‘Your Best Friend Will Hate You’ - the Launch of the MG Metro
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- Опубліковано 29 жов 2022
- 40 years ago, British Leyland launched the MG-badged hot hatch version of the Austin Metro. To celebrate, let's look at this brochure from 1982.
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Hi folks, hope you enjoyed the video.
Sorry for the echoey and tinny audio in this one. My lapel mic failed to record. So the audio is direct from the camera.
brilliant little car
I love these old brochures, they provide an interesting window into times gone by, especially in the way in which they're written. Modern car sales material seems to be more interested in selling a life style rather than talking about the engineering, which is a bit of a shame.
Me too. I used to collect them assiduously from the dealerships as my dad worked for esso and used to regularly travel to various garages around northwales. I loved going to work with him and looking at all the vehicles at the franchises
Forgot all about these cheap little gems. Loved them when I was a 1980s kid.
I am 41, my mom had an A plate Metro L 1 litre. It so takes me back seeing the shape of the dashboard and switch gear. I am going to the NEC this Saturday for the classic car show, undoubtedly there will be metros and I will soak them in. Great videos, keep them coming
The mother of a friend bought a Black MG Metro and it looked really good. Huge fun and sounded wonderful. Nice.
I remember these so well ,and this version is my absolute favourite MG Metro. I worked at an Austin Rover dealer in 1982 and was thrilled when they came out. We got the Silver Leaf Met and promptly displayed it on our carousel it looked amazing loved those pepper pot wheels.
I have this brochure and the cooper one to (:
Aww, that first page car is the spit of the one I had when they came out - Zircon Blue metallic with the 82-only black/herringbone seats ❤
The first car I bought was a E-Reg MG Metro. Absolutely loved it!
A very good mate of mine bought one of these new in the metallic blue - by far the best choice in my opinion.
Cut a very long story short, I shared the driving from the middle of England to the middle of France.
Thanks to the M25 being closed, along with how the 'driving shifts' happened to work out, I hit both the morning rush in London and the evening rush in Paris!
The cars small footprint and its nippyness, and of course excellent all-round visibility, allowed me to dispense with all my usual reserve, and just 'go for it', safely taking gaps which would not have been possible in a larger car.
Fortunately there was some clear road on the way to the Hovercraft where the car showed just how capable it was at much higher speeds.
Normally, I would never driven someone else's car so aggressively, and he would never have have allowed it, but as he said, part of him was saying slow down, and the other part was saying we need to go faster.
We just caught the Hovercraft, joining the end of the boarding queue!
We arrived at our destination after around a 14 or 15 hour journey with roughly equal times spent as a passenger and as a driver. More than long enough to come to a conclusion - the car passed with flying colours, smashing all expectations.
My first car - Y plate in Silver bought in 92. Loved it
I worked in an Austin Rover dealers and remember the MG Metro being released... Then in 1989 i bought a 1986 all white face lifted MG Metro D122NWJ, they were great little cars...
I went to the Metro launch at Windsors in Wallasey and was hooked. I got a courtesy car from Ian Skelly that was an MG metro but at 3 years old at the time was riddled with rust and had two bald tyres!
Enjoy your brochure reviews, thank you!
Thanks Andrew 🙂
It's always been interesting to me that there were many comments about the Metro driving position being worse than the Fiesta but it taught me a valuable lesson about body percentiles. My mate ran a Fiesta but couldn't get comfortable in a Metro, I couldn't get comfortable in the Fiesta but the Metro was great. The reason was that although the same percentile we had different leg, arm and torso lengths. My long legs and Orang-Utan arms were perfectly suited to the Metro! I ran 23 management cars over a period of 7 years (20000 miles a year on average) and only had one failure, a hydrogas unit after a four up camping trip with trailer, unreliable my arse!
That brought back memories. I bought a brand new MG Metro in 1984 in Arum white and got the garage to paint and colour code the grill and wing mirrors. The interior had light grey seats, rather than black, with herringbone and red piping. A great, reliable little car. Super handling. Love your content.
Had an 83 y reg in white in the late 80s still one of my favourite cars to this day
Blast from the past, I had the same Silver Metro, same Wheels on an A Plate. ❤️
Really enjoy the nostalgia trip of your brochure reviews. Hard to believe its 40 years this year since the MG Metro launch.
As a car enthusiast who was a car-mad teenager in the 80s, I never knew there was a Metro Cooper! Thanks for still teaching me things about cars of my youth! :)
I had an MG Metro in silver. Grey sports seats with red piping. Red seat belts. Had some decent features too like variable wiper speeds and cassette storage slots 🙂
A nice handling and nippy car.
Upgraded to an MG Metro Turbo a few years later which was pretty quick!
One of the few occasions that ARG absolutely nailed it! The MG Metro is still my favourite of the early 80s hot hatches. What a fabulous interior. I’d have one in black please!
Thank you the motoring research and presenting undoubted expert and best!
Rob
Love the red GTA I had one that colour and miss it greatly. They had rear anti roll bars and multi pot calipers on the front brakes. They were slow after 70mph but the handling was amazing
I had an 87 MG Metro back in 1991.
