No, the proper 6R4s did NOT have a cutdown Rover V8. That was only the very first experimental prototype versions. The Rover V8 has incredibly poor breathing which severely limits power potential. Instead they designed and built a 6R4 specific race engine of 3ltr quad cam 24 valve NA specs and 400bhp in race trim. That cutdown Rover would never have achieved that kind of power, reliability and usefulness. They laterly used the 6R4 engine, this time taken out to 3.5ltr and with twin turbos, in the XJ220 with 542bhp (or 680bhp in the XJ220S TWR version!)
The engine was also used in that sports racer made by that Scottish racecar company, the name of suddenly escapes me. Think it starts with A, or something.
@@huwzebediahthomas9193 TWR (which is from England, Walkinshaw was Scottish), car was the Jaguar XJR-10 - TWR’s ‘chosen one’, Martin Brundle called it the worst car he raced in Motorsport magazine, early 1999 and unsurprisingly, it had its AZ handed on a plate by Sauber that year
It must of been a incredibly frustrating being a project designer in BL, ther we’re obviously some seriously talented people working here with narrow minded upper management stifling creativity.
Ooh I'd LOVE a Frazer Tickford Metro, they look epic. A couple of friends of mine used to have the MG Metro Turbo, now they were fun when we were in our late Teens, racing round the Back Lanes of South Devon 🚙
I've owned a few Metros, MG turbo, MG 1275. Forever getting the Hydraumatic suspension pumped up for some unknown reasons. Not to mention the gearbox lock ups when the diff broke up and left it unmovable, head gaskets , overheating. The odd size wheels, till i put 13" on them. The lack of a 5th gear. This is on the older cars not the Rover Metros. I could go on about all the grief I had, but I'd be here all day. But when they did work they were fun to drive, just as long as you thrash the nuts of them.
Early in my driving career (90s) I built my own special metro using an MG turbo engine, a full V.P. interior and an aftermarket body kit all thrown at a lowly city plus. Later I sourced a 1.8 k series but bought an Alfa Sud before I finished it! As far as I know it's still on the road!
I've owned 6 Metro GTi-16v's and they were fantastic. One was the 1-of-500 GTi-SE which would be worth a fortune nowadays. They were the butt of many jokes, but that made it sweeter when you raced someone and beat them. Into 3 of them I installed the 1.8 16v K-Series. The best one was a VVC with a solid cam kit and a few other bolt ons which made 165bhp, coupled with a full SD rollcage and lightened as much as road-legally possible. From memory it was a little over 800kg. Scarily fast
Tom the delivery and editing was so much more relaxed and extremely enjoyable. Agree that the 6R4 was not a Rover V8 mod but in all other ways it was great. You are really growing into this research gig and I congratulate you! Rob
In the early to mid-eighties my uncle worked for a fibreglass company and made some GRP body parts for the 6R4. As a primary school boy, I was crazy about the car along with most ARG products and this was a cherished but tenuous link to a rally legend 😂
Early 6R4 used a cut down Rv8 derived engine as a stop gap, the actual proper engine was a clean sheet design by TWR that has nothing to do witb the Rv8 & went on to form the basis of the 3.5 twin turbo derivative used in the Jag XJ220. Great vid with some real oddities!
The VW Polo with a boot was called the Derby. I still have a Haynes manual for the Mk1 Polo and the Derby (my first car was a VW Polo, but I started driving lessons in a a white Metro 😉).
I had the MG metro and the MG Turbo and although 115mph was max speed, the way they drove ie the experience was second to none. . Amazing little car later on I owned a couple of GTi s 16valve and that was also a great handling car. It maybe cuz of the hydro elastic suspension that the metro had was so adjustable literally via a Shardona valve, mine had nitrogen in thanks to the previous owner working for a rally team in Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire. I loved that period in time for hot hatches where you could be a boy racer for very low costs a speed cameras were not even a thing.
Ah yes I had an MG in the early 90's and can only describe driving it as a "Jet powered" roller skate. 😉 I did have a battery draining issue due to the immobilising alarm, that was disappointing. Resulting in daily starting and running being a must. But great fun to own back then.
Hi Tom great video The metro plus body kit was sold by unipart in mid 80s I fitted one in 85 to my 83 MG They went on to be sold by another company for the fraction of the price. I fitted one of those to a 1.3HLE I fitted with a 1,4 A series downdraft webber and alloy wheels. I badged this as metro GT
I sat inside a Frazer Tickford Metro back in the 80s 😎 Didn't know there was so few of them 🤯 They were underwhelming but the leather interior was impressive for a metro.
I really enjoyed your presentation mate. I have a blue Metro City and a Black MG Metro that need attention. You may have just given the impetus to get them back on the road.... cheers
A friends Father worked on the Metro Gti turbo and said the project was dropped because under full boost the gearboxes were failing, this was a Peugeot Citroen box that was not really designed for the power or torque of the Gti , let alone the turbo. The cost of redesign and strengthening was not deemed cost effective for the quantity of production expected. The Honda box would have been perfect but the alterations to the body and the increased production costs were rejected. Even on the standard 1.4 the gearbox got thrashy and I had all the bearings replaced on my GTi and it went silent and was like a new car. I put 100,000 miles on that bright red car never once let me down NO head gasket problems !. It was a time when Rover got their act together such a fun little car.
