Metro at 40

Quite interesting piece.

https://metro.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/

 

Horrible cars !
Two abiding memories for all the wrong reasons.
Firstly taking a slip road on the A442 in one (at about 40mph) and thinking it was going to turn over it was so unstable,
Secondly having to drive to Old Windsor in one and then back since my boss had booked me on the wrong course (bless him), he'd had the same car the previous week and it had broken down on him, wasn't properly repaired, and on my way home the exhaust blew up on the M54. The worst thing for me though was the offset of the pedals which at 6 ft 4 made driving one a very uncomfortable;e and painful experience.
They were pool cars and very much abused but poor maintenance did little;e for what was an awful car.
All ny own opinion I'm sure somebody loved them

 

Philistine

 

Can remember sliding along the brick red leather seats in my mums aged from about 5 to 7 always red hot in the summer and bloody freezing in the winter!

 

This caught my eye: https://metro.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/hello-world/

Much the same market segment as the Renault 7 - they seemed to be very popular in Spain and Greece, where I also saw a booted Clio. The first time I saw an R7 was in the UK though and I wondered what on Earth it was!

 

Got to agree with that. My Dad had one from new and rust started appearing after just a couple of years!
Another abiding memory was driving along one day when the engine cut out. Pulled over and opened the bonnet to have a look while Dad tried to restart, and noticed a little curl of smoke from the side of the engine compartment. . . just where the wiring loom ran. A closer look soon revealed the melted wiring! Cue a call to the AA.

 

That is truly gopping.

I learned to drive in a Metro, and for reasons unknown, my Mum went through a succession of them (favourable family relations with the local dealer a factor I expect). Many notable firsts achieved within, none of which I'll be going into on a public forum.

Favourite was this one in dashing metallic silver/grey, which could achieve unimaginable speeds on the country roads where I grew up, and was the source of numerous wry comments from the mechanics, gently suggesting incidents at MOT time Mum might not otherwise have been aware of (eg have you been in a ditch? Did you know the left wheel is an inch behind the right? We've not seen that done to a sump before, etc.).



Simon

 

https://www.evo.co.uk/features/features/260041/birth_of_an_icon_mg_metro_6r4.html

Imagine your [stereotypical older female relation] having one of those to do the shopping in

 

My dad had a Mini Metro back in the late 80s/early 90s. Metallic blue paint, which must've been very strong as it was the main structural component of the body of the car!

 

Likewise learnt in one which I then inherited as my first car. It was a 1300 which had started life as a van but subsequently had windows put in the back along with a rear seat, albeit the upper mounts were not fitted so if you broke hard the seat folded up! It rusted in front of your eyes (eventually ended up the steel from a fridge forming most of the rear arches) but I loved that car as it was my first freedom and also the scene of much growing up!

Lowlights included the gear selector separating (due to missing rolled pin) meaning I could only engage reverse and had to reverse home about a mile (one advantage of living in the sticks) whilst highlight was keeping up with a Lotus Carlton in the outside lane of the M40! She also transported us around the UK Three peaks in 24 hours without missing a beat!

I cannot find it now but I recall reading a story about an elderly lady going into a dealership and being a brand fan buying either a 6R4 or a Ford RS200 (might have been a Sierra RS500), because she wanted the most expensive in the range as that was whatb she always bought.

 

Can I make you an offer for the film rights to your Metro story??

 

Had one in the early 80s. Rusted away as they all seemed to, although the parents of the people opposite is turn up in one every now and then so a few must survive on the roads.

 

Likewise I learnt to drive in one with the BSM triangle on the top.. I was taken on the A3 with strict instructions not to go above 60 as the high speed would blow the triangle off the roof.
Also the car from which I got out of in the middle of Guildford High Street when the instructor started shouting and swearing at me.
I went back for the following lesson and was told I had a new instructor as the previous one had alcohol problems and had crashed the car through a shop window after having a difficult pupil that day... It even made the headlines of the Surrey Advertiser back in 1982.

 

When they were learning to drive my brothers used to like to go on The Portbury Hundred - the road from the M5 into Portishead & see how fast they could go before Dad grabbed the handbrake

 

Not many https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/?page=1&q=metro

 

Dreadful cars. One of my friends at Sixth Form college had one and he gave me a lift in it quite often. It rusted from the inside out. The head lining in the roof was grey when his Mum gave him the car. It started going brown after a couple of months.
On one occasion he parked it at the top of a quiet road opposite the college. The road had a slight gradient. When we left college in the afternoon the Metro had moved down to the bottom of the road. Luckily it had rolled into the kerb. He had the handbrake checked the next day. It was a very similar model to the one shown below and the same colour.


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Every car my father or I has ever had has had a brown roof lining. It is not however a question of build quality.


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My brother had one I seem to recall, at the time we had a B reg Talbot Solara. Now there was a car built to go on!

 

It always makes/made me smile, that the car it was supposed to replace, out lasted it in production. And the model? The classic Alec Issigonis Mini. The car that I like as not, no doubt many other members learned to drive with...........