Austin Metro

[FakeConcern]

I've just noticed that I "rank" an Austin Metro, so here's me with mine in 81 or so.

[dollywobbler]

Nice. I had an X-reg 1.3HLS a few years ago.

 

Displacers were shot, so it bounced almost as badly as a rubber-cone Mini, but by heck it was fun to chuck around! Then the clutch hydraulics started playing silly buggers. Then it dropped a valve and was driven 12 miles home by my wife...

[New POD]

 I have no photos of the white C reg  MG Metro Turbo (Bought in 1991 for 1800 quid and sold 12 months later for £1750 after I read about likely increases in hot hatch insurance) It was not the most reliable, and seemed to invite rear end crashes.  Oh and I managed to snap an engine mount on landing.

 

and  have no photos of the of the E reg 1275 sport also in white bought for £900 in 1994 and sold for £150 in 1998.  TOTALLY RELIABLE apart from rust.

[Alexg]

Are you Noel Edmonds?

[eddyramrod]

My two (so far...)

Black 1.0L that I bought as an emergency replacement in the autumn of 1998, and kept for at least 18 months before selling on at a profit.  I was really pleased with this, it was a lovely little runabout, and I don't even like small cars!

 

My barn-find 1.3 van, saved from certain doom in Cyprus where it had lived from new (1983) and shipped over here with the rest of my goods in 2012.  Sold to a serial Metro collector at a paper profit, if you don't include the shipping.  I still wish I'd been able to keep it.

 

Will there be more?  Knowing how I prefer a big car, possibly not, but who knows?  I never expeted to have either of these, so anything can happen.

[FakeConcern]

This didn't seem that much fun at the time as I also had a 1275GT (see here http://autoshite.com/topic/7706-one-shite-picture-per-post/page-447)

 

One fun thing in the Metro was as I was coming home it stuck in top (4th!) gear much slipping of the clutch later I got home & found the roll pin holding the gear linkage on had dropped out! Funny thing was about a month later I took the engine & box out of the 1275GT & it took me two evenings to drive the same blasted roll pin out!

[FakeConcern]

Are you Noel Edmonds?

No sod off!

[FakeConcern]

 I have no photos of the white C reg  MG Metro Turbo (Bought in 1991 for 1800 quid and sold 12 months later for £1750 after I read about likely increases in hot hatch insurance) It was not the most reliable, and seemed to invite rear end crashes.  Oh and I managed to snap an engine mount on landing.

 

and  have no photos of the of the E reg 1275 sport also in white bought for £900 in 1994 and sold for £150 in 1998.  TOTALLY RELIABLE apart from rust.

My dad bought a white MG new in 86, traded it for a 205GTI about 2 years later as it had gone orange with rust! I also had a blue MG, but can't find any pics ATM.

[oman5]

My dad had an X reg 1.0 metro, one of those suspiciously well built early models that still hadn't rotted out even at 15 years old. It was reliable and he loved it. It was written off after getting driven into .

I hated having to borrow it, it was enormously slow.

[dollywobbler]

I'd love to know what change they made to rear wheelarches, that makes early Metros rot-free in that department (if not so lucky elsewhere) while Rover 100s seemed to be rotten from brand new.

[Noel Tidybeard]

you need to bin the metro and get an ital now!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

My Metroes, bought and sold between 1988 and 1990:

 

1980 W 1.0L in beige. Bought in 1988, rotten wings, Replaced those, sold it for £1200.

1982 X 1.0 City in black. This one was really mint, cleaned it up and sold it.

1984 1.3L in Clove brown. Rotten wings, replaced, blah blah.

1983 A 1.3L in Cinnibar red. Spectacularly rotten. Bought it for £650, new wings, front valance outer skin, rear valance.

1981 1.3S in Nautic blue. I got stitched on this one. Sills were pure GRP and it smoked/pinked on acceleration. Bunged it back in the auction and lost £50.

1980 W 1.0 L SLO172W. Very, very nice example. The only one I had that wasn't rubbish.

1986C facelift 1.0 City in targa red. three years old and one wing was rusting though.

