Davenger
Club Retro Rides Member
It's only metal
Posts: 7,272
Club RR Member Number: 140
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Retro Metro?Davenger
@dminifreak
Club Retro Rides Member 140
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Jul 29, 2005 10:28:11 GMT
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At least they're easy to lower, just let some gas out of the suspension ;D I had an X reg Metro Vanden Plas, mmm, classy. Just like an MG metro but with some wood glued to the doors. Scrapped the car and shoved the engine in my mates mini
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Jul 29, 2005 10:29:17 GMT
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or....if you're looking at £500 to spend on a car with same kinda spritely chassis may I suggest a Pug 205. Even a 1.1 version is a hoot to drive.
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Jul 29, 2005 10:34:34 GMT
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or....if you're looking at £500 to spend on a car with same kinda spritely chassis may I suggest a Pug 205. Even a 1.1 version is a hoot to drive. Seconded! 205's rock a fat one, and are infinately more entertaining than Mk2 Fezza's. I loved mine. It was soooperb. -------- I bet those of us who are 'undecided' re. the Metro Retro factor were all forced to use them to take our driving tests in. Learners now are spoiled for choice, with their new M*N*'s, Corsa's etc. Once upon a time there was no choice but be subjected to hours of Metro-induced learner misery.
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Last Edit: Jul 29, 2005 10:36:54 GMT by nickb
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shellysowner
Part of things
Busy shovelling bums and rustling turds!
Posts: 249
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Jul 29, 2005 10:34:43 GMT
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Y'know I'm really gonna have to get behind the wheel of a Peugeot 205 just to find out what all the fuss is about! Having ridden in various versions of it I can say that as a passenger I found them unrefined and a bit uncomfortable... and as far as the 954cc motored version goes that really shouldn't have bothered - that thing is dangerously slow!
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Retro luggage for sale - PM me.
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Jul 29, 2005 10:37:13 GMT
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The thing is i'm blurting out cars I know are for sale cheap. I know of a 1.3 Fiesta mk2 down the road from me for <£100. Strip it, + rollcage + bucket + harness + decent brake pads / shoes +new exhaust = cheap hillclimb / trackday car.
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1997 TVR Chimaera 2009 Westfield Megabusa
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shellysowner
Part of things
Busy shovelling bums and rustling turds!
Posts: 249
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Jul 29, 2005 10:39:57 GMT
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I bet it's about 20x rustier than the metro! Personally I think fiestas as trackday cars look like they're trying to be something they're not... unless they're rwd underneath in which case they can be forgiven ;D
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Retro luggage for sale - PM me.
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Jul 29, 2005 10:41:57 GMT
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The Pug 205's were great because they had excellent handling and superb grip. OK, so they were a bit rolly-polly in standard form, but once you got past the door-handle-scraping body roll, they could be hustled along at a surprising rate of knots. The 1100cc engines are quite revvy and flexible, and you learn to adopt a 'no-brakes' style of driving, just point and squirt! Yes, they are horrendously basic (I had a Trio S, which had the 'luxury' of.... er, green seatbelts), with just a speedo and fuel guage for company, and maybe not the thing for long motorway hauls, but show it some twisty back-roads and the fun commences!
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Jul 29, 2005 10:42:26 GMT
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Last Edit: Jul 29, 2005 10:43:32 GMT by Adam
1997 TVR Chimaera 2009 Westfield Megabusa
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shellysowner
Part of things
Busy shovelling bums and rustling turds!
Posts: 249
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Jul 29, 2005 10:45:58 GMT
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Forget the Volvo and stick the V8 in the fiesta ;D
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Retro luggage for sale - PM me.
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Jul 29, 2005 11:10:41 GMT
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Mk2 Fiestas have got to be retro!
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Jul 29, 2005 11:12:53 GMT
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I think fiestas as trackday cars look like they're trying to be something they're not... unless they're rwd underneath in which case they can be forgiven ;D I dunno,.. this Fiesta is pretty nice www.zetecinside.com/xr2/index.htm
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shellysowner
Part of things
Busy shovelling bums and rustling turds!
