1983 MG Metro

Been a little busy this week, but thought I'd share a pic of her arrival. I've also been given a picture of her in her former London home of Richmond by the previous owner, which I've included. Apologies for the bad scan.

For now, she's a 1983 "A" reg Mk1 MG Metro with a 1295cc Avonbar-tuned engine and a one-owner 16k reading on her clocks. Currently not been on the road since circa 1994.

More to follow soon

Wow, that is an early 'miniMetro' esque shape as well with the squarer lights!

Hmmm, these threads do not help with my hankering for a late 80s Metro Turbo :/. I noticed the latter are not as cheap as they once were either.

Fairly rare now I guess, as a lot have been harvested for Mini projects. My brother certainly transplanted one engine.

Lovely, not too sure on the red stripe where it doubles back, would have looked better if it reached the rear corner before doing so, but hey, doesn't detract from what is a bit of a rare beast these days and it'll get plenty of love from me as the thread and restoration progresses.

This looks super cool!looks extremely tidy too

I like that a lot.

Thanks for the comments folks, it's appreciated.

ChasR: As I understand it, there's around 100 or so Metro Turbo's left in the UK - mainly, as someone else said (and I also suspect) due to the Mini lot decapitating them for the engines.
g111mds and nickbrad: AFAIK it's not the original - although that's what her old owner told me. They tell me she was sprayed by a "local" (to where they used to live) man that owed them a favour, but it's been done that well (like, full bare metal, no sign of the original paint at all) on initial inspection I'm not overly sure. Logbook states green and it's rare these days for people to change that, although it does state she's a 1400 which ties in with another of the previous owners stories...
111sli: Yeah, I found that forum from a casual afternoon's Googling, I will do. Thanks for the tip, glad to spread the A-series love
darrenh: To be honest? No idea. I'm told there's more paperwork "to come" which I'm hoping will reveal more - but failing that I'll strip the engine or... er... post the casting codes on here and see what people think
freddies: My current love is VAG - so I'm aware how people tend to cream over ridiculous wheels. I was keen to sell them on until I did some Googling, so they may have a stay of execution. Plus they're 13" so they don't fit my A2, lol. Wheel whores watch this space, that's certainly one touch I'll be bringing from the dub scene.

So yes, thank you so much for all your replies. I'm pretty proficient with forums which is why I'm writing the log, but the other half of the project isn't and I know they'll be happy reading all these.

Anyway, all that leads me nicely onto:

Oh, nickbrad, I'm not sure on the stripes either to be honest - as mentioned, I suspect they've been added by the "friend that owed me a favour" because at the time it was cool. Now however I'm not so sure.

But then, I've just bought a Metro, what do I know about cool

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's not a standard BRG per se - as this is a flat colour as opposed to the metallic/pearl used from '88 as you mention. Could be the older BRG used on Healeys and such, right? Surely that was a flat paint?

The previous owner tells us it used to be white, but on closer inspection under the carpets and such, there's no evidence to support that - so it's either had a complete bare-shell respray or it started life as some kind of green.

Anyone know if I can ask these details of the DVLA? The V5 lists the car as "1400cc" - and, obviously, the car started life as a 1275 - so I'd like to know if they've got any details of this engine change (i.e. previous engine number).