Tim Ashworth | Turbos, Barn Finds & Why Only 30 Are Left |

The MG Metro still sits in the top 10 best-selling British cars of all time. Over two million were made. And yet only around 30 to 40 MG Metro Turbos survive today.

This week Sam goes to see fellow dealer and Metro enthusiast Tim Ashworth of Stockley Classics, who walks her through three of his personal collection: an MG Metro 1275, a Mark 1 Turbo, and a Mark 2 Turbo. They cover the full story — from the Austin Metro’s launch in October 1980 as British Leyland’s “World Beater,” through the MG and Turbo variants, the K-Series Rover Metros, and the controversial NCAP crash test that killed the Rover 100 in 1998.

Along the way: Hydragas suspension and why topping it up with fluid destroys it, gearboxes that couldn’t handle 93bhp, the overhead turbo gauge that caused accidents, why foam-filled panels were a terrible idea, and how to spot a fake turbo before you hand over your money.

What you’ll learn:

• The difference between Austin, MG, and Turbo Metros (and what you’re actually paying for)
• What a decent MG Metro costs today (£6–7K) vs a Turbo (£10–12K)
• The parts situation: what’s still available and what’s getting impossible to find
• Why the Metro was designed to replace the Mini — and why the Mini eventually replaced it
• Tim’s tips on buying, running, and the things that will catch you out

Timestamps:

01:00  The Austin Metro story — designed to replace the Mini

05:30  Hydragas suspension — what goes wrong and why

07:00  The Turbo — 93bhp pocket rocket and why the gearboxes blew up

10:00  The overhead turbo gauge that caused accidents

18:00  Prices — what MGs, Turbos, and Rovers are fetching today

25:00  The NCAP crash test and the end of the Metro

30:00  WIN a one-owner Rover 416 for 50p — Dogs Trust raffle

Guest: Tim Ashworth — classic car dealer and MG Metro collector

Mentioned in this episode: Metro Owners Club · Dodo Juice car care (code SAM10 for 10% off) · Raffall.com — search “The Old Car Lady” for the Rover 416 raffle (proceeds to Dogs Trust) and use code ROVERRESCUE for free tickets.

Connect:

🌐 theoldcarlady.com

📸 Instagram: @the_old_car_lady

🎬 YouTube, TikTok & Facebook: The Old Car Lady

💬 Join The Old Car Lady Classic Car Community on Facebook

📧 grangebaileys@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hi, I'm Sam, the old car lady, and this week on the Wheels and Deals Podcast, I'm diving into the wonderful world of the small but mighty MG Metro, a car that still holds its position as one of the top 10 Britain's best-selling cars of all time. If you were around in the 80s and 90s, you'll likely have either had one, known someone that had one, learnt to drive in one, or pass your testing one. So I went to see fellow dealer friend and MG Metro enthusiast Tim Ashworth, who very kindly showed me around just a few of his personal collection, including two rare turbos. From a time when it was obligatory to put a big sticker down the side of any car with a turbocharger. We go back to the humble beginnings of the car that was to take over from the Mini and look at why the Mini eventually took over from it. We look at things to look out for when you're buying and running them, pitfalls and quirks, and why we all love a metro. So please do stay to the end when I'll tell you how you can win a one owner Rover 416 for 50p with proceeds to the Dogs Trust. And watch this space for another episode where Tim and I will be taking one of his metros out for a spin. So let's crack on. I know you've got more than these three. I have. But I thought we'd start. The story of the MG Metro is fascinating. It's one of the top 10 selling British cars of all time. And at one point it was number three for the most cars sold in a year. We started with the Austin Metro.

SPEAKER_05 1:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Um designed originally to take over from the minute.

SPEAKER_05 1:21

The initial designs were the early 70s. And the interesting thing was that the designing was a very late change based on some consumer.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

It was quite flat-sided.

SPEAKER_05 1:32

It was quite flat-sided and quite flat at the back as well. Okay. And at the last minute, in terms of the overall development process, they changed the rear end. Oxy, listening to the customers. Absolutely. I know. And it they made it look far more attractive in my eyes. It hangs together well. It's a nicely proportioned and nicely styled car. Which I think has aged okay, actually.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

So the developments from the Mini essentially was they wanted something with a hatchback, so it was more usable for everyday family life, more space inside, a bit more with modern traffic.

