Rover/mg metros

[BimboBob]

My dearly departed old man bought a shiny brand new MG Maestro in the early 80's. It was, at the time, the quickest 4 door production saloon, I think. It had MG badges all over it and red seat belts.

He got sneered at by the local MG club so promptly joined and took it to a few meetings whilst wearing their club jacket.

He then got the Montego version which was just as shit.

Both cars at high speed felt like they were going to fall apart.

 

[NPBlue]

My first company car about 1982 was an MG Metro, and while it never broke down and was quite fun to drive, it had a few quirks that were never sorted out. The warning lights on the dashboard were seemingly attached to the suspension as the bumpier the road, the more they flashed, and the steering was fine on a smooth road, but had a life of it's own on an undulating surface.

Let's be honest though, British cars in those day were absolute dogshit, and BL had pride of place in raising mediocrity into an art form.

Overall, I tolerated it because it was free, but looking back, it was as bad as you would expect from Birmingham's finest craftsmen.

 

[dickie davies]

My dearly departed old man bought a shiny brand new MG Maestro in the early 80's. It was, at the time, the quickest 4 door production saloon, I think. It had MG badges all over it and red seat belts.

He got sneered at by the local MG club so promptly joined and took it to a few meetings whilst wearing their club jacket.

He then got the Montego version which was just as shit.

Both cars at high speed felt like they were going to fall apart.

Ah the Montego

GMP bought a stack of these as traffic cars and within three months the traffic officers were sent a memo which said no one was to drive a Montego at over 70mph as they were so dangerous

 

[Ancient Citizen]

There was even a rally version, the MG Metro 6R4, which was limited to a road production run under the Clubman variant of around 200 cars. The 6R4 Clubman was a semi-monocoque tubular chassis, mid engine (non-turbo) 3l V6, 4-wheel drive beast at 250bhp. The full on rally spec version was @410bhp, but only around 20 of these were made.

A mate of a mate, who used to be a rally driver said this was the most awesome car he'd ever driven, went
like a scalded cat and stuck to the road like Bostick.

 

[Ancient Citizen]

in the 80's I lived next door to David May's aunt ( or uncle can't remember which of them was the relly ) on Grimshaw Lane in Middleton so I saw him fairly regularly. At Blackburn as a yoof team player he used to get a lift too the ground then later on had a wanked out Fiesta I seem to recall. When he either signed pro or even signed for the rags he got a club car. A hearing aid beige Austin Montego - he had hit the big time lol !!!

In 1978 I got a hearing aid beige Morris Marina 1.3, for a company car, as there were thousands of similar heaps of shite
on the roads then, nobody seemed to comment on how utterly naff and god awful things they were.
Interestingly, I've not seen a Marina on the road for donkey's years.

 

[bazamancity3]

Oh my the metro is hated. But mine is mint and reliable. I'm happy paying £160 year insurance and plodding along to asda in eastlands. You may see it. Come next to me in the traffic lights see what happens.

 

[s1ty m]

In 1978 I got a hearing aid beige Morris Marina 1.3, for a company car, as there were thousands of similar heaps of shite
on the roads then, nobody seemed to comment on how utterly naff and god awful things they were.
Interestingly, I've not seen a Marina on the road for donkey's years.

Wasn't there a Morris Ital? Often presented in some sort of garish orange paintwork? Dreadful contraption. The Maestro was as ugly as the Allegro and I'd argue that the Talbot Samba was on a par with the Metro. Talbot specialised in making useless cars.

 

[Ant]

Wasn't there a Morris Ital? Often presented in some sort of garish orange paintwork? Dreadful contraption. The Maestro was as ugly as the Allegro and I'd argue that the Talbot Samba was on a par with the Metro. Talbot specialised in making useless cars.

The Morris Ital was a copy of the Morris Marina with new lights..... I had a 1.8 twin carb Morrris Marina ...in Teal Blue ... omg i loved that car ... and the Allagro had a quadoptic steering wheel (almost square) .. they also had heated rear windows so your hands didnt get cold pushing it in the winter

 

[LWashington]

My mate had a MG Metro turbo early 1990s . It ran well at first , apart from it lacked a fifth gear for long motorway journeys. Then one night on the Woodhead pass he hit a sheep and the car came off worse. The sheep rolled over a few times then ran off, for months after the collision his car was leaking either water or oil (or both). Eventually he sold it and got a Montego turbo which had horrendous wheelspin even in second gear.

 

[bluethrunthru]

Wasn't there a Morris Ital? Often presented in some sort of garish orange paintwork? Dreadful contraption. The Maestro was as ugly as the Allegro and I'd argue that the Talbot Samba was on a par with the Metro. Talbot specialised in making useless cars.

the Samba was great - if bought wisely.

Buy at a few years old - one or one point one litre engine - and rattle around on zero maintenance for two or three years then scrap it. My ex got 5 years out of a £200 motor that did 50mpg was cheap to insure ( tax was all the same I think in those days ) and 5 MOT tests - no servicing and no replacement parts. When the exhaust was completely shot and priced at £150+ to replace front to back it was scrapped.

Replacement was a Ford Fiesta. Now that was a bag of shite money pit rust bucket