as I’ve had all of these in the past.
