The 24th of October 1980 was a dark day for MG fans, as the Abingdon factory that had served as the brand’s home since 1929 shuttered its doors for the last time, closed as part of the Michael Edwardes plan to restructure the vast Leyland Cars operation.
Its closure coincided with the company’s big hope for the future – the new Metro supermini. Billed as ‘A British car to beat the world’, the little Metro was seen as key to revolutionising Leyland’s (later Austin-Rover’s) fortunes.
While there were plans to create a performance version of the Metro from early on in the car’s life, it would be the summer of 1982 before that car appeared. It would bring with it the return of one of the most famous sporting names in the car industry, absent from showrooms for 18