It was fun but I wouldn't have paid my own money for it.
I took it in as part exchange and the sales manager told me I had to drive it until we sold it, which was quite a long time!
I didn't mind because I loved to drive it and I worked out in the sticks so it was a great commute through twisty country roads.
Its value dropped like a stone though and it was often in the workshop for maintinance.
I had the Silverleaf colour and I whish still had it, it was fantastic.😥
How have you made ‘that!’ sound so good! Fair play to you young man.
See you shortly on Top Gear or a ‘Prime’ thingy! 👍👍
I owned an MG Metro, it was a fun car to drive
Nice to reminisce! You forget the sheer coolness of having a Turbo anything in the early to mid '80s, better car or not who wouldn't want the Turbo one!
Brilliant review.
Looks to be a fun little car. It's hard to believe the Metro came out that long ago. My how time flies. Thanks much.....
I am french , i had a red MG metro 1300 mk1 1984 . I was 20 years old ...in 1990 ! I do loved this little since i saw a french movie in wish you can see a MG metro turbo . This movie « Liste noire « with thé actress Annie girardot . French people loved Austin metro during the eighties !
I love the photography in these old brochures
My mum had an 88 City X in red. I had a funky rear spoiler put on it!
6:35 "It's a great arse for a small car"! Now you *wouldn't* read that line in a car brochure! But the detailing (though an aerodynamic feature) surrounding the rear window is a good styling detail and gives the Metro a slightly cool aura about it.
Mum had three Metros the first was a 1300 HLS which she had untold problems with, so much so that the factory agreed to replace the car (very rare in those days), so mum opted for the first generation MG in black which was a great car which she replaced with a G reg MG Turbo which she kept for nine years.
Great video. Iv had 3 MG metros. A Reg light Green one, B Reg Black one. The a F Reg Turbo. Early ones dash is fantastic. Would love another early one.
Thanks Barry 🙂
Excellent video Ed, could you possibly do a brochure review on the ford Orion please series 2 👍👍
Thanks mate 🙂
I’ll have a look to see if I can find a cheap one!
Great stuff. I adored my MG Metro. Brilliantly styled.
It was great that the MG marque had a renaissance with the Metro, Maestro and Montego after the B was discontinued.
So jealous of your MG Metro
I had a black MG metro that I bought In 1991, it was a few years old but in good condition and I think I paid about 600 pounds for it. I used it for about a year and it never ever let me down and was always fun to drive. I swear it was those red seat belts that made me buy it! I sold it to a friend and he kept it for quite a long time. It’s hard to believe now but by around 1991 or 1992 these were extremely unlikely to sell for over 1000 even in perfect condition with low miles.
Love this video Ed. I always thought that the MG Metro looked one of the best small cars in the market. 🙂
I learnt to drive in a May 1983 MG Metro 1300 in Zircon Blue. By then, the black seat bolsters had been changed to grey - making the black seated cars much rarer now.
Great car and just about the fastest thing around town in its day. The chassis, power delivery and narrowness meant it could shoot through gaps that others had to wait to clear.
Well done Ed……
Excellent, as always!
Mike
Thanks as always Mike 🙂
Another excellent video .
Thanks Robert 🙂
Did my apprenticeship at a BL main dealer, The MG Metro had a great interior, as did the Vanden Plas, saw significantly less VP's at work or on the road.
The MG Turbo (from memory) was exactly the same re seats red carpet etc but the dash had the instrument cluster had a the addition/insertion of a horizontal row of small rectangular lights, that lit up green and 'climbed' from left to right in sequentially as you accelerated.
And yes of course we drove customers cars carefully, we never, ever tried to get all the green lights up in the quickest time or shortest distance, we never took it as a personal challenge,, honest!!!
Friend of mine had the turbo. With 4 big lads on board that row of boost LEDs was always at least half lit. One time they went over a hump backed bridge, spun 360 degrees and landed stationary, facing the correct way, at the red set of traffic lights just ahead of the bridge. Oh, and it always leaned to one side slightly as the hydrolastic suspension had a very slow leak :)
@@XenonJohnD The Metro, especially the Turbo, just like the Tr7, suffered from and just couldn't outlive BL's reputation.
Slagging off BL became not just fashionable but almost a national pastime, don't get me wrong, Red Robbo and god knows how many strikes didn't help.
But if you ask people that experienced cars of that era, Lancia's rusted away, overnight, Fiat's, Renault, Citroën etc weren't any better, and it has to be the biggest mystery known to mankind how Vauxhall survived, with the dross they produced
Quality video and narration great job!!
Thanks mate 🙂
Nice one chief the nearest I got to a MG was putting a set of MG seats in my metro city I'm sure it made it go faster 🤣 👌👍🏻👏👏👏👏🇬🇧
The Metro GTA always looked a cool little car especially in Red (was there any other colour option???).
