Today on the shelves of In het Wild a very honest and very basic, but no less fun compact Englishman. Thanks to Techzle reader Robert Elderman, this time an ‘Austin’ Metro is on the shelves of In het Wild!
It was originally intended as the successor to the original Mini: the Austin Mini Metro. A lukewarm reception by focus groups and the emergence of relatively space-sized compact European hatchbacks such as the Renault 5 and Ford Fiesta meant that the Mini Metro, marketed in 1980, was eventually placed on the menu next to the Mini built by parent company British Leyland. Although the Austin Mini Metro did not serve as a Mini successor, the compact hatchback did get a piece of Mini DNA. For example, the Metro acquired the 1.0- and 1.3-liter four-cylinders from its world-famous brother and part of the suspension was borrowed from this icon. The Austin Mini Metro was remarkably spacious for its time and much more robust than its basically much older Mini brother. A quick comparison: the Austin Mini Metro with its length of 3.4 meters was about 35 centimeters longer than the original Mini.
The Mini Metro is a British Leyland creation that was eventually sold until 1990, but not always under the Austin flag. For example, in the early 1980s Austin was increasingly marketed as a budget brand of the British Leyland passenger car division (’82 Austin Rover Group) and Rover was promoted as the more luxurious alternative. Ultimately, the Metro not only appeared in a luxurious version under the Vanden Plas label, there was also a more sporty MG Metro and an order version of the Morris Metro (later Austin Metro 310). From 1987, the Austin Rover Group was renamed Rover Group. and from then on, Austin’s complete model range actually went unbranded. Cars such as the Maestro, Montego and also the Metro received a new logo on their nose, the shape of which closely resembled that of Rover, although the exact brand designation was missing. The Maestro was now simply called ‘Maestro’ and the Metro also had to do it simply with its model name: Metro. The copy in these photos dates from 1989 and is therefore an ‘unbranded’ Metro with the Rover-like logos. It is also a copy of it after the facelift implemented in ’84, in which not only the interior, but also the muzzle of the Metro was modernized.
Although the Metro is now more than thirty years old in the photos submitted by Techzle reader Robert Elderman, it does appear to be dent on the front screen after still being relatively neat. Especially when you consider that the Metro acquired a bad reputation with its lousy anti-rust treatment. Under the hood of this blue example, the 1,275 cc and 60 hp and 98 Nm strong 1.3 serves as a power station, a four-speed coupled to a manual four-speed gearbox that drives the 780 kilo Metro in 13.9 seconds at a top speed of 100 km / h helped. Its top speed: 156 km / h. No wrong values. Special detail: the Austin in the photos is still on its original hubcaps. It concerns the Magic version, in 1989 the absolute basic version that it had to do without things like a digital clock, an illuminated dashboard compartment, cigarette lighter, speakers (!) Or, for example, painted bumpers. Even an antenna is not on it and you also had to choose the L version for manually adjustable exterior mirrors.
In the ten years that the Metro was sold, more than a million copies were sold. Although the Metro itself was withdrawn from the market in 1990, the Rover 100 introduced in that year was in fact a further development of the original Metro. Although the model was called ‘100’ for us, Rover used the model name Metro in the UK until the 1994 facelift of the model.
Have you seen anything special yourself and have you even taken pictures of it? Do not hesitate to send your snapped pearls to start@autoweek.nl. From beautiful classics to forgotten young timers or from simply straight Ford’s Escort to Buicks never sold in Europe: In the Wild has room.