SPEAKER_05 2:00

The Austin Metros, yes, um, under the BL banner, launched in October 1980. Yep. So from memory, there were five variants. There was the base, the L, the HLE. Not H L E not initially, H L E, which is the economy version, the S, and then the top of the range HLS.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 2:19

So those five were launched in October 1980.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

In 1980, for Super Mini, you had uh the Fiesta.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

I think the Fiesta.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Renault, Reno Tem.

SPEAKER_05 2:29

Uh the Polo.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

And the Polo, so tough, you know. Really tough competition.

SPEAKER_05 2:33

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, stiff competition. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

And it did incredibly well.

SPEAKER_05 2:37

It did amazingly well. Why? Um, I think there was a certain degree of patriotism initially.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:44

I I think the public wanted to see BL succeed.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Well, they did market it very cleverly as the world beater.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Some of you may have noticed that for the past few years Britain has been invaded by the Italians, the Germans, the Japanese, and the French. Now we have the means to fight back the new Austin Metro.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Don't go spirits. But great. And there's there's there's a big feeling that the Metro rescued BLE financially.

SPEAKER_05 3:15

Yeah, no, financially. I mean, they were they were very successful. They didn't make a huge amount of money per car. But what it did do, it just reinforced and and helped BL establish themselves in that marketplace. So it was over and above the Mini. The Mini had its own customer base. And what happened was people wore from a mini into a metro, and then maybe due course onto a Maestro or onto a Montego. So you had a you had a range of cars there that hung together really well.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

I think that the Metro, uh the Maestro and the Montego were a disappointment to them in terms of sales. I think they thought that they were going to go on from the Metro to greater success with the Maestro and the Montego. And I think that what they missed was the fact that the Metro was just such a at the right half that point in time. Yes. I just think it was just a perfect stall. If they had designed and developed them at a normal pace, not a British Leyland pace or a BMC pace. Yes. They probably would have launched five years earlier. Yeah. But as usual, it took a cash. It took forever and a day. Yeah, there's just too much, too much month at the end of the money in British Leyland. Moving on from the Austins, what happened next?

SPEAKER_05 4:19

Uh the Mark ones were between October 1980 and kind of mid-84 and 82. You got the launch of the MG, and this took over from the S, basically. Okay. Although interestingly, you have got an S which is actually on a wire edge, which is a very late S. The MG took over from the S. The S actually was, despite the fact of the name, there was nothing different from the Spanish.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Nothing's sporty. Look about it after that.

SPEAKER_05 4:44

Except for a rather nice stripe down the side and some really natty strobe seats inside.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

So it was trim level rather than engineering.

SPEAKER_05 4:52

Whereas this is a fundamentally different car from the S. 1275. But because it's an MG, it's got the bigger head on it, and you've got a big carbon there, so it's got a HIF, what they call a HIF 45. Bit more grunt. Bit more grunt. 72 brake horsepower when you, as opposed to low 60s for a standard 1275.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

You've got a Did they did they manage to squeeze the five-speed gearbox by the same thing?

SPEAKER_05 5:15

They didn't, unfortunately, no. Although, you know, I mean there were people squeezing five-speed gearboxes into minis in the 70s. Yeah. Um but BL didn't quite manage it, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

It did, it did. There's two main issues when I'm buying and selling metros. Yeah. One is the hydrogas sphere situation. So they have a hydrogas suspension system. They started off with them separate corners and then they eventually managed to join them front back for it for an even better ride. But they so basically they are a sphere full of gas.

SPEAKER_05 5:43

Fluid and gas. It's a mixture of fluid and gas. So what happens over time is the gas escapes, which means that you then need to top it up. Or people don't top it up with gas, they top it up with fluid. So you end up with a canister full of fluid, which then makes them rock hard. It destroys the innits of the hydrogas sphere and so on.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

So it's always worth looking for when you're buying or selling one of these to make sure that the spheres are in good shape. They've either been regassed or they don't need regassed.

