I acquired this car in March 2000, at a cost of £265. It was originally going to be free but I felt that I couldn't take it from it's previous owner without at least paying for the service and MOT it had just had!
It's white diamond over grey with a slate grey leather interior. The trim level is very high, considering its age:
Leather Seats and Steering Wheel
Wood veneer door cappings
Heated Electric Door Mirrors
Electric Front Windows
Automatic choke
Electronic Ignition Management
Chrome Embellishment on Bumpers, Door Mirrors, Grille and Door Handles
Central Locking
Bronze Tinted Windows
When I acquired it there were 75,080 miles on the clock and a few little bubbles of corrosion on here and there, but generally the condition was very good. Apparently the previous owner hadn't driven it above 60mph more than a few times. The engine had the usual oil seeping from the camshaft covers and there was a little smoke under acceleration but it certainly was a little more eager than the 1.3 that it replaced. The smoke disappeared when I cleaned the air system and gave it a good service.
During my ownership I've repaired the bodywork in places and also made a few modifications:
Electric sunroof
8 Speaker Stereo with Minidisc and 10 CD changer
Alloy Wheels
New headlining
Nearly four years and 40,000 miles on, however, it was looking rather sad. The rust had taken a firm hold of the wheel arches and sills the engine had sprung an oil leak that I couldn't cure. This was caused mainly by the terrible design of the oil breather system which routes the oil vapour across the front of the engine, meaning that in cold weather the pipes build up with emulsified oil and the pressure has to be let out elsewhere. On my birthday in 2002 the camshaft cover gaskets blew out, covering the whole engine bay with brand new Castrol GTX. After cleaning out the pipes and replacing the gaskets I just couldn't work out why oil was seeping out onto the garage floor. Eventually it was apparent that the crankshaft and camshaft oil seals had gone which condemned the engine.
Eventually it got to the crunch time: Restore it, or scrap it? I nearly went for the latter option when I saw an ultra-low mileage 1991 MG Maestro 2.0L for sale locally but for one reason or another this was not the deal it originally looked, so I decided to restore F153.
Read the restoration page to see what's under way!