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As the Metro approaches its 40^th birthday, it seems only appropriate to pay tribute to one of the rarest and most desirable versions. James Barnes’s Turbo is one of the very first examples -   an ex-demonstrator that dates from December 1982. ‘It sat on the production line for two weeks half-built and finished in January 1983 while the Austin-Rover workers had their Xmas break’.

When BL closed the Abingdon plant on 24^th October 1980, there was a genuine sense that MG had gone the way of Riley, Wolseley, and so many other car marques. However, by the end of the year, Leyland’s management decided to revive the Octagon badge. Keith Adams notes in https://www.aronline.co.uk/ that on 26th July 1981 ‘BL admitted it was developing a performance model of the Metro, but what form it would take was not revealed’.

And so, the MG Metro made its bow in June 1982 followed six months later by the first BL car to bear a “Turbo” logo. Lotus Engineering assisted with its development and Car magazine of June 1983 praised how the A-series plant had been modified ‘well beyond the fitment of the Garrett AiResearch T3 turbocharger’. James remarks ‘it’s not a very reliable unit and needs to be serviced every 4 to 6000 miles and oil changed every year’.

At £5,650 the Metro cost slightly more than a Ford Fiesta XR2 (£5,356) but less than Renault 5 Gordini Turbo (£5,950). The advertisements claimed that here was ‘the most exciting MG ever’ offering ‘exhilarating performance’. The driver of a Metro City could only marvel at the front spoiler and the 13” alloy wheels while the dashboard contained a LED “Boost” gauge. As for the “Grey Herringbone Tweed” upholstery, it typified the MG’s air ‘sporty sophistication’ – i.e. this was not your average “Hot Hatchback”.

In July 1983 Bill Boddy of Motor Sport regarded the MG as a ‘great little fun-carriage’ although ‘I could have done without the big “Turbo” motifs on the sides of the body, preferring to be anonymous’. But what was the purpose of discretion when you owned a Metro capable of 112 mph and 0-60 in 9.9 seconds? In the early 1980s some writers regarded the four-speed gearbox as the Turbo’s Achille’s Heel but James remarks ‘I had a Rover Metro GTI16 which was five-speed – a much more refined and modern car. But the A-series engine has a Mini Cooper drive to it which gives early Metros a fun factor’.

James’s MG was registered in March 1983 and today it is believed to be one of just 24 of the “Mk. I” version that are still on the road.  Mr. Barnes came by it nine years ago ‘when it was a total wreck’. His challenges were considerable – ‘The shell was rotten’ while the engine and transmission were ‘in bits in the boot’.  He replaced ‘all the sills - inner and outer’ in addition to the ‘back and front valence panels. The interior is totally original and only needed to be deep cleaned which I did myself’.

The result is a car that many people ‘can’t believe how good it looks’. As James remarks – ‘I spent a lot of money doing it but it’s what I wanted’. His Metro is more than a very desirable classic car but a reminder of the sense of optimism represented by the Turbo some 37 years ago. The tired “British Leyland Jokes” now seemed to belong to the previous decade, for here was a car that really did fulfil the promise – ‘Driving is Believing’. 

WITH THANKS TO: JAMES BARNES

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