SPEAKER_05 6:09

You'll know. You'll know if the suspension is nargued. It's like because it there's no suspension. Riding on wooden wheels. There's no just no travel at all. You will feel every bump and your head will fit that. We'll hit the ceiling of the car.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

And wheels. So the wheels when they first came out 12-inch.

SPEAKER_05 6:26

12-inch steels and by uh mini tires. Uh so car so mini the later minis have 12-inch wheels. Okay. Um so yeah, so Nankang, uh okay, not the best make, but uh Camax do them. I think I think this one's riding Nankangs actually. They do the job. Is upgrade. Um so you might well see a uh a metro that was running on metrics originally, which is now running on 12 or 13 inch always.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Mod and safe device.

SPEAKER_05 6:53

You might well see a a metric metro originally riding on pepper pots, you might well see them riding on cross spokes. A sensible upgrade, because it just means you can get freshable bones on those car on those.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah, and and and essentially MOT them and make sure they're safe on the net. Yeah, absolutely. Um so we go from the A plus engine to the mighty turbo.

SPEAKER_05 7:13

So this is a Natchas rated. Yeah, and then we've got this, which is also a 1983. So the Metro Turbos were launched either alongside or perhaps just after the MG. This is a turbo. Metro Pocket Rocket. Pocket Rocket 93 brake horsepower when 75. That one's 72, this one's 93, 0 to 60, 10.9, 0 to 69.9. Honestly, I don't I don't. Do you feel the difference? You don't.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

No, okay.

SPEAKER_05 7:38

What the thing that you'd get with this is you can hear the turbo spooling. Okay. Which is great. So you feel like you're going faster, but you feel like you're feel as though you're going faster than a metro anyway, so because they're so complete loose.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

I I I make no secret of my deep love of cars that feel hilarious at 50 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_05 7:57

On it.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Well, she C C's in this then in the 1275, same, same A plus.

SPEAKER_05 8:01

So they were stretching the engineering of a 1275, you know, uh engine. Uh A plus um uh sodium-filled exhaust. So what does that mean? Um, you know what, that's a really good question.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

I think I think I'm going to find out, and I'm gonna put at the top what that means.

SPEAKER_05 8:17

I think they put sodium in the exhaust valves just to help with the flow of the display. It sounds impressive, doesn't it? Slightly different trim from the MG. You've got the blacked-out bottom quarters here, different style alloys, but the main thing is you get the turbo buttons.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

In the 80s, any car with turbo written down the side was super sexy. And every car that had a turbo engine always had it written down the side, didn't it? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 8:39

So that this is a turbo.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

For the avoidance of doubt of the traffic lights, you are in a turbo.

SPEAKER_05 8:44

The interior is pretty much the same as an MG Metro. You get the same trim. Okay. Um it's a four-speed box, and that was the why did they do that? It was the downfall to some extent. It was the weak point of the Because you're putting 20 more brake horsepower through the gearbox than you were with a standard gear.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

We are screaming up the making four denoids.

SPEAKER_05 9:01

So you know, that that gearbox was put under, especially when you're on full boots.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

So it's exactly the same gearbox.

SPEAKER_05 9:08

Uh no, they did change a part of the gearbox to help with the power.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 9:13

But notwithstanding that, the gearboxes did blow up on these. Yes. And that accounted for many, many MG Metro turbos, apart from the fact that a lot of these engines got put into minis.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

So we lost a huge amount of metros um over the years. Yes. The scrappage scheme didn't help when they were worth $2.06 up in the balloon. Yeah. The gearboxes did blow up, particularly on the turbos. Um they were used as donor cars. Yeah. And they they came up with this wonderful um uh system for uh initially I think it was designed to ease vibration where they put sort of foam in between the panels on the wings, sucked all the water up, and held it there. So they they did rot away. They did rot.

SPEAKER_05 9:58

Yeah. Because it um this is another another difference from the MG. Uh there are four sets of vents on the turbo bonnet as opposed to two. So you see on this mod two here, you've got the four the four vents there to help with calling. This one, now I have actually got a new old stop bonnet for this.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 10:14

So as and when I do the paintwork, it will be addressed there.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

So as with a lot of cars that were um built in high numbers, very popular, incredibly ordinary in period. Yes. And uh were prone to rot.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

The irony now is that they're super rare today. Yeah. To find one that's very rare. On the road, usable, in fairly good condition, sensible mileage, good history file.

