AUSTIN MONTEGO ESTATE

You know how sometimes of an evening you get an idea which seems great at the time, but deep down inside you suspect that in the cold light of day it might not seem quite so inspired? In some ways, our latest project car may seem to fall into this camp. It is a 1985 Austin Montego 1.6 estate, and it was bought on a whim by our publisher who, despite being very successful at his day job, is as much of a car nut as you and me and has a very questionable penchant for unfashionable cars from the 1980s.

Under normal circumstance that affliction would be broadly manageable, but there is an added dimension in this case which makes it rather more dangerous. Most people, if they floated the idea of buying a down-at-heel Montego, would be shouted down by their mates and told to go get another round of drinks by way of distraction. Unfortunately, I happen to share this strange attraction to mundane motors, cars which are part of our social history rather than being automotive icons. So when he floated the idea of buying this