RE: Austin Metro Vanden Plas 500: YKYWT
Wednesday 5th August 2015
At what point does terminal naffness morph into kitsch cool? I'm old enough to remember Metros when they were 10 a penny. Indeed, I even learned to drive in one. You'd think that alone would leave me generously disposed towards the things, especially given that they're one of those cars that has gone from ubiquity to obscurity in seemingly the blink of an eye.
On point numberplateHistory has not been kind to the old Metro but I think there's something cool about the basic ones like the example my mum had. It was a tough old thing, that's for sure. Had to be given the vicious hill starts my stepdad delighted in throwing at me in those hesitant few days after my 17th birthday. That fug of smouldering clutch at the top of Crownest Road in Bingley has probably just about cleared by now.
Ooh, it'll be like driving a Snickers. Or MarathonThe second of just 500 built, there is likely no exaggeration in auction house Classic Car Auctions' boast that the car is "unique", having barely turned a wheel in over three decades in Birmingham's Patrick collection with just one registered owner from new. Given how common a sight Metros once were it's funny to think you're probably now more likely to see a Ferrari 250 GTO out on the road than one of these. Something to feel sorry about or worthy of little more than a shrug? You decide but if you are in the position to be seeking a Metro to "bubble wrap for the future" as CCA has it this could be the one.
Austin Metro Vanden Plas 500: YKYWT
Delivery miles leather and (plastic) walnut Vanden Plas Metro goes up for auction - would you?
On point numberplate
Can this 1983 Vanden Plas 500 ever find redemption? It could well be the sole survivor of a breed of tarted up Metros pedalled - as I remember - by the grey slip-on/blue rinse brigade at 15mph. Everywhere. Any Vanden Plas probably has a few cobwebs to blow out but this one more than most - yes, it's one of those weird survivors emerging dumbfounded into a weird sci-fi futurescape, dwarfed by bloated, high-tech versions of the car it was meant to replace. Poor thing will be very confused if it does ever venture out on to the roads of 2015.
Ooh, it'll be like driving a Snickers. Or Marathon
There's always something a little weird about these timewarp cars when they do appear in public again. Is this one odd enough to be cool, purely by virtue of having survived? Let the court of PH opinion rule! And if you fancy a punt on the car it'll be going under the hammer - figurative, not literal - at CCA's CarFest sale at Jody Scheckter's Laverstock Park Farm on August 29.
AUSTIN METRO VANDEN PLAS 500
Price: For auction, no reserve
Why you should: It's somehow survived
Why you shouldn't: See above
View the advert here.
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Discussion
Don't know why but I would in a heartbeat (nostalgia probably) if I had the space. My first faltering steps in driving had all been in Austin cars, first a Maxi that was sat in my Nana and Grandads drive when I could barely reach the pedals, changing gear twiddling the steering wheel. Then it was on to a metallic light blue Austin Metro, same again but I could reach the pedals and got it trundling up and down the drive eventually.
My first two cars were Austin Metros which shuttled me to and from College then University, happy times (there's the nostalgia kick again). Came across my second Metro (E388 ATY)in the scrapyard (underneath had rotted out otherwise looked brand new externally) when my father and me went hunting for something (can't remember exactly what now). It was a good car, still had it when the engine in the 205 went tits up, used it to shuttle the engine over to my Grandads garage.
Holds a strange allure for me.
My first two cars were Austin Metros which shuttled me to and from College then University, happy times (there's the nostalgia kick again). Came across my second Metro (E388 ATY)in the scrapyard (underneath had rotted out otherwise looked brand new externally) when my father and me went hunting for something (can't remember exactly what now). It was a good car, still had it when the engine in the 205 went tits up, used it to shuttle the engine over to my Grandads garage.
Holds a strange allure for me.
I had one as a first car.
It couldn't have been at a time when they were less cool.
However it was my first car, my parents bought me it. So I appreciated it, and drove it a lot. Put a s
t load of miles in it, and when I bought a metro gti I kept this one for my younger brother who got it as his first car.... However that mofo drove it for a month or so, then wired up a new alternator backwards apparently and fried the electrics in the car. Didn't known that was possible, but somehow it died from replacing an alternator.
That being said.... It was soooooo uncool, are they any more cool now. Absolutely not.... But they may be so uncool that they have become cool finally.
Would I buy one to drive? fk no. But maybe just to say I have one.
It couldn't have been at a time when they were less cool.
However it was my first car, my parents bought me it. So I appreciated it, and drove it a lot. Put a s
t load of miles in it, and when I bought a metro gti I kept this one for my younger brother who got it as his first car.... However that mofo drove it for a month or so, then wired up a new alternator backwards apparently and fried the electrics in the car. Didn't known that was possible, but somehow it died from replacing an alternator.That being said.... It was soooooo uncool, are they any more cool now. Absolutely not.... But they may be so uncool that they have become cool finally.
Would I buy one to drive? f
k no. But maybe just to say I have one. All Metros (with the exception of the 6R4) should be burned, the ashed dumped at sea and never spoken of again.
I suspect my hatred comes from being born in 1980, so my memories of them are of them being a car that was being sold way after it should have been replaced, and people driving knacked old ones when they could not afford the few hundred quid more for something cooler like a Cinquecento or a Fiesta 1.1 with an RS badge.
I suspect my hatred comes from being born in 1980, so my memories of them are of them being a car that was being sold way after it should have been replaced, and people driving knacked old ones when they could not afford the few hundred quid more for something cooler like a Cinquecento or a Fiesta 1.1 with an RS badge.