SPEAKER_05 10:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

These are now a rare beast.

SPEAKER_05 10:36

They are a rare beast.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Metro turbos are fetching incredible money.

SPEAKER_05 10:41

They are worth saving, definitely. If you find an MG Metro turbo, it is worth saving. Not saying it's going to be an easy job to save it, because some of them are canceling.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Or a financially rewarding one. They still aren't fetching huge money.

SPEAKER_05 10:53

They're not. They're not. I mean, some have done in the eights. But I think for decent MG Metro, you you're probably talking six, seven thousand pounds should get you a decent example. Mark ones, probably a little bit more, Mark IIs, slightly less. The turbos, you can probably add another two or three thousand pounds on top.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

So we haven't looked inside.

SPEAKER_05 11:09

I'm looking inside. Um so eight is you've got a 130 mile an hour clock there instead of 110 in the MG.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Have you ever done 130 in it?

SPEAKER_05 11:17

No.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Have you ever done 110 in it? Have you done one in it?

SPEAKER_05 11:21

I think the fastest of being in it is 80, and that was quite enough. That was quite enough, yeah. White knuckle ride. Um you've got a different, you've got a digital clock in the centre there, as opposed to the MG, which is on the dash. Yeah. But what you have got on the on the turbo, which of course the turbo gauge, the requisite red carpets, red seat belts, asymmetric rear split on the rear seat, which was introduced in the 1980s metro.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

So that's where you get a one-seat and a two-seat, two seat.

SPEAKER_05 11:50

Yeah. So you can still get a passenger in the back and have a door in there.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

And you've got no speaker-shaped holes because of your rear parcel shelf, so you've got a massive smile on my face. And I think it's because back in period to see anything with turbo written down the side was just really exciting. And then we jumped in the Mark II turbo.

SPEAKER_05 12:08

Was kind of a Mark one and a half metro, which is a very early Mark II. So you've got the front end of the Mark II, but you've got the non-body-coloured body kit. Okay. Okay. Um now those had an overhead turbo gauge.

SPEAKER_04 12:26

Oh wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 12:27

Very fancy. Very early Mark IIs will have an overhead turbo gauge, and that's how you know it's a proper turbo and it's an early one. Okay. With the boost gauge up here. Okay. Now that'd have been an issue. Because what happened was people used to want to see the turbo light go up. Where they would where were they looking? They weren't looking at the road. Of course they were. As they were careering down the road at a vast rate of knots. They were looking at the turbo gauge up here.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

At 130.

SPEAKER_05 12:51

At 130. So as a consequence, there were one or two accidents. So that resulted in the turbo light up here. You would have thought they moved it to the dash. But actually, I haven't got a turbo gauge in this car anymore.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

So they just took it out of the room. So what's the difference in age between the one with the turbo gauge?

SPEAKER_05 13:12

So that was an 83 and this one's an 87.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Well, okay, so it's quite a short space of time that they produce them with them in the DAF place.

SPEAKER_05 13:20

Here, this was that was B reg, so 84. 84. And consequently, if you can find a turbo gauge centre uh clock up here, overhead clock, you're going to pay handsomely for that. That's probably about 150 quid's worth of stuff there. Whereas you'd probably pay 30 quid for a standard clock.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

They're all in the ditch, aren't they?

SPEAKER_05 13:42

They're probably all in the ditch. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Have you ever put one in a ditch?

SPEAKER_05 13:47

No. I haven't put any cars in a ditch. Have you not?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

You've never been spinning on your roof in a field.

SPEAKER_05 13:52

I've done a few spins. I think they put one once for escort Mark II into a ditch, but that was because it was rear-wheel drive on an icy road. Yeah. That's the one with the 1.6 litre Capri engine in it.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Oh. Do you remember that one? Yeah. That's what you do with your kids, isn't it, when they blow a car up. You give them a bigger engine.