1988 E 1.0L in white.  The final one, thank fuck.

 

 

Metros were shit. Complete and utter shit. As a design they were great. Decent go, very good on fuel, easy to drive with superb vision, good handling and ride. But sadly they were built by BL. Back then they were easy money. Wings were £15 from Cafco and Halfords rattle cans were very good so you could replace a pair of wings for around £40 with underseal etc. But there was ALWAYS a bloody problem - fucked 2nd gear, hydra gas going lopsided overnight and bollocks like that. 

 

Fiestas and Novas were much easier. They made more money at the sales, but were wash and go cars, two hours prep with polish and an oil change, job done.

[FakeConcern]

you need to bin the metro and get an ital now!

Bloody Hell! How'd that happen? Can I reject a rank? I didn't even pass Marina!

[Six-cylinder]

I am having a Metro moment and have been trying to buy one, I have bid on a couple but I guess I am just too mean!

 

Forgot to say with BL Wedge I must be middle management, looking forward to the key to the executive WC next!

[oldford]

Working in car rental in the 1980s, I remember the day (in 1987) when we had a delivery of 10 brand new 1.0 Litre L models.  The only problem was that we needed larger cars, so I was dispatched to numerous locations in our region to swap them for what we needed.  On one particular trip down the A12, I had just spent 15 minutes getting one up to 80mph when a lorry doing 55 decided to pull out in front of me.  This Metro, having brakes that hadn't yet bedded in, I thought it wasn't going to slow down.

[MarvinsMom]

i love mine, here it is at the NEC today.

 

i love it, though i am aware that the metro is a flawed effort, and maybe thats why i love it so much! 

 

as part of the upgrade at longbridge before the rover metro went on sale, they fitted a computerised paint line in for the mini/metro/and later mg-f line. i think that this super dooper new piece of kit wasn't actually that great, as that was i think why the rovers wheel arches rot like they do, the quality, or otherwise on the mini took a dip too at the same time, only on the mini it was the windscreen scuttles that seemed to suffer the most!

[oldford]

We had one that needed a new engine (under warranty), a new engine was fitted and on road test they knocked that one out, so one new car that had 3 engines in a week.

 

On another trip out, I had the leggy 9 month old Nova 1.2L, my colleague had a 2 month old Metro, we got back, the Nova running like a Swiss watch, the Metros big ends doing a machine gun impression.  Our local dealer used to love us.

 

Driving down the A45 (now A14) in a pair of Metros with my boss in the other, Elephant racing flat out, his was about 3mph quicker than mine.

[FakeConcern]

i love mine, here it is at the NEC today.

DSCN3076.JPG

 

i love it, though i am aware that the metro is a flawed effort, and maybe thats why i love it so much! 

 

as part of the upgrade at longbridge before the rover metro went on sale, they fitted a computerised paint line in for the mini/metro/and later mg-f line. i think that this super dooper new piece of kit wasn't actually that great, as that was i think why the rovers wheel arches rot like they do, the quality, or otherwise on the mini took a dip too at the same time, only on the mini it was the windscreen scuttles that seemed to suffer the most!

I'm a bit confused, MG badge & pepperpot alloys, but black bumpers & side strips, I'm sure mine had body colour bumpers etc. Maybe mine was a facelift! I must be getting old, I can't remember.

[MarvinsMom]

incedentally i now seem to be a Austin Maxi ranking on this website, there is i think only one Maxi here at the NEC, and its had a bang up the back! Dunno if it has happened today, but it has made me sad.... it is in sandglow, and it looks mint, save the dirty great dent in the back of it.... poor old thing  

[MarvinsMom]

my car is actually only a city x.... hence the black bumpers and black rubbing strips!

 

the peppapots are a favourite of mine, plus you can buy new tires in that size!

 

.

[FakeConcern]

incedentally i now seem to be a Austin Maxi ranking on this website, there is i think only one Maxi here at the NEC, and its had a bang up the back! Dunno if it has happened today, but it has made me sad.... it is in sandglow, and it looks mint, save the dirty great dent in the back of it.... poor old thing  

I like the Maxi another Issigonis great!

[UltraWomble]

This is my Austin Metro from 1989...

 

Which I had for quite a while and loved even though I fought a never ending battle with rust. Oh and it was one of the bollocksed batches that got a new short engine under warranty.

