Twin-Cam's Motoring Maladies: Povvo Rover Metro Restoration, Austin Metro 1.3L, BMW E46 325i

[Twin-Cam]

Here's my 1991 Rover Metro 1.1C.

Full poverty spec, but with exotic optional extras such as a sunroof (that doesn't leak) and a fancy radio.

It's a 4-speed so it's a bit noisy on motorways and the trim rattles are absurd! 

Take it on a B-road though and it's bloody good fun. Somehow, it doesn't understeer. It's got an insane amount of grip, but does go a little vague if you really punt it in to a corner. It'll still grip though.

Anyway, I do 80 miles a day in it so here's where I'm gonna post all my inevitable break-downs and tinkering sessions that will see a 19-year old novice attempt to fix his mad old car.

[the judge]

Autoshite approved. 

10.1 out of 10.2

[New POD]

And the grip and handling can be improved further by period alloys and roll bars off more sporting versions like say the Gti 

Loverly. 

[inconsistant]

Nicely owned! I always admired the breaking with convention to use ‘C’ as a trim level on these. I wonder what it stands for, it sounds really un-aspirational. Maybe just  ‘car’.

[w00dy]

Wonderful. It looks so crisp and fresh.

 

Definitely don't go putting alloys on it, the bare steels and that slimmed down rear bumper look fantastic.

[Tenmil Socket]

Lovely looking car. Keep it exactly as it is...

[paulplom]

Looks brilliant. I'm a closet metro licker.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

[taxi paul]

I had a c reg mg metro back in the day. Loved it and it did grip real well. Looks lovely. 

[New POD]

17 minutes ago, taxi paul said:

I had a c reg mg metro back in the day. Loved it and it did grip real well. Looks lovely. 

I had white C reg metro turbo was followed a few years later by a white E reg 1275 sport. 

When I say white I mean white with orange streaks and splodges. 

I regret selling both despite the rust.

[Skut]

Nice to see an 8 valve K series still pounding the beat. Didn't know you got Rovah versions with a 4 speed. Thought that was the whole point if moving away from gear in sump. 

[New POD]

15 minutes ago, Skut said:

Nice to see an 8 valve K series still pounding the beat. Didn't know you got Rovah versions with a 4 speed. Thought that was the whole point if moving away from gear in sump. 

My aunt had a 4 speed. I asked why? She didn't think she would do enough open road driving to use it much and it cost more. 

She replaced it with a Chitty Wrover so I guess the salesman saw her coming. 

[bezzabsa]

Poverty spec - heck no... you have a passenger side mirror!!!!!!

LOL

 

Mind you that's a good looker for a Rover Metro..owned a few Austin ones, and a solitary Rover one 1.4 quest...

[ProgRocker]

Welcome @Twin-Cam. I'm pretty sure I saw your car on Steph's YouTube channel. 

?

I remember when these Rover Metros were launched back in Spring 1990. The C spec initially had wheel trims at launch iirc, same design as the ones fitted on the L and S spec ones. I prefer the steelies + black hubcap combo though. 

 

[Vince70]

Great looking car also your YouTube video channel is brilliant 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Love the tin bumpers on the back of these. Its as if someone absolutely INSISTED the poverty model had a tin bumper 'cos thats how we've always done it' so they tooled one up just to keep him happy and made about 500 of them before deleting it as a costdown.

[wuvvum]

Nice!  I had a 1.1S years ago - rear wiper, 5 gears and wheeltrims, decadence.  Lovely thing to drive though - as you say, cornered amazingly well for what it was.  The 1.4Si I had later handled even better thanks to its 185-section tyres, but for some reason the turning circle on that one was shocking.

[RRT22R]

I love how the steel wheels and trims are reminiscent of the original 12in ones from the early '80s.

I enjoy watching your YouTube content too!

[Fat_Pirate]

I had one of these brand new back in '91, was my first company car and I loved it.  Was unimpressed by the rear bumper though - up to August of that year even the C had the full rear bumper, mine was the 1st I'd seen with the dogbone.  I paid extra for the 5 speed box as it considerably improved acceleration, further pissing on the fireworks of my colleagues with their Fiesta 1.1 Bonus rubbish

[Kiltox]

Looks tidy! Don’t see many of them and whenever I do they’re a bit of a mess so it’s nice to see. 

