Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club • Where have all the Metro (owners) gone?
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Where have all the Metro (owners) gone?

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2023 10:14 pm
by midlifer
Hi,

Recovering from the loss of my Tomcat this year (circumstances), I took on my Mum's 1990 Rover Metro 1.1C, which is something of a project (it's a bit like a Tomcat, maybe?).

I've got it running again - tank full of very stale petrol drained, carburetor cleaned, new pump fitted and bingo. Then MOT, tyres, service... And then four new hydragas spheres (Ian and Dawn Kennedy provide a brilliant mobile service). Next job bodywork - massive lacquer peel and some bumps.

Anyway, new make/model of car, join the club for information and help. Google teases me with the Metro Owners Club, but I can't find anything recent on the inter-webs. It looks like it died as a result of the Pandemic?

Does anyone know what happened to it and more importantly, where do all the Metro enthusiasts go for their online comradery? Even the latest 'Metros' were 100 short of 200, so I doubt that it's here.

Thanks for any help,

Philip
(is there a black armband emoji?)

Re: Where have all the Metro (owners) gone?

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2023 9:41 pm
by 220 GSi turbo
As far as I am aware, the entire Metro community is based on Facebook etc these days.

The Metro Owners Club has an online forum but it only seems to get a handful of posts every year :tumbleweed

There is also the Metropower forum, but that isn't much busier than the MOC :mope

My wife has a 114 cabriolet as a summer toy, my brother and sister in law have an MG Metro each, plus a 114GTa.......we are definitely a family of Metro enthusiasts, as well as 25s and 200s :D

Re: Where have all the Metro (owners) gone?

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2023 4:31 pm
by midlifer
Thank you. I did spot the Facebook page, but as you say, there hasn't been much activity there either.

It does seem that owners of R8, R3 and related cars have a serious Rover habit, so I may post on this forum if I get stuck with something. If I get told off, I'll have to stop it!

It's a bit sad that there doesn't appear to be a similar club for the Metro/100 cars. I suppose they are mostly older and possibly less charismatic? Still Rovers, though! And some of them even have twin cam K series engines!

Cheers,
Philip

Re: Where have all the Metro (owners) gone?

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2023 5:31 pm
by Montegoman
Ironically, the Metro generally, tends to attract younger people than our cars and young people use Facebook to communicate rather than forums or a website. They always have a stand at the NEC shows and usually display a good mix of cars.

Re: Where have all the Metro (owners) gone?

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2023 12:51 am
by Johnny 216GSi
Montegoman wrote: Fri Dec 08, 2023 5:31 pm Ironically, the Metro generally, tends to attract younger people than our cars and young people use Facebook to communicate rather than forums or a website. They always have a stand at the NEC shows and usually display a good mix of cars.

Time to redefine ourselves as the 100, 200 & 400 Owners Club !?

Re: Where have all the Metro (owners) gone?

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2023 11:32 am
by richard moss
Johnny 216GSi wrote: Sat Dec 09, 2023 12:51 am Time to redefine ourselves as the 100, 200 & 400 Owners Club !?
Why not? There's a fair bit of crossover, especially engines and electrics.

With regard to Metro/100....my daughter had a P reg 111 as her first car and absolutely loved it (she always a Metro when she was a kid - I've no idea why). The facts of life, though, are that they are a generation or two behind the rest when it comes to safety, the small size creates a feeling of vulnerability and keeping the rust at bay is a battle (especially as I spend 95% of the year in Abu Dhabi!). So, in the interests of safety more than anything else, we bought her a nice Fiat 500 and moved the Metro on to an enthusiast who planned to stick a 1.8 K series into it!

My younger daughter had a cracking good 1.1L Rover 25 - until some knobend in a Polo whacked into it and wrote it off. I replaced that with a Fiat 500, too, mainly because it's easier for the local garage to keep in good order.

I love Metros - I had a mk1 MG - but they are a product of a different era and I really don't think that they are credible "primary cars" these days.