Own Up, Who Had A Mini Metro?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-54423328
Never had one myself, I owned an original Mini though.

[jennyjoan]

When I bought my mini metro - I bought it brand new, I drove it home and found the most magnificent bouquet of flowers. I hadn't a clue and contacted the company saying somebody left flowers in the car - they said it was a complimentary gift to me.

About 4 weeks later "bad boys" of the area smashed the window and wrecked the steering and it was found in a back street. I always knew the bstards - anyway talking about metro - it was a total rusty bucket, started to rust rapidly.

[retrocop]

//Retro, I also please guilty to owning an Allegro - it was a dirty orange colour! //

Fortunately I only drove the early police panda Allegros when I was foot duty. That made my mind up never to own one privately. We soon learnt that if you drove them up over a kerb for various reasons the windscreen would end up in your lap as the chassis twisted. The gas suspension was dreadful.

[gulliver1]

Barry 12.00, are you sure about this figure of £800k a year?.

[jno]

yes, I had a Mini with a cord that you pulled to open the door, plus sliding windows and you had to stomp around the floor to find the button to switch on high beam. They were good cars but supposedly assisted the downfall of the car industry because they were sold for less than they cost to build.

Never had a Metro for precisely the reson mentioned: everyone said they were terrible for rust. So why didn't the manufacturers do something about it?

[ToraToraTora]

Some ever were panda cars, as demonstrated here:

[Baldric]

Original Mini, couple of them, a Metro, never.

[barry1010]

gulliver, the cheapest new mini today is at least £16k. 16k*52 = £832,000

[ubasses]

I have to own up. Mr U went in for a Montego and they did a very good deal if I had the Metro. Always regretted it and wanted my fiesta back. Kept it 3 years and went back to Ford for an escort.

[ToraToraTora]

gulliver my answer at 11:50 was to your question at 11:46, the £595 was the new price in 1960.

[ToraToraTora]

not many people were on £595 per week in 1960

[teacake44]

I remember it well, but can't narrow down what year I bough it. Bog standard new mini in Harvest Gold, more like a dirty mustard colour , paid £510 and had to buy a spare wheel on top, can't remember the price of that. Some garages included the spare some didn't.

[diddlydo]

We had 2 Minis (first in 1972 when it cost c. £650 + extra for the optional heater!), then an All Aggro then a VW Golf which was yet more aggro. We're now on our 5th Skoda Fabia and all have been brilliant, despite being made by VW.

[SparklyKid]

I have a Skoda Fabia, 1.9 diesel. Bought new in 2008. Best car I have ever owned.

[retrocop]

I have a Superb Estate and wife a Fabia Greenline estate. Brilliant vehicles but I wish I had bought the diesel version.

[youngmafbog]

I had an original Morris Mini (1965) I stripped it right down painted it black, replaced A-Frames, brake pipes, got rid of the hydro elastic suspension, recon engine(stage 1 head) and resprayed it black with twin big exhaust and tinted windows, spoilers etc.

Never hada metro but my dad bought one to retire with brand new as he got a load of discount due to working at British Aerospace who owned them at the time I think. Tight wad bought the bottom of the range and wouldnt even pay to put a radio in (And yes he was not short of a bob or two). It was an awful car but to be fair was reliable (being a design engineer of aircraft serving a car was a dodle so he would do it religiously). The same could not be said for the AllAgro my brother for some odd reason bought him.

[ToraToraTora]

aah the old square steering wheel, very innovative!

[andy-hughes]

I had a red MG Metro which rusted like a nail, but I liked driving it.

My wife parked it at school with a Post It Note on the steering wheel saying PETROL in large letters, because it was running on vapour, and she planned to visit the local petrol station which was about five hundred yards away.

Some idiots stole it, and unsurprisingly, it ran out of petrol quarter of a mile away.

The police called round at 1:30 in the morning saying they had found it, and had a can so we could get it going. On the way to pick it up, they advised me that if they got a 'shout' they'd leave me wherever we were, with their apologies!! Fortunately we got to the car.

I also had three Minis, first was great, bought from a neighbor of my grandmother in 1978 for £200 with less than 1,000 miles on it - bargain. It got destroyed by an uninsured drink driver while it was parked.

The second was another nail, really bad, and the third was the worst, a rust bucket with no heating. My youngest daughter and I used to drive to her school in the mornings in it, and we used to joke about opening the windows to let some warmer air in!!

[teacake44]

One of the many pain in the neck jobs I remember doing on the mini, was the very flimsy coolant hose between /connecting the cylinder head to the block, it was always splitting, it was a right knuckle bleeder to change. Did you ever change one. :0)

[bhg481]

TC - from memory the one that the car was built with was quite a heavy-duty one but could only be changed by removing the cylinder head. You could buy a very flexible but flimsy replacement which could be put in place without removing the head.