SPEAKER_05 14:08

Give them a bigger engine. So this is a little bit more civilised being a Mark II than a Mark I. Still full-speed gearbox. You've got the tape deck down here. You've got your tape player here. Tape storage. Tape storage.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Again, what should you not be doing when you're driving?

SPEAKER_05 14:24

Looking down, getting a tape.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Reaching down to get your tapes. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

It hasn't really got many more cons, certainly no electric window. This one has got central locking as well, which is quite you've got the nice little glass on roof. Or manual tape, obviously. You've got a manual tape there, of course. Yeah. Cigar light.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

It is completely charmy, but what we have got to remember is that this was actually designed to replace the mini.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

And this is quite a departure from a mini of it of its day. You know, this must have if you were going into your Austin garage and this had just been presented to you as the brand new car, it would have been exciting, I think.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

And on the on the later engines as well, they extended the service time was it 12,000 services? 12,000 allegedly.

SPEAKER_05 15:03

I think 6,000 is is is more prudent, definitely. Okay. When you consider that an A-series engine that's in oil they're used for the gearbox and the engine. So it uses all the time.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

They did market them though, didn't they? They didn't. They'd up to it to every 12,000 miles before you needed to start.

SPEAKER_05 15:18

When I think anybody's looking at buying a metro, I know they're going to be probably lightning, because I'm not sure you'd really know I've just done this.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

It's such a cardperson thing. I've just seen the steam coming out of your um condenser at your house, and I've looked at behind me, and all I can see is smoke coming out. It's not even rubbing. Oh no about the fire. It's laking already.

SPEAKER_05 15:37

No, yeah. Sorry about that.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

We've blown the gearbox.

SPEAKER_05 15:40

No, no, not yet. It starts on the button.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

So it's Oh, they never do when you say that. In terms of parts and accessibility, um if you did buy one that needed work, can you get hold of everything?

SPEAKER_05 15:52

Yeah, generally speaking, you can. It's now get to the stage where by say model specific bits of trick are virtually unattainable. Okay, so things like yeah, overhead turbos and the overhead turbo is very rare, occasionally do pop up with panels. Well Mort 1s, Mort 2s, Rover Metros, Rover Hundreds, it's interchangeable. Interchangeable. I mean the body kits are model specific. So a Mort 1 um body kit is for a turbo, it's slightly different from a log. Okay. So Mort 1 stuff is as you would expect, because that's the older version of the metro. There's more difficult things to find on that now. But if you're gonna buy a metro, join the method. It's just because there's lots and lots of people who know an awful lot more than I do about metros. They have contacts, they have spare parts tucked away.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

There's a really vibrant scene, isn't there, for all them in terms of shows and meets and forums and groups. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 16:47

So there's lots only going on throughout the spring, summer, and autumn. Metro-related classic carship.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

And they're always very welcome wherever you go. Even if you're doing the pub meets that I go through, and you know, but a huge smile on everyone's face when a metro pulls up. You know, you can't, especially if you're of a certain age where you remember them. Correct. You've always knew somebody that had them.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Um you learned to drive in them or you pass your face testing them.

SPEAKER_05 17:08

A bit like a mini. You know, you always know somebody who's had a mini, or maybe your mum had a mini or your dad in the day. Well, we spoke about this.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

We spoke about this on the podcast, didn't we? There's certain cars that are just ingrained in you because they were around in such high numbers that you know you didn't register them at the time, but now you look back on them with really fond memories. So it's nostalgia. I think it's a nostalgia thing.

SPEAKER_05 17:27

You forget about the or leaks, you forget about the rocks, you forget about things.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

So if I had a quick look under these three, would anything dropping anything?

SPEAKER_05 17:34

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Well, if you're excited, it means they've got some end.

SPEAKER_05 17:39

Well the thing is, the thing is that they were probably dripping oil, not from new. Well, not far from maybe when they went new, they were dripping oil.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:46

The A-Series is renowned for dripping oil. Yeah. There are there are A-Series and which don't drip.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

I like to call it self-undersealing.

SPEAKER_05 17:53

Self-undersealing. Self-under sealing. So there you go. Absolutely. So you never see a mini with a rotten front subframe.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Because they're self-underseals. And down to the nishy grishy. Yes. What would something like this set you back?