[SRi05]

This looks really mint, normally these are very crusty. I love these old Metros, we had an L reg "Tahiti" in navy blue as our first ever family car around 1994. My da drove to London from Glasgow in it to see Pink Floyd ? it's weird the random stuff you remember about old cars 

[Jimbob McGregor]

I hadn’t thought about Metros for a while until I spotted a targa red C plate City 5-door (with the inset headlamps) near EMR Metals in Blaydon yesterday.

Once borrowed a 1.1S years ago and drove it up the winding road of the Teign Valley in Devon. It had French levels of comfort but a ‘light’ kind of tautness that had to be experienced to know what I’m talking about. It had an economy of effort that almost made my 205 GTI seem overblown.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Jimbob McGregor
Can’t remember my Devon geography.

[Twin-Cam]

On 11/6/2019 at 9:27 AM, inconsistant said:

Nicely owned! I always admired the breaking with convention to use ‘C’ as a trim level on these. I wonder what it stands for, it sounds really un-aspirational. Maybe just  ‘car’.

'C' for 'Crap-Spec' maybe?

[Twin-Cam]

On 11/6/2019 at 10:54 AM, Skut said:

Nice to see an 8 valve K series still pounding the beat. Didn't know you got Rovah versions with a 4 speed. Thought that was the whole point if moving away from gear in sump. 

Most had 5 gears. Only the very basic ones had 4.

[Twin-Cam]

On 11/6/2019 at 9:33 AM, w00dy said:

Wonderful. It looks so crisp and fresh.

 

Definitely don't go putting alloys on it, the bare steels and that slimmed down rear bumper look fantastic.

 

On 11/6/2019 at 9:43 AM, Tenmil Socket said:

Lovely looking car. Keep it exactly as it is...

Don't worry everyone, it's staying exactly as it is.

I bought this particular one because I'm in love with the wheel trims and metal bumper.

[Twin-Cam]

On 11/6/2019 at 11:41 AM, bezzabsa said:

Poverty spec - heck no... you have a passenger side mirror!!!!!!

LOL

 

Mind you that's a good looker for a Rover Metro..owned a few Austin ones, and a solitary Rover one 1.4 quest...

Two years prior yes, but by 1991 a passenger mirror was standard. I think that's known as exotic!

[Twin-Cam]

On 11/6/2019 at 12:45 PM, Mr_Bo11ox said:

Love the tin bumpers on the back of these. Its as if someone absolutely INSISTED the poverty model had a tin bumper 'cos thats how we've always done it' so they tooled one up just to keep him happy and made about 500 of them before deleting it as a costdown.

I've been told that too many people were opting for the 1.1 C in 1990/91, so rather than making the 1.1 L and 1.1 S better, they made the 1.1 C worse!

That's when they put the metal rear bumper and old-fashioned hub caps on, to encourage buyers into a higher spec model.

Only Rover... only Rover...

[Twin-Cam]

As a few people have eluded to, I do indeed make terribly low-rent videos on YouTube.

I'm still figuring it all out at the moment so every video is slightly different, taking on slightly different styles to find one that suits.

The aim of my videos is to talk about the history of development and production of individual cars. To me, that's part of what makes them interesting. If you watch my videos I think you might be able to notice that I'm currently doing a History and Politics degree!

Anyway, I'm a massive nerd, so here's the link if anyone's interested.

YouTube.com/TwinCam

[Aston Martin]

I was expecting a twin cam Metro. ?

[ETCHY]

Superb looking little Metro.

I wouldn't change a thing, glad to hear you're not changing anything on it either

I look forward to hearing more about BGP. Dunno why but I keep thinking Bargepole when I see that reg .

I've seen a few of your car video's before on YouTube, I rather enjoyed them !

[Mrs6C]

The rear bumper design is really rather nice. The shape of the lower corner trim responds well to the shape and position of the lighting cluster above and makes it all look very neat and well-proportioned.

My MG Metro 1300 has a four speed gearbox and it was considered the desirable and sporty model of its day, so your car is just maintaining that proud tradition!