0:28 how we drove cautiously 'back in the day' over fords and flooded roads so as to not get the distributor wet. *my first car was a Metro 1.0 van. Good times 🎉
Good video, entertaining and informative, just a couple of notes; 1) the R in 6R4 stands for 'Rally'. The car was mid-engined, not rear. 2) the MGF suspension is based on Rover Metro sub frames, interconnected frontbto rear, as on the Rover road car. (The A series Austins and MGs had Hydragas spheres interconnected side to side.) Keep up the good work.
Brilliant and Superb content, highly enjoyable and hope for more like this. Maybe a Maestro / Montego one but who would have thought how many largely unknown Metros were made
Great work remarkable how many iterations of the metro were produced/designed can see a lot of the LR discovery features in some of the design's rear door/ wiper .
Hi Tim, another great video, I had a red 1989 Austin metro GTA, thus had black side skirts nice alloys black front grill with same engine as dr the Mg metro . With the black skirt kit it looked a lot better that Mg version. I didn’t understand why they didn’t fit thus kit on the Mg version because really looks better . The scout telly great car if was produced . Regards mark
I had a 1984 a reg metro 1.0 hle. When I was 19 for my second car. It was only 2 years old when my mum sold it to me and let me pay monthly for it she bought another new one. I loved it especially as it was like having a brand new car at a young age. I’m in my mid 50s now and I have an r reg rover 114 sli. As a modern classic I love it as much as the first time round
@@tomdrives I was lucky to find a rust free one with no welding. But I’ve allways had an austin or morris or rover of some sort. .shame you aren’t in my area you could have had a drive of it. I just recently spent £700 having all the hydra gas units replaced with reconditioned ones so it now drives like it did when it was new
The early Metro Cooper was great - pre-emptied the glorious MG Metro (probably my favourite ARG car). The 6R4 was simply bonkers - I challenge you to watch one bouncing along a forest rally stage and not smile.
@@vickielawless Had an '83 and an '87 MG Metro 1300, both in black. In 1987 was initially intending to buy the Metro Turbo version, until I met someone in the showroom, who told me his Turbo went through three gearboxes in 18 months from new. They kept exploding.
I had a base model in 1980 and later an MG in 1990. Never mind he weird wonders, I would have settled simply for a gear-change that actually worked. Same for the Maestro I had in between.
There's still some surviving Tickfords, I think there may be one or two Wood & Picket ones too ? There is possibly at least one Metro Cooper. The Scout, was sold at auction some years ago and was bought by someone, who immediately listed it for several times the auction price, nobody bit. It got listed a few times then seemed to go off the radar. Re-emerged a few years later and I'm sure someone on one of the FB pages (metro owners club?) bought it?
Looking at the Metro Saloon model, my sense of implausibility is triggered by how low the fuel filler flap is. This is supposed to be a fillup, not a game of limbo!
Thanks,I owned a few early Metros, they were OK ,but still running an A series engine, which was well proven and reliable, but ancient. I seem to recall the Fiesta had also been launched and went on to dominate the sales chart for many years, now sadly terminated. Seems they had plenty of ideas that did not make it into production, but the company was dying.
Had a new GTA in 1989 loved it but 1275 A+ engine lacked a bit of grunt . Part chopped it in 1992 for a GTI Rover Metro ,it had the Grunt but I personally didn’t think it was as nice overall as my GTA . Unfortunately both got smashed up the GTA by the young girl would bought it from the dealer (Kennings) . My GTI with me in it along with a mate of mine in 2003 . Whilst heading out one evening to meet the lads we had just driven through one of the local villages when some kind soul decided they should be driving on my side of the road despite nothing being in on the correct side of the road. The appearance of two headlights coming straight for you was slightly alarming to say the least , especially as the grass verge was only a couple of feet wide ,therefore giving me not much room to move over . With an exclamation to my mate of , he’s going to hit us I remember moving as far over to the left as I could at the same time thinking what ever you do , do not touch the brakes , as the two left hand wheels were now on grass and the right hand we’re on the tarmac of the road . After the impact which must have been a combined 85-100 miles per hour as I was doing about 40 having just come out of the village and into open countryside. The. Impact felt like an explosion seat belts doing there job although I was flung forward and rotated enough on my seat to cut around my eye on the interior mirror. As an engineer I was fascinated to look at how the pedals had lifted up on impact and the engine and gearbox had been pushed down and and had started to be pushed under the floor. The roof was creased and crumpled up to the rear of the sun roof and we had to climb out of the drivers side window. I had just filled up with petrol also so engine kill did its job . I think I can say I possibly owe my life the Austin Rover engineers as their safety impact design certainly did its job , I always loved my BL , Austin Rover cars they had their faults but then again no more than most cars of the day . The car that hit us was a Rover 25 and had nowhere near the damage as my GTI , I presume as a slightly bigger car and of course it would a later designed car and that’s progress. The kind soul who was driving turned out to be a Portuguese chap , he didn’t hang around for the police of course despite drivers who came on the scene after trying to prevent him . The car was stolen on false plates and it explained why he was on the wrong side of the road . The Police did get him as after a description I gave they had a good idea where he was living.