SPEAKER_05 18:06

I think if you want a decent turbo, Mark II turbo, you've got to be budgeted around Tegna, I would say, for a decent one with a bit of history. Okay. Maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. I think the key to it is make sure that number one it is a turbo. And you check.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

So are people stickering them up?

SPEAKER_05 18:24

Um Yes, because it's very easy to do. It's very easy to do. And how would you actually tell?

SPEAKER_01 18:28

If you were going to go and look at what you thought, is there any can you pop the bonnet and immediately identify Uh there are some telltale sounds underneath the bonnet.

SPEAKER_05 18:35

Will you show me in a bit? Yeah, yeah. Of course. Of course. Of course you got Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

I mean other than the actual turbo.

SPEAKER_05 18:41

Other than the actual turbo, absolutely. Okay. Um so yeah. I think I think generally speaking, I think if you saw a turbo, it is probably going to be a turbo, but you just need to just venture. So do your do your HPI check.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Okay. And if you wanted to for example, the the lovely 1300 over there, the 1275, what would you pay for something like that?

SPEAKER_05 19:08

I think a Mark I, I like we said before, you should be able to get a usable MG Metro, either Mark I or Mark II, for six or seven thousand pounds. I think a nice one, you might be talking eights, maybe no. The Austin MG, Mark Ones and Mark IIs. Yeah. Okay. They were superseded in the 90s so eighty eighty to ninety.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

So they started at Austin initially.

SPEAKER_05 19:32

Yeah, it was an Ostin Metro, originally, then that then the MG was introduced in eighty two. What year did the badge switch from Austin to Oh no, there were always but there were always Austin's throughout the eighties.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Okay, yeah. Always Austin's. So when did they switch to MG?

SPEAKER_05 19:44

Well, MG metros ran alongside Austin's with a FET from 1982.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 19:49

Okay. And uh I'm not doing a very good job at explaining.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

So they made metros, they made Austin Metros and MG metros at the same time. Why?

SPEAKER_05 19:59

Uh badge engineering. It's something that British Layla had done for years and years and years.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

And were they the same price? Did you pay more for a Oh no, no.

SPEAKER_05 20:10

Okay. Um although, having said that, at the time they also introduced abandoned plasma. Of course they did. So when they introduced the MG Metro, the original Mamma Sparated one, they also introduced an abandoned plasma. That was the N MG.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Same car, different badge.

unknown 20:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Okay. So why would you buy an MGO rather than a Metro?

SPEAKER_05 20:30

I think I think MG Metro is a bit more powerful than a standard metro. Okay. You get the extra trim. It just I think it just hangs to better, it looks a better car, a bit more attractive. Well, the rear spoiler. Yeah, you get the pepper pot. You look at that Mark 1 over there, and I think that's a really smart thought.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

But we are we are going back to the days where badges mattered. Yeah. Spec level mattered, trim level mattered. Do you think it just literally came down to the badge value?

SPEAKER_05 20:53

At the late 70s, it's the old MGs, GPGTs, and midgets, reduction stop. There was a who's going to be in the marketplace for a sporting British code.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

And a lot of love for an MG.

SPEAKER_05 21:02

And a lot of love for MG. So that is the MG Metro was a badge engineered attempt to try and harness some of that demand that perhaps would have bought an MGB or an MGBG tape. And they did it for the maestro, and they did it for the Montego as well. So you can see in the sensor, and they sold incredibly well. You know, I think for every ten MG Metros, they probably sold one or two turbos.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

I think I think for memory maybe a thousand MG Max. And about twenty odd thousand turbos.

SPEAKER_05 21:35

How many are left now? Very, very few. I think if you can find a more one MG Max, it'd be decent. I think it's pretty special car. It's a special car, it's a rare car. Turbo is even rare.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

So wha how did they run the autism electrodes side by side until the end of production?

SPEAKER_05 21:56

Until the end of nineteen ninety. Different front ends, um, different interiors, ostensibly still the same car.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

And the would you do you think the K-Series engine is a more robust unit?