A few months ago I was at a local car rally and there were assorts there; American land yachts and muscle cars from the 50s and 60s, collections of Jags, VWs, Minis, Vauxhalls, a few Ultimas and other misc exotica and the car that people were frequently drawn towards? A faded orange A reg Metro stood on it's own.
No thank you, not ever.
I went on a school trip aged about 13 to the factory when they launched it, a great piece of education from the science dept. Had a great time, but as I grew to know more about cars I came to realise it was pretty poor by the standards of its contemporaries. OK, no bypass hose. Oo-wee. But only 4 gears, running in the sump? Come on. In 1984 when this example was new I was learning to drive, a mate's Mum had one he drove and it was pretty poor. Peugeot had launched the 205, Renault the 5, both were better cars. Fiesta Mk2 (1984) was loads better.
The thing belongs in a museum, it has a place there. But the others (6R4 aside, of course) can all die. They weren't worth having when they were new, so there's no point driving them now, 30 years on. See also any number of other crap cars from the 80s, 70, 60s, etc.
I went on a school trip aged about 13 to the factory when they launched it, a great piece of education from the science dept. Had a great time, but as I grew to know more about cars I came to realise it was pretty poor by the standards of its contemporaries. OK, no bypass hose. Oo-wee. But only 4 gears, running in the sump? Come on. In 1984 when this example was new I was learning to drive, a mate's Mum had one he drove and it was pretty poor. Peugeot had launched the 205, Renault the 5, both were better cars. Fiesta Mk2 (1984) was loads better.
The thing belongs in a museum, it has a place there. But the others (6R4 aside, of course) can all die. They weren't worth having when they were new, so there's no point driving them now, 30 years on. See also any number of other crap cars from the 80s, 70, 60s, etc.
Never had a Metro, or a Mini for that matter. I was straight into French and German cars after driving my old dear's Vauxhalls for my first few years of driving.
But the Patrick Collection connection would do it for me. As a car nut from birth with Grandparents in Selly Oak, I have fond memories of the place. My old man worked at Patrick during Uni holidays too. Well, when he wasn't working at Cadbury's, of course!
But the Patrick Collection connection would do it for me. As a car nut from birth with Grandparents in Selly Oak, I have fond memories of the place. My old man worked at Patrick during Uni holidays too. Well, when he wasn't working at Cadbury's, of course!
Not for me thanks but can appreciate it's appeal but would have thought the best place for it would be another museum or private collection. It's a curio that deserves to be maintained whether you appreciate it or not, it would be nice to think that for every permutation of every car made there was at least one survivor.
Cars like this will never be classics per se as they weren't class leading or highly appreciated when new but they do have a place in social history whether they are good or bad.
And why do we always have the tiresome 'wouldn't want to have a crash in it' comment whenever old cars are mentioned, it has no relevance.
Cars like this will never be classics per se as they weren't class leading or highly appreciated when new but they do have a place in social history whether they are good or bad.
And why do we always have the tiresome 'wouldn't want to have a crash in it' comment whenever old cars are mentioned, it has no relevance.
Never seen one, Vanden Plas that is, no metro of any kind were ever sold in Sweden, but I'll have that one in a heartbeat, IF I were a collector that is.
Edit: hell, I'll have it anyway. And despite reading that they are basically crap, I still think it's a rather stylish little car, well penned.
Edit: hell, I'll have it anyway. And despite reading that they are basically crap, I still think it's a rather stylish little car, well penned.
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Wednesday 5th August 10:19
My main Metro memory is of being crashed into by one whilst learning to drive. At a major roundabout i was going to pull out, just started to move and then stopped again having travelled about 2 inches. The old dear in the Metro behind me, who made Yoda look positively youthful, couldn't react in time having thought i'd continue to pull out and drove into the back of me. The sloping bonnet of the Metro slipped under the rear bumper of the Fiesta i was driving a treat. The old dear looked scared to death so my Dad took over driving and we followed her back to her place to make sure she was alright.
One Metro should be kept as a fine example of how not to make cars. The rest crushed (6R4s exempt).
One Metro should be kept as a fine example of how not to make cars. The rest crushed (6R4s exempt).
Just when you think that cars really havent chnaged THAT much since you were a lad, this conmes back to show(haunt) us.
in 1989 I had an MG Metro, rusty rubbish pile of junk that ha a strong engine, a sunroof and a car stereo with a graphic equalizer and sit-on-parcel-shelf speakers AND electric windows!
Misty eye'd now.....
It's so very much of it's time....and probably quite quite awful, depsite being conected to driving in a way we'll never see in that sector again or many others again.
in 1989 I had an MG Metro, rusty rubbish pile of junk that ha a strong engine, a sunroof and a car stereo with a graphic equalizer and sit-on-parcel-shelf speakers AND electric windows!
Misty eye'd now.....
It's so very much of it's time....and probably quite quite awful, depsite being conected to driving in a way we'll never see in that sector again or many others again.
I feel sorry for Metros. They were always reviewed well, even/ especially the facelift with the K-series. I remember their launch in 1980 - there was a crazy amount of hype around the idea that it was the car that would save BL/ Austin-Rover or whatever they were called that week (in fact I think history will show that it was the Triumph Acclaim that was rather more important for the British car industry). I wandered up to the local dealer - there was a Metro there, under a Union Jack cover. I was 15, suddenly into cars, and genuinely excited. Sad, really!
I still think an original MG Metro would be great fun - but not a VDP. Only VDP worth having is an Allegro!
I still think an original MG Metro would be great fun - but not a VDP. Only VDP worth having is an Allegro!
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