9 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

Online exhibition by the British Motor Museum.......

 

Metro at Forty

"After almost five years without announcing a brand new vehicle, the release of the Austin Metro was highly anticipated. Designed to be a replacement for the Mini, the Metro didn’t quite surpass its little brother during its run. Whilst many companies had already begun to investigate the super-mini market, British Leyland and the Metro entered late into the race. After a last minute redesign, the revised Metro made its grand entrance to the public in 1980.

Despite being the butt of many jokes over its lifetime, the ‘everyday’ looking Metro remains one of the top ten best selling cars in the UK. It remained popular with the British public throughout its production life, despite becoming a relatively old design by that time. Forty years on we now want to celebrate the little car that had such a big impact…"

https://metro.britis...ormuseum.co.uk/

 

 

[mab01uk]

Austin Metro memories, part one

The Austin Metro turns 40 years old on 8 October and to celebrate, AROnline will be sharing your best memories of one of the most iconic cars of the 1980s. Here, in the first set of memories, you’ll find BSM cars, collectors and recollections of when they were brand new:-
https://www.aronline...ories-part-one/

Edited by mab01uk, 25 September 2020 - 06:43 PM.

[RustyAutoCityE]

Thanks for sharing, always been fond of the Metro.

[mab01uk]

Austin Metro memories, part two:-
https://www.aronline...ories-part-two/

 

[mab01uk]

Modified Metros : Crayford Metro Politan:-
It seems that few – if any – of these Crayford convertibles actually reached customers before the company decided to concentrate on its Fiesta conversions. And it had a Dr Who connection back in 1982…
https://www.aronline...d-metropolitan/

 

[mab01uk]

Unsung heroes : MG Metro:-

https://www.aronline...eroes-mg-metro/

Edited by mab01uk, 01 October 2020 - 07:30 PM.

[mab01uk]

Modified Metros : Metro Monaco (nee Cooper)
"Unbelievably, this Metro was not offered as a ‘factory backed’ conversion, even though it came with a blue chip pedigree.
John Cooper Garages offered this car (later renamed the Metro Monaco for legal reasons) as a conversion on customers’ own cars…
That most illustrious of names associated with the Mini during the 1960s made a welcome return in 1981 when John Cooper introduced his own Metro Cooper, as sold through his own ARG dealerships. Unlike the Janspeed and Turbo Technics performance Metros, the Cooper Metro relied on the adoption of a twin carburettor set-up, a wilder cam profile and freer flowing exhaust system."
https://www.aronline...s-metro-cooper/

John Cooper mentions two Metro Cooper prototypes in this 1982 MTN interview with David Vizard:-

http://www.theminifo...rview-1982-mtn/

 

 

[mab01uk]

Happy 40th birthday, Austin Metro
"On 8 October 1980, and years of failed supermini projects and months and months of speculation and scoops, Sir Michael Edwardes whipped the covers finally off the Austin Mini Metro, and BL followers across the country breathed a deep sigh of relief, and it looked like it was going to be perfectly competitive against its toughest supermini rivals. If that sounds almost defeatist in the context of modern car launches, it isn’t meant to.
BL had not had a good news story since the launch of the the launch of the Rover 3500 (SD1) in June 1976, and four years is an absolute eternity when you’re on your uppers. Read Ken Clayton’s brilliant account of the launch of the Austin Metro in 1980 to get a real sense of the importance of this car – when the covers came off in front of selected members of the trade, there were tears. Genuinely, grown men (as the trade was back then) cried with the relief of having a car that they knew they would fly off the shelves."
And that it did…
https://www.aronline...y-austin-metro/

 

[Cooperman]

They were great little cars.

My son had one as his first car when he was 17. My wife and my siser-in-law also had one each.

I bought 4 for use as company pool cars to save having to pay mileage to my employees when visiting clients.

That was back in 1987 and they all lasted well.

[mab01uk]