SPEAKER_05 22:09

I think it's a more it's definitely more usable, it's probably more reliable. I don't think it ships as much oil as an ACME either. Doesn't self-undersail quite as well. Uh but with the K-Series, of course, you've got all this noise about head gasket fails. Well, head gaskets will fail if you just keep on top of the maintenance and make sure there's water in the system. And it might you check it every week. Um Do you remember when you used to do that?

SPEAKER_02 22:36

I still do check your own levels.

SPEAKER_05 22:38

Check your levels. I mean, some cars these days all dipstick, do you? You have got a dipstick on the metro. So the m the the rover metros so they they then drop the MGs then. In terms of the G uh the MGs, you got GTI. So you get the Metro GTI.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

That's fancy. I do not do yeah. Very fancy.

SPEAKER_05 22:59

That was fancy. Yeah, and that was kind of XR2, XR2R territory.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Did they do you think they developed that car specifically to compete with the hot hatches?

SPEAKER_05 23:09

I think they had to I think they had to do something because at the end of the production of the MG Stroke Austin Metro in 1990, that was quite archaic by that time.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

The reputation at the time was, dare I say, a little bit foody-duddy by that point. I think I think it was kind of Nana's car of choice, wasn't it? Um so to to try and develop that into a competitive hot hat was was a pretty brave move.

SPEAKER_05 23:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I I think the the GTI Metro, Rover Metro Gi I mean I've had a Rover Metro GTI, they're they're really capable little cars. They're perhaps not as quick as they should be. You know, I would have just liked a bit more extra powerful.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

Did you get a fifth gear in a Get Up? You've got a fifth gear out.

SPEAKER_05 23:54

So you've got a fit fifth gear at last and they're far more refined. They feel like driving a mod collar, a K Cities metro, as opposed to an A-series, which just was a generation before.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

I just I think the I I the only way I can describe driving a metro is it's like being in a go-kart. It's just so much fun.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

And you do have to be aware that, particularly in modern traffic, that you know, the car in front of you can perhaps stop a little bit quicker and move off a little bit quicker and you need to leave a bit more room at the roundabouts and that sort of thing. But I think the thing is that you are going probably half as fast as you think you're going. So you do 50 in one of these, you think you're doing 100. You know, your hair's on fire at 45 miles an hour, isn't it? And and there's a lot to be said for that. And and I think for that reason alone, for the volumes they're at at the moment, they make a lot of sense as a practical classic.

SPEAKER_05 24:42

I think so. Um and also for youngsters as well. I think I I mean I've sold a rover metro this morning to a 17-year-old lad who hasn't even passed his test yet.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

And that can be his first car, isn't it? A hobby car, it's his actual stage river.

SPEAKER_05 24:56

He's got a motorbike and he wants a car to run around in. Okay. I think a rover metro or a rover a hundred. Or even if you in a same thing metro. Yeah. If you can get into an early metro, the really easy or the really practical, you can get the spare parts for the reasonable to run, reasonable cost to run, the reasonable cost to insure. Yeah. And the differen you know, if you were a 17-year-old lad and you rock up at at at the pub or uh wherever, you're not going to see another metro.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

So the thing I do have to address it's like elephant in the room. Um, and it did it did do them a great deal of damage at the time. What N-CAP safety rating did they get, Tim? Can you remember?

SPEAKER_05 25:34

It was somewhere between one and five.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

It was one. I can tell you it's one. I checked this morning. Um so I think now at the time That was the Rover 100. That was the Rover 100. At the time, the NCAP safety ratings were fairly new, weren't they? Yeah. And I think there was some um uh some question mark over how seriously they'd be taken and how much credence people would pay them. And I think it it did the metro a great deal of hard.

SPEAKER_05 25:57

After the Rover Metro, 94, 95 in the Rover 100, which was the last Terrar in the Metro.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

But it was in terms of design and styling and body shell, it was a metro. It's exactly it's just a new again, another bit of budget engineer.

