Vanfare for a Camion
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van version of the ustin Metro car has just ome on to the market )urtesy of a Milton eynes firm. Tim akemore gave it a spin nd was most opressed ENTERPRISING BL retail iler, Bletchley Motor Car Is of Milton Keynes, has beto offer a van version of the tin Metro car. Based on the ro City model, the lowest ed of the Metro range, the chley van is called the Camand has a retail price of I50 plus Vat (excluding dery and number plates). The -ent price of the City car, inling Vat and special car tax is 150.
In the Camion, the car's rear 1-windows are replaced by ded-in sheet steel panels. standard of finish on the van d by CM was first-class, with visible weld runs and an exent paint finish.
he only other mechanical nge to the car made by tchley Car Sales is to increase pressure in the rear Hydrasuspension units from 2,069 !,241 kN/sq m (300 to 325psi). Metro, unlike other BL Hydra-equipped cars, has a fluid e connecting the two rear pension units rather than ing front with rear. Each
Hydragas unit consists of an inert gas (nitrogen) filled spring chamber connected to a fluid chamber via a damper flap valve.
The trailing arm layout of the Metro rear suspension mounted almost horizontally (like the coilspring suspension of the Peugeot 305 van, CM June 26) means that there is no suspension intrusion into the load compartment of the Camion.
The maximum design gvw of the Metro City, and consequently the Metro Camion, on its standard tyres (135 SR 12) is 1,100kg which gives the van a theoretical maximum payload of around 275kg (5.4cwt). Bletchley Car Sales quotes the payload as 5cwt and in practice this could not be exceeded without overloading the rear axle (maximum design weight 530kg).
A false floor is offered as an option on the Camion at £60 extra. It consists of a square section steel frame, fixed to the rear wheel arches, which supports a three-piece, hinged plywood overlay. This overcomes the loading problem caused by the deep lip of the Metro's rear sill.
Bletchley Car Sales does not remove the car's rear seats (which fold forward) for the Camion conversion, so its usable load volume, quoted as 1.28cu m (45.7cuft) to the SAE standard, is slightly reduced, but the Milton Keynes BL dealer is probably correct in assuming that most car-derived van users would prefer to have the extra available seating capacity rather than a few more cubic inches of load volume.
BL's own Metro van is ex pected to make its first appearance later this year but it is not yet clear whether the factory conversion will have any more purpose-built components than the Camion'.
With the developments currently under way at BL it is unlikely that any major investment will have been made in engineering this car-derived van. In any event, Bletchley Motor Car Sales sees "no reason why we should stop offering the Camion when the Metrovan appears."
found the performance of the Camion with its 998cc A-plus engine to be lively, even when the van was fully loaded. The engine was also remarkably economical, achieving 6.73 lit/100km (42mpg) on a fully laden return trip from Sutton to Colchester.
For a car/van of this size and class there is a noticeable lack of engine and wind-noise in the Metro, even at motorway speeds thanks to BL's work on aerodynamics and noise insulation, but the general transmission harshness associated with BL's small fwd cars is still evident.
The van has a utilitarian feel about it but then most small van operators would probably not welcome excessive luxury, and at the keen price at which it is sold there are unlikely to be any serious complaints about a lack of refinement here and there.
Bletchley Motor Car Sales claims to have sold over 150 Metro Cam ions to date.