UK’s rarest cars: 1983 Austin Maestro Vanden Plas – the one with the talking dashboard
Only 10 examples of the flagship Maestro remain on the road. If only the car had been better built, it could all have been so different.
3 July 2021 • 6:30am
The Maestro started life as Project LC10 in 1977. It was due to go on sale in 1980 but didn t appear until 1983, by which time it was already starting to look a little dated
In 1983, investing £6,395 in a new Maestro Vanden Plas was to enter a brave new world. Aside from the electric front windows, central locking, radio cassette player and a sliding roof, the digital facia incorporated a voice synthesiser. An Austin that instructed the driver and passenger to fasten their seatbelts in the dulcet tones of Ms Nicolette McKenzie would surely induce envy in any Ford Escort Mk3 Ghia owner.
2021 Genesis G80 RWD 2.5T - Review by David Colman +VIDEO
Great looks and priced right
By David Colman
David Colman
While the 2021 G80 may carry the same nameplate as last year s Genesis mid-size luxury sedan, it is in fact built on a completely new platform, which it shares with the company s first-ever
SUV, the GV80. Since the underpinnings of the G80 are newly minted, it follows that the sedan s body shell is also fresh as well. While the outgoing G80 was a decent looker, the new one plays in a
different league altogether. If you didn t know what you re looking at, you would think this low-slung beauty might be the latest Aston Martin or Jaguar. It really is that striking, both outside
UK’s rarest cars: 1983 Austin Ambassador Vanden Plas, one of only two left on British roads
This development of the Princess Wedge was a stop-gap model until the much better Montego was available – and now it s virtually forgotten
15 January 2021 • 6:00am
Doctor Martin Nancekievill is such a devotee of the British Leyland 18-22 family that he owns both a 1974 Wolseley-badged pre-production model – and the last Austin Ambassador to depart the production line. In the early 1980s the Vanden Plas flagship boasted a specification that would have been the envy of any middle-manager although a mere two examples now remain on the road.