Practically Classics Forum

Recently purchased from MGMal, this is intended to be my eldest daughter's car once she has learned to drive next year/early 2014. I know it's a while off but it does give me time to sort a few little issues.

The car is a 1996 Rover 100 Knightsbridge - 3 door with 1100cc of 8valve K series engine, 5 speed box and just 22,700 miles on the clock from new (backed up by some service history). Overall it's in pretty good nick - the engine is smooth and very quiet, the front and rear arches are excellent apart from a small area on the right rear, brakes and steering seems OK but the clutch feels a bit sticky (probably the cable). There is no rot in the boot corners, doors or wings and the underside is generally good with just a couple of small holes in the floors. The radiator looks good, the fan cuts in at the right time and the temp stays under 1/2. The interior is pretty good apart from failed stitching on the driver's seat base and a few headliner issues (well, it IS a Rover). It should make an excellent project and equally good first car.

Jobs to do include:
Service - including precautionary cambelt change - possibly water pump, too
Fix a few bits of trim: driver's seat base, headlining and door card (door card already done)
Repair small areas of rust on the right rear arch, rear valance, floor and scuttle panel.
Fit new stereo (the display on this one seems to have failed)
Fix nearside central locking
Replace rear tyres - legal but old and mismatched.
Change heater blower (it vibrates like mad - probably bearings)
Change front and rear screen seals
Rustproof!!!!! It IS a Metro and is currently quiet good so I'd like it to stay that way.
Precautionary water hose changes
Plus some other stuff that I've forgotten!








1100cc of raw power!


Nice clean coolant

Scruffy bulkhead

Scabby scuttle



Rot free boot corners - most Metro owners know all about this area's problems








Holed floor

Wheel arch

Ay up!

She looks good - an excellent starting point! Well bought, Sir!

I wish that my first car had been this rot free (it was a 6 year old Chrysler Alpine which was full of holes).

good luck!! my metro was a pile of sh#te..
my brother had the alpine thing, that was awful. are there any left??

Ay up!

I see a Talbot Alpine in Wolves regularly and (whisper this) it seems to be in good nick.

Wonder how much has been spent on the ol' rustproofer over the years?

LONG overdue for an update here:

Work on this has been "sporadic" to put it mildly, consisting of the odd few days of frantic welding when I've been back in the UK and other jobs done by my father in law and my daughter. However, what has been done is:

Floor repairs - removing badly fitted plates tacked on top of rust. I've done a lot of cutting, shaping and seam welding to floors, inner sills, outer sills (small areas), plus a partial replacement of rear arch on the passenger side (only replacing the bits that were rusty). The floor have been rust treated, Hammerited, fitted with soundproofing pads and undersealed. Sills and rear arches have been treated with rustproofing wax.
Arch and rear valance resprayed with Halfords rattle cans - excellent colour match.
Replacement stereo with MP3 capability - very important for a 17 year old! New speakers to go with it.
Front seats replaced with much better used items (actually, we primarily sorted the splits driver's seat by fitting the cushions from the replacement passenger seat to it).
Windscreen and rear quarterlight seals replaced (Ralph provided the front, Autoglass the rear and the quarterlight ones from a supplier found via the www). We reckon that water ingress through the perished screen seals was the reason for the rusty floor
Driver's door card repaired
Passenger door central locking actuator replaced
Faulty heater blower replaced
And loads of smaller jobs that I can't remember right now

Arch during and after repair but before paint.





Floors and sills before repairs. No after shots available at the moment. As with all of these things the extent of the rot turned out to be worse than expected





The car is off to a local, trusted garage on monday for a new timing belt, water pump, full service, Hydragas pump up and MOT etc. Fingers crossed...... After that the headlining will be tidied up.

Then if my daughter's driving test goes well it will be pressed into service in a few weeks. Of course, that leave the issue of "new driver" insurance with no NCB. Currently that appears to be about £1300 for the first year for comprehensive with breakdown cover.

There should be some updated photos winging their way to me via the www in the next few days so they'll be put up here,

That kinda takes me back: Mother's 1989 Metro could rust for England! In spite of annual treatment with Waxoyl, the back wheel arches were flaky and it had had two new wings on the n/s and one on the o/s. I wouldn't mind, but it was sold in 2007 with only 35K on the clock!

The insurance quote sounds reasonable; my friend has just had his 2006 Corsa insured in his son's name (the son turned 18 last week) and, with a black box, Direct Line wanted about that much. If my friend and his wife were named on the policy, it went UP by about £1K! It's a bit daft really, the lad is off to Uni in a few months and won't be using the car. Nobody else can drive it and it has a black box, so could be a pest to revert to normal!

My wife can be named on the policy at no extra cost. We also looked at putting it in my wife's name with my daughter as a named driver, but that was just as expensive so we'll go for the option that creates an NCD. The second year premium drops about £500!

That kinda takes me back: Mother's 1989 Metro could rust for England! In spite of annual treatment with Waxoyl, the back wheel arches were flaky and it had had two new wings on the n/s and one on the o/s. I wouldn't mind, but it was sold in 2007 with only 35K on the clock!

........it appears to be a lottery wether these cars rust or not, the one I picked up for my daughter was and still is virtually rust free. She's driving a VW now, far cooler as far as she's concerned, but I've kept the Metro for its sheer fun value and cheapness, costs me next to nothing for insurance, plus they're not making them any more!