Posts: 249
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Jul 29, 2005 11:23:45 GMT
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Yeah but it's nice in the same way that chocolate cake is nice - looks quite good, pretty tasty but you wouldn't want to run a marathon on a stomach-full
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Retro luggage for sale - PM me.
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Jul 29, 2005 11:33:09 GMT
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Old metros are now very cool i recon. This is my mate garys metro, hes just fitted the oil cooler (its a friesian turbo) in an inadvertant old skool J style! J
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Jul 29, 2005 11:34:15 GMT
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Whats a 'fresian turbo'?
Also, are the inlet and outlet joined together on that oil cooler?
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Last Edit: Jul 29, 2005 12:03:07 GMT by Mr_Bo11ox
1972 Fiat 130 1985 Talbot Alpine 1974 Lancia Beta Saloon 1975 + 1986 Mazda 929 Koop + Wagon 1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica 1977 Toyota Carina TA14 BEST CAR EVER!!!!!!!! 1979 Datsun B310 Sunny 4-dr 1984 Audi 200 Quattro Turbo 1983 Honda Accord 1.6 DX GONE1989 Alfa 75 2.0 TS Mr T says: TREAT YO MOTHER RIGHT!
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Jul 29, 2005 12:00:20 GMT
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sounds like a boosted cow to me
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MWF
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,945
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Jul 29, 2005 12:14:24 GMT
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While they aren't that great a standard car some people are buying these as track cars now. Mainly after seeing Martin Hadlands 'Reyland Metro' which has an MGF 1.8 engine and reversed MGF suspension.
I'm not sure if they are retro though, although I'd question some of the parallels drawn on this site sometimes.
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Jul 29, 2005 13:13:33 GMT
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friesian turbo = white metro with black hammerite covering all the (now cured) rust holes! The inlet and outlet cross over and go into where the black paint it running down the valence, works well and is very neat. During the fitting he cut 3/4 of the way though his finger with a stanley knife, he grabbed his finger and siad very calmly "i think ive cut my finger off" ahh well!
J
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Jul 29, 2005 13:16:03 GMT
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During the fitting he cut 3/4 of the way though his finger with a stanley knife, he grabbed his finger and siad very calmly "i think ive cut my finger off" ahh well!
Almost losing a digit for a metro. Is the man mad?
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Jul 29, 2005 14:06:50 GMT
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in a word yes, 2 engines and a lot of money later he has a metro!, first car? a beach buggy with no windows no doors no roof nothing. Driven all year round, in cluding journeys to and from uni (250miles) the car tried to kill us on more than one occasion (including a fire and gassing)
J
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Jul 29, 2005 17:41:57 GMT
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I always felt kind of sorry for the Metro (in all it's incarnations).
The early ones were let down by the the dreaded tin worm and the fact that they were fitted with that ancient old wheezer of an A-series engine. Austin Rover spent a fortune upgrading it to A+ spec, instead of developing or buying in a new lump! Other than that they handled well, rode well and were pretty reliable - I had a 100,000 miler that only ever needed a new master cylinder and an alternator.
When they fitted them with a decent engine in the K series they improved the build quality too, less rust. The only thing they should have modernised one or two other things - like they should have fitted power steering. The later "Rover 100" cars seemed to finally cure the rust problems.
They were still selling well when BMW axed them, some insiders reckoned that they ended production earlier than they needed to in order to prevent people calling the BMW so called Mini (aka the BMW zero series) a replacement Metro.
Yes they do make a decent track car, especially when fitted with a bigger K series engine. They also make a fun road car especially when you fit a GTi (or better) engine to a standard looking 1.1.
The only downer on the K series cars was that the brakes weren't as good as the four pot jobs on the A series cars.
As for the retro question, that bores the hell out of me. You get some people claiming 15 year old design is retro while a 20 year old design isn't. To me it's the mods you make that define retro rather than the base car. Eighties looking mods on a 1990 model car are more retro than modern style chav mods on a 1980 car.
Just my 2p
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