This was more than a simple panic-induced pre-launch facelift. That is not to underplay the significance of the metamorphosis from ADO88 to LC8. At this point, the ADO88 project was renamed LC8 (for Leyland Cars), in order to tie the car in with the upcoming LC10 and LC11, but also to reflect the car’s changed focus. Harris Mann along with Roger Tucker and Gordon Sked, overseen by David Bache were charged with giving the ADO88 an emergency re-style, which they managed successfully in Five weeks. Thankfully, the Arrival of the new management and the very poor showing in Customer clinics were the catalyst needed to get the required changes made – and made quickly. Main points of contention were that the almost-vertical tailgate made it look too much like a small van and the flat sides of the car sadly backed-up this impression. What potential customers in Paris and the UK were telling the marketing department in no uncertain terms was that the car looked too unsophisticated. It was too late in the development cycle to drastically change the car – luckily the basic concept was good – but disastrous customer clinic results were backing-up Edwardes and Horrocks own feelings that the concept of the ADO88 was too utilitarian when compared with sophisticated rivals like the Volkswagen Polo and the new Ford Fiesta. When Sir Michael Edwardes and the new Austin-Morris chief, Ray Horrocks looked at the ADO88 for the first time in January 1978, both realised immediately that it needed re-evaluation. Now the package was all-but finalized, David Bache, fresh from the successes of his World-beating SD-1 was brought in to oversee the final styling and production engineering of ADO88: the Metro was now entering the latter and drastically vital stages of development.ĪDO88 undergoing testing at Gaydon – this was a style that was never going to win the car any admirers… This would prove to be the Metro’s sole power unit from 1980 through to its demise in 1991, but would still produce more than effective performance and economy figures when used in the car. Lessons learned from the A-OHC programme were, however, pressed into an even lower-cost and higher value project: A-Plus. It was now clear that the government would not be giving the company unlimited cash reserves and so, the existing engine was left to soldier on for a while longer. What the engineers were up against hough, was a very thermally-efficient long-stroke, overhead valve engine which delivered impressive torque and most importantly, class-leading fuel economy.īecause the engineers could not develop the new engine to produce significantly better numbers, A-OHC was dropped. Round the time of the formation of British Leyland, a low-cost overhaul of the A-Series incorporating an Overhead Camshaft cylinder head (dubbed, unoriginally A-OHC) was being planned with a view to giving the smaller-engined cars in the group a badly needed fillip.
To be fair to Spen King though, BL’s market share was falling so rapidly, that everyone in the company must have felt compelled to rush the development of the car – and just get it into production – such was the sense of urgency.Work had been undertaken on the venerable A-Series engine, which had been in service powering various British Leyland cars since the 1940s. He was vindicated in 1990 when the world’s press saw just how capable the R6 (Rover) Metro was on front/rear interconnected Hydragas. Speaking in 1987, Dr Alex Moulton, the father of Hydragas stated that Spen King wanted a more conventional suspension system on the Metro and so, Moulton was unable to develop the system thoroughly for the Metro, being constrained by cost and time. Unlike the Allegro, Metro’s Hydragas was interconnected side-to-side, not front to rear, which resulted in a compromised final product that although did the job, didn’t show off the system’s advantages as well as front-rear interconnection would have done. This gave designers more freedom and resulted in a remarkably spacious and airy interior, for a car of such short length – Something that was inherited from the Mini and demanded above all else by Griffin. Hydragas had distinct packaging advantages over the industry standard arrangement adopted by all the Metro’s rival manufacturers (and the 9X and ADO74 predecessors), lending more interior and under-bonnet space to the Metro. Out went the Mini’s rubber cone springing medium and in came Hydragas, recently developed by Dr Alex Moulton for the Austin Allegro. The ADO88 was to use the A-Series engine and gearbox-in sump: the classic Mini arrangement, but variance was made on the suspension.
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