I remember back in my early driving days (the early 90s) a guy driving an extensively modified Metro Turbo (black body and florescent wheels from what i remember? Or that the car had florescent bumpers?) The car was a bit of a legend round town and musta been decent as here in Essex hot hatches and fast cars are in our blood. I also remember being very impressed by the performance of a Metro GTI that i raced while i was behind the wheel of an Astra GTE 1.8ltr (115bhp 60 in around 9 seconds top speed 124mph) I had been in untold numbers of Metros over the years but nothing close to being that quick. I would say that the GTE and GTI were pretty much of equal pace. The girl driving the GTI was also a good driver too. I always had a lot of respect for Minis and Metros but always felt the Metro just wasn't the evolution it should have been. Even the Turbos weren't exactly pedestal material sadly. Wasted potential. Really the Metro Turbo should have been equal performance wise to the Renault 5 GT Turbo, being similar size, weight, engine size etc. But instead the Metro was about 2 seconds slower to 60 and 10+mph down top end. It also stuck with a bloody 4 speed manual which pretty much everything else had gone 5 speed. Metros also just didn't have the attractiv
Metros just didn't have the youth appeal of the 205, Renault 5, Nova, Fiesta etc. But the 6R4 will ALWAYS remain my all-time favourite racecar. Those utterly INSANE looks! The 6R4 looks like a standard Metro only from the glass up, the rest of the car swollen, aggressive, purposefull and mean. Then you have that roaring, high revving brutal V6 barking and then screaming off down the road at staggering speed! Then Will Gallop took a 6R4 to Rallycross and decided that 400bhp was nowhere near enough power! So he twin turbo'd the engine (plus also reducing the engine capacity from 3ltr to 2.3ltr I think? Done to keep the car in the right competition company) giving him over 900bhp! The NA 400bhp 6R4 hits 60 in the low 4s/high 3s (?) Gallops 6R4 hit it in under 3 seconds!
I might be the only person in earth to suffer a phobia of the metro lol. While on work experience when I was 17 I was working at a local garage, we were under the metro working on the main ramp when it slipped! I happened to be the tallest of the 3 of us under it and ended up with a fractured skull!
I know the whereabouts of the Scout. It’s in my town in Scotland, at least I think it’s the genuine article. I didn’t realise it was a one off, I just assumed it was a lesser known special edition. If I manage to get some pictures I will contact you.
Someone had a Tickford Metro near one of the stores I worked for, it was always park close to the bank so I think it might have been the bank managers , it was black bottom fading into Maroon , lovely looking car but was full of cigar ash ! EDIT- I forgot to mention my 1st car was Red MG Metro MK1, with pepperpot alloys, no photos unfortunately as it was long before digital cameras .
My mate had a metro turbo on a 'B' plate kind of olde English white over grey. Had a little row of green LEDs when the turbo kicked in on the Speedo dial, bit like Knight Rider🤣. Actually went pretty quick for the time although not so quick now especially. Saw one for sale at Goodwood Festival of Speed this year. £16k. Think he sold it for about £400 in the early 90's 🤑
Here's some brief footage of the Ogle Metro from Wood & Pickett at the 1980 Motor Show - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kGCTTSaUxak.html
I owned 2 Metros, both hideous, nasty little rot boxes, mine burnt more oil than fuel, and rusted out over night, had a horrible driving position, the suspension is way overrated, it was very bouncy, and crashed over big bumps, thats when it wasnt lobsided and sat on its arse, it rattled like a tin tray full or crockery and for a small car it handled terrible, i drove my second one to the scrapyard, and laughed so much i had tears watching it get crushed, good riddance , what a pile of sh*te! 😂😂😂
I have reason to believe it’s in Scotland. I pass by this yellow crazy looking Metro sitting in a courtyard quite often. Not 100% sure it’s the real deal but I will go check it out.
WRONG! The ‘R’ in 6R4 did NOT stand for rear engine, the R stands for Rally. Had you actually done your research you would have come across an actual British Leyland video in which the team who built the 6R4 clearly state what the 6, the R and the 4 stood for.
The prototype MG Metro 6R4 is still in the museum at Gaydon. It used a cut-down Rover V8. But the actual production 6R4 had a bespoke engine, as others have said. An interesting Metro variant is the MG Metro Turbo, that was a test bed for an experimental 1.3 litre, straight six.
When one thinks about the Austin and Rover Metro, it really came a decade too late to truly matter in the face of next generation supermini opposition with the 205 and Uno arriving soon after. Otherwise had a half competently managed company plausibly produced a car like the Metro in 1970 with the right suspension and gearbox (R6), it would have had a near decade and a half competitive run even given its relatively smaller dimensions against rivals that were only just tentatively finding their feet.
