Hold the phone: there’s a Montego 2.0 LXi for sale

Cars may have been easier to repair in the past, but they also broke down more often. In fact, one of the great wonders of modern motoring is how often cars work when they are made of so many parts. And this all relates to this glorious Montego, because everything about its history suggests that nothing at all should be left behind. Yet here we have one of the very last examples, complete with only 2,100 miles and one owner from new. Yes, seriously.

As early as 2006According to Auto Express, the Montego was the eighth most scrapped car of the past thirty years; even then, only 8,988 of the 436,000 cars produced were still in circulation. They were rusted, the first examples could not run on unleaded fuel, they must have been raced with great pleasure, they were not worth much, and so on. Then think about how cars have been scrapped over the past twenty years, whether with government incentives or not. There was actually no real reason to keep a Montego, and now there are less than a hundred of them.

This is not so much in the state of a time warp as of a time capsule. It is an extremely beautiful throwback to British Leyland and Rover Group, with decorations, fonts and fabrics that will be so familiar to many, all perfectly preserved. It’s all still a bit boring, sure, but it’s retro boring, and that’s nice. The ad states that it has been with an enthusiast since 1993, a person so dedicated to Montegos that it is being saved for the best and the miles put on another. Talk about dedication to the cause.

Despite minimal use, maintenance would have been regular; It has been driven sparingly, but still driven, instead of sitting idle for 30 years. Presumably, given the effort invested to get it this far, the Montego should be on the button and ready to rock. Sure, the engine bay, like the rest, is pristine, almost with enough room for another 2.0 EFi.

What a Montego LXi could be worth now in unrepeatable circumstances is not clear – the advertisement is POA. When we last wrote about one of these it was an earlier 1.6-litre estate with just over 20,000 miles; that one was for sale for £8,000, so you’d have to take more for this one. It does not appear that numbers have increased in recent years, and the enthusiasm of Montego fans will not have diminished in the slightest. It will undoubtedly be whispered about wherever it ends up; because there are classic car survivors, you see, and then there’s the Montego.