My first car was Metro City X in an A and that had those Pepper Pot Alloys fitted, one had a bald tyre and I could afford a new one (even though I was working in a garage as an apprentice mechanic and on peanut wages) so ending up running round on three Alloys and a Metric Rim!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Well done Ed a great video as ever always liked the MG Metro especially the facelift all white versions always thought they looked better than the XR2
My uncle had an original mini metro a HLE which was a very early W reg silver with paprika interior a factory car bought on the scheme and he actually worked on his own car! He was part of the group of employees who met prince Charles and lady Di when they toured the factory and had a solid silver metro model as a memento!
Would love one if I had the money and space! Looking forward to the next one!
I love when you go through these brochures. Not only they're a time capsule, but having the context of the market at said time makes them very informative and special. Out of curiosity, which brochure is your holy grail?
Great video, Ed. Keep it up and I may finally develop some fondness for a front wheel drive car! Nobody has managed that yet. This wee MG is certainly sharp enough. It has lost the poverty spec appearance that so many small cars have. An appearance that has always trained me off, especially when it is safety equipment that gets tossed in the bin. Still, the MG looks lovely.
What an informative and interesting video with the occasional touch of gentle sarcasm. I can see you love the subject in question, I drove an MG Metro hire car for a few weeks many years ago and it was great fun. Sadly I had to change it for a Fiat Punto, technically a better car but notwithstanding it was the European Car of the year at the time it just didn't have the same appeal. The MG Maestro was also a totally under rated vehicle. I would love to see your opinion of the 6R4. Was that possibly the ultimate Metro? Keep up the good work.
Excellent look at the sporty Metro. Wow I never knew about the Metro Cooper. Did you say it was actually produced? If so, do you know how many they made?
I don’t think anyone knows. It is believed that only one survives. It’s a bit of a mess, but it’s slowly being restored. It was on the Metro Owners’ Club stand at the NEC a few years ago.
Fine video about a fine car. I agree - I would choose the MG Metro, not the MG Metro Turbo.
My mum had a Y reg MG and replaced it with a G reg MG Turbo and I used to drive them both regularly, I also worked in a main dealer and if I had the choice now I don't know which one I'd choose both were excellent reliable cars, I think I would probably choose the Turbo but only because being a late car mum's had the later 1 piece dash and the same seats as the MG Maestro and Montego which being of larger build I find more comfortable.
I'm not metro fan. but the MG metro was the one to have. i would have one in heart a beat
My Brother-in-Law had a black one. Predictably it got stolen and stripped - bare shell found propped up on bricks. He kept the faith by replacing it with a one litre Metro Mayfair which I thought was a nicer car TBH
Be intresting to know how many are left, back in the 80s everyman and his dog had one.
I cant remember the last time I saw a standard Metro yet alone a MG Metro.
I learnt to drive and past my test in a Metro painfully slow crunchy gearbox hence I went down the Escort/Fiesta XR route after passing.
I know there are some proud owners below, and perhaps it was the best incarnation of the Metro, but it helped finish off the MG brand compared to the gorgeous MGA and MGB of the preceding decades, MGF notwithstanding.
Cars like the Metro are what MG was about. Al through the A and B’s era, they sold warmed over Morris saloons. That’s what they were founded on.
@@TwinCam You might be right, My parents had an MGA, they loved that car.
I share a birthday with the Austin Metro
Sold millions of Metro's and BL, Austin Rover, Rover Group still never had a pot to piss in
I bought one of these new, an A reg on 1 August. Cost £5100. Was a decent little car but the paintwork from day 1 was rubbish. Should have rejected it in hindsight but you find it hard to turn down a new car!
Wow! I rarely see a YT video so soon after it's posted. Must be the hemispherical time shift at work!
@ 6:25 - modern car promotional materials bang on and on about the bling, the hi-tech doo-dadery, the irrelevancies … because so often their 'engineering' is underwhelming.
I’ve started uploading them at 8am UK time, so you lot can see it in the evening!
You are so right about the technology, I think that much of the engineering these days is very average because it's easier to enhance things electronically that with true engineering innovation.
I had one of the early turbo's in black. I loved that car until the front end got wrecked when I pulled out on someone at a crossroads. I traded it in for a Cavalier Sri then a month or so later my Metro re-appeared on the dealer's forecourt looking pristine.☹️
*Replace "cool" with "cheap"...!
Wish I'd gotten one of these instead of that silly, over-priced and sluggish 2006 VW GTI ( American model ) .
I came here hoping for something more interesting and compelling.
Instead I get some snot living in a basement talking while making stills of old brochures.
Lmao thanks for driving interaction and encouraging more impressions of the video 😘
Sorry, just have to add, I’m a snot that gets to do this for a living 😉
@@TwinCam The bullshyt someone will do so that they wont have to get a real job.
@@ThunderAppeal That's a shame. Some people get to enjoy what they do. But remember, if everyone had 'real jobs', as you put it, there would be no television, no radio, no internet, and no movies :)
@@TwinCam Hey stupid.
The reason I started watching youtube was because I got sick of tv, radio and movies.
And yet today here we are, idiots like you who found another venue to pollute with stupidity.
Congradulations, youre a moron.