Davie's french attraction.

[Michel]

Orginal Mini is a horrid little box,

YES! Horrible devices. I always wanted one until I actually got in one.

[Zelandeth]

Horrible or not, I still want a shot of actually driving one just so that I can tick it off the list.

Given the prices they were going for even nearly 20 years ago, a mate of mine who had many highly exotic cars (yet still had an orange 2-door Escort 1.3L Estate as his daily driver) refused to pick one up to try out because he refused to pay that much money for that little car. If my memory serves me correctly, we were in a Lamborghini Miura when having the discussion about how crazy the price of Minis were...

Very much loved the early Metro I had for a while though. 1981 car on a W plate so still badged as the miniMetro, in Snapdragon yellow. In HLE trim which seemed to get me a clock and rear window wiper over base spec!

[daviemck2006]

I still havent done a thing with bigpug. Its far too cold here for me to do anything outside. The temperature outside is only 2° with a gale of northerly wind which has been coming from the artic for weeks and the windchill factor making it feel like about -15°! Im not very mobile as it is because of the cold, which is affecting me badly so there is no chance of me even going to sit in the car to play with my new lexia, besides doing anything that would be needed to do. Im basically staying in with the heating on and only going out when necessary.

[Gibbo2286]

Damned cold here too Dave, I want to check the oil level in the auto-box on the project car now it's done a couple of hundred miles but I'm struggling to raise the necessary enthusiasm to get started. .

[CitroJim]

And given the fact that I prefer Gabby to my previous activa I must prefer poverty spec too!

Gabby is not quite poverty-spec Davie, she has leather seats

And a CD player!!!

[daviemck2006]

And given the fact that I prefer Gabby to my previous activa I must prefer poverty spec too!

Gabby is not quite poverty-spec Davie, she has leather seats

And a CD player!!!

Both added during her life though. She has alloys now too lol.

[Michel]

When I used to be having to fix things inside a car in winter.. fan heater, extension cable. Like a superb warm room. I think bigpug is a bit far from the house for that though.

[CitroJim]

When I used to be having to fix things inside a car in winter.. fan heater, extension cable. Like a superb warm room.

I've done the same... Works a treat!!!

I've got a little fan heater that plugs into the ciggy lighter socket although it's nowhere as good as a proper mains one...

[Gibbo2286]

It would be nice to have somewhere indoors to work, a fan heater out on my driveway would be a joke.

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

It would be nice to have somewhere indoors to work, a fan heater out on my driveway would be a joke.

I have used Disposable BBQ's in a Wheelbarrow on occasion when circumstances require a stint outside in the perishing cold..... I considered Smokeless Coal this year too, but didn't fancy paying a tenner for a bag of the stuff when it might never get used. Occurs to me the Gas BBQ would fulfil a similar purpose too.

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

Strange the things you remember, the Metro HLE was marketed as a 3spd manual with overdrive, if I remember correctly. The Gear Knob being marked 1,2,3 and E (+ Reverse of course). I never drove one so have no idea how well that worked, or not.

I only once rode in the 'original' Mini, horrid little box indeed, this one might not 've been in particularly good repair, but I remember it felt like the designer had forgotten to give it suspension.

The Metro was an altogether better prospect but back in the days when I was driving nearly new company cars it was the rather noisy but much quicker Mk2 Uno [new at the time] that we favoured.... it was often a Metro 1.0 though, usually driven flat out at about 82mph ish on a Motorway run. A number of years later I turned down my deceased relative's end of the line 1988 Metro 'Red Hot' and instead bought a 309GRD (I wasn't as skint then).... it'd be worth a few bob now.

Not all Leyland stuff was bad though, I loved my 'wedge' Princess with the famously unreliable 1.7 O Series (mine never gave trouble) and the now mostly forgotten Montego 'Advantage' with the 4 speed Auto and a rather nice paint job, was a lovely tool.... and the 8 series, especially in 827 Sterling guise.

The Montego was probably the first Diesel I ever drove, a 1990 example with the 2.0 Perkins, I still remember the reg' ! ....I literally had a headache after a couple of hundred miles one day though in a similarly powered Maestro van.

[Michel]

It would be nice to have somewhere indoors to work, a fan heater out on my driveway would be a joke.

Ha, I didn't mean on the driveway. I put the fan heater in the car with the flex through the window and the window wound as far up as it could go. Lovely and toasty.

Working outside in the cold clearly hasn't done you any harm Gibbo! Perhaps we should all be doing it and living a long, long time!

[Zelandeth]

Montego was a nice driving old beast if the 2 litre one we had on a H plate we had through the garage was anything to go by. It was in Vanden Plas trim as well so felt properly plush inside!

I ended up doing four or five runs back and forth to the Iveco garage south of Aberdeen (from Pitmachie) one day when we had a royal pain of a job getting the right bit for a Transit!

Have never actually even been in a Maestro thinking about it.

My Metro had a normal 4-speed 'box. Still miss the gearbox noise in 1st through 3rd... especially when I was giving it the beans!

Only car I remember actually seeing with a 3+E box was a VW Polo. It felt exactly like a normal 4-speed to drive!

[daviemck2006]

We had a metro hle as the wifes runaround. It was old at the time. I cant remember if it said 123E or 1234, but I do remember them being sold as an economy model and it didnt like 4th gear in town or on hills. I also think they were the 1275 engine in a detuned state. I cant really remember about the economy of it as at that point in time I was running a Rover SD1 V8auto and did not care about fuel, as I had a share of a fishing boat which paid for fuel!

[Zelandeth]

The HLE I had was a 998cc, but definitely not the low compression version. My first Metro was a CityX one with the LC engine - and the difference between the two was night and day. The low compression version would just about lug its way up the steep hill out of Fyvie with the three of us in in second. The HLE would breeze up there in third no trouble whatsoever. She'd also do an indicated 90 on the Colpy Straight (my father driving I might add!). She felt pretty perfect in terms of power/weight for a car that size really - similar to the Fiat Panda 1000. ...albeit with the power band slightly less motorbike-like than in the Fiat...