SPEAKER_05 26:09

You shouldn't really be surprised because by that time the metro itself was nearly 20 years old.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:14

So you're asking a 20-year-old car to go through a modern-day crash test. It hadn't been developed particularly. Cosmetically it had. Obviously, it had the road front end, you'd have the badging, slightly different interior, but the fundamental architecture of that car had been designed in the 1970s.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Well, it's like taking a car now that had been designed and developed in the in the 90s and pitching it against a 2026 car in terms of safety. Of course, it's gonna rate incredibly low by comparison.

SPEAKER_05 26:46

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

But at the point of time when it was developed, it was perfectly acceptable.

SPEAKER_05 26:49

It was perfectly acceptable. Um so that was 1998 when that happened, and that the bit you know, I think BMW owned owned a business at the time. Uh and they took the view that it you just shut the doors.

SPEAKER_04 27:01

But you know what? 18 years, over two million were sold. Well, they were derivations.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

They still, I know I said this at the beginning, they still remain the in the top ten in terms of volume, cars sold that have ever been sold in the UK. And and at one point they were top three and they were only behind Fiesas and Escorts.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

And so they had a really good run. You know, they they had they had an incredibly good run. The the irony for me is they were developed initially to take over from the mini. And guess what's now one of the UK's most popular cars? So it's it's kind of one of those where it's it's almost like the 9-11, 928, 9-11 thing. Yeah. They were developed as as the one that would take over. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

But in actual fact, it was the original one that endured. Oh the plan was to go for a play and it's raining.

SPEAKER_05 27:48

I'm not too fussy about that. I mean, some people are. We'll we'll take it'll be like a little step back in time.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

As well as these three that are on the road running and driving perfectly. You've got some projects on the go as well. You're kind of you're you're rescuing Rehome, aren't you?

SPEAKER_05 28:02

Uh yes. A metro sanctuary. A metro sanctuary. I did make it my kind of my aim. Own every single version of the metro.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Of the original five.

SPEAKER_05 28:15

Well, yes and no, and afterwards. So every single version of the metro, so I wanted a base, an L, an HLS. I gave up on that. But along the way, I've managed to acquire some pretty special metros.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

Except how many do you own at the moment? Six?

SPEAKER_05 28:33

No, you know what? You asked me that question, I can't actually answer it because I can't remember.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

I was gonna say sexy greedy to ask how it's awful.

SPEAKER_05 28:42

We'll go to our our secret stories. Okay. So the sanctuary. And I'll show you one else I've got. So they are special metros. They may not mean an awful lot to people who aren't into the metros. Okay. But they are, in my mind, they are special metros.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

Are are any of these three for sale or are these your personal collection?

SPEAKER_05 29:01

Uh these are my personal collection, but this turbo, the more two turbo. At some point in time, I have to I have to sell some cars because I've got far too many cars. So this one will be will be available in due course. So turbo. That's a favorable. It need it does need to put the decals on it. It does see finessing here and there. It will come with MOT as well. 66,000 miles, it all stacks up, street. Um it's a super, super example of a Mark II turbo.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Yeah, rara r rar to final comes to market. So I'm guessing you're gonna want about 10 for this one, are you?

SPEAKER_05 29:33

Yeah, I think so. Maybe a touch more because of the mileage and the history. We'll have to we'll have to see. Yeah, 10 to 12. Well, yeah, wash this space, like you say. I'm not a tanner with the colour.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

He's not gonna sound weak for one, too. I really hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Huge thanks to Tim for sharing his cars and immense knowledge with me. If you'd like to come on the podcast or know somebody with a story to tell or a collection to show, please do let me know. And to help me find good homes for interesting classic cars for 50p, please visit Raffle, R-A-D-F-A-L, and search for Bring Your Trailer Classics or the Old Car Lady and proceeds of this month's one owner rover are all going to the Dogs Trust. Please do subscribe, leave a review, share it with someone else who might enjoy it. It really helps independent podcasts like mine to grow. You can use code SUMTAND for 10% off Dodo Juice, the car care products that I use myself, and all the links are in the show notes below. So please do give me a follow on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at the old carlad to get involved with everything I'm doing day to day. And please do join the old car lady classic car community group on Facebook for more insider info, giveaways, and free tickets to the raffle. Please don't forget to check out earlier episodes and do join me next week for more motor trade chat. So until next time, happy motoring.