 

Then I had a Rover Metro

]

 

Then another

]

 

Despite the lovely wooden* dash and 1400cc donkey I really hated this one.

[FakeConcern]

my car is actually only a city x.... hence the black bumpers and black rubbing strips!

 

the peppapots are a favourite of mine, plus you can buy new tires in that size!

 

.

That's good, I'm not getting old after all! Looks smart anyway.

[FakeConcern]

This is my Austin Metro from 1989...

 

Which I had for quite a while and loved even though I fought a never ending battle with rust. Oh and it was one of the bollocksed batches that got a new short engine under warranty.

 

Then I had a Rover Metro

]

 

Then another

]

 

Despite the lovely wooden* dash and 1400cc donkey I really hated this one.

Very posh!

[New POD]

i love mine, here it is at the NEC today.

DSCN3076.JPG

 

i love it, though i am aware that the metro is a flawed effort, and maybe thats why i love it so much! 

 

as part of the upgrade at longbridge before the rover metro went on sale, they fitted a computerised paint line in for the mini/metro/and later mg-f line. i think that this super dooper new piece of kit wasn't actually that great, as that was i think why the rovers wheel arches rot like they do, the quality, or otherwise on the mini took a dip too at the same time, only on the mini it was the windscreen scuttles that seemed to suffer the most!

 

 

That particular metro has the wrong wheels. Those are preface lift 12 incher pepper pots (or were they 315 mm?) and later cars would never have had them.

 

The metro front arch is a particularly poor design, and having replaced a couple you have to work hard to prevent them rusting.

[strangeangel]

Did my first driving test in a BSM one with a duff gearbox, and had to endure driving a 310 van some time later.

 

I've hated them ever since, loathsome fucking things.

[MarvinsMom]

yes i am well aware of this..... but since no one has made a 315 metric metro tire in 20 odd years, i got myself some nice 12 inch wheels instead, so if and when i want a new tire i can actually get one!

 

we've got a small stack of metric rims in the garage, as kerry wants them for her car once the resto is completed, but even then just for show!!

 

plus i like the peppapot wheels. its just my choice.

 

if i was doing another car, then i'd be looking for some nice mark 1 steely 12 inch wheels, with those little black hubcaps. just co i like them too.

[UltraWomble]

Ahh, that generic AR dashboard.

 

Obligatory tide mark once a car hits 5 years old.

 

Bangin' Choonz

 

Dash from a late Mk2 A series.

[New POD]

yes i am well aware of this..... but since no one has made a 315 metric metro tire in 20 odd years, i got myself some nice 12 inch wheels instead, so if and when i want a new tire i can actually get one!

 

we've got a small stack of metric rims in the garage, as kerry wants them for her car once the resto is completed, but even then just for show!!

 

plus i like the peppapot wheels. its just my choice.

 

if i was doing another car, then i'd be looking for some nice mark 1 steely 12 inch wheels, with those little black hubcaps. just co i like them too.

 

 

Yeah, I remember when the 315 Dunlop was £68 quid plus fitting, but my local scrap yard had 100 metro's with perfect wheels and tyres from £5 a corner.  You just picked the best 4 and paid £20.  No need to even balance them.  The turbo had 13's IIRC they were 185/55/13 but I once reversed a brand new NCT into a stone curb and slashed the side wall. £83 quid down the drain.

[quicksilver]

My mum had a Metro just like the OP (WRP20W), which I remember fondly but don't seem to have any photos of. It served rather well - sold to a friend and bought back a couple of years later, then written off by a minor rear end shunt (from an Allegro convertible of all things!), bought back from the insurance company and repaired for a few quid with scrapyard parts. Sadly it met a tragic end when the next owner overturned it, killing himself and six friends, although the car wasn't to blame in any way.

 

She also had a later grey Metro Mayfair (F308EFC) but none of the family took to it as much as the older one - the modernised interior seemed very claustrophobic compared with the sparseness of the original. The only thing I remember about it was a large scratch on one of the back doors that the previous owner had tried to disguise very badly with an awful bright pink 'splat' sticker that was completely the wrong shape to cover the scratch.