There may be a lot of people who can tell a better story about cars than I can. So I just find them, snap pictures, share, and then let you tell the stories. “Division of labor” is a concept I really can get behind. Well, the other day I ran through a time warp and at first I though I had run into twin midgets; not so, unless we assume all twins dress alike, or at least wear the same cap. The first one is a ragtop.
And this one is the hardtop; quite the matching set. Now we need only the station wagon version to make the family complete. At least it didn’t confuse folks as to whether it was coming or going, but only whether it really existed (not).
These two may look American, and were sold by American Motors, designed by Americans, built especially for Americans, had a bigger brother named “American”, and located right here in America, but (as I suppose most of you know) they aren’t really American (Metro CC here). Very short Brits trying to slip through Immigration by wearing baggy American clothes, perhaps? The Ali G of cars?
A kid I worked with in high school had one of these…let’s see, was it the ragtop or hardtop? Not the wagon, that I’m fairly sure of. Anyway, my old Chevy picked him up more than once after surefire British dependability had let him down. Uh, oh–is that considered a story? That’s your call. I’ll just shut up and listen.
There was a time in my distant past when I really wanted one of these. I also wanted a Morris Minor.
Fortunately, I came to my senses and stuck with American cars – mostly…
Good call Zackman. I knew a Navy Warrant officer who drove a Morris Minor all over Panama without any problems. I never knew anyone who drove one of these very far at all with no problems. Probably a good example of something cute that really did not need to ever exist.
The TR3A I had in the early 80s was my “30 mile” car; the limit I was willing to pay for a tow. I never needed a tow, but the limit was helpful in getting home when the water pump seal failed–I had just enough water/coolant in the trunk to make it.
OTOH, the 64 MGB in the early 70s was a daily driver at times, but I was willing to work on it most weekends. Had to, usually.
@wstarvingteacher:
You might have read one of my old comments before about this, but an airman at Beale AFB in 1969-70 drove a Morris Minor. Gray, of course. He did “customize” it some: He added air force ball-and-bar decals to the doors, added a large, 12″ red propeller to the nose of the hood – it actually spun when driven! and a couple other goodies and it really stood out, meaning I almost hit the ground laughing every time I saw it buzzing by. One could get away with that stuff back then!
First time I’ve seen a Metropolitan and a Roller parked ass-to-nose…
No kidding! The finest British workmanship.
I remember seeing one or two of these little automotive jokes in the late fifties and early sixties. Quite the thing to drive if you wanted to be pointed at by kids and barked at by random dogs. I can only surmise that BMC thought it might be a good idea to try and flog a few to us Brits while they were at it. Watching their hapless drivers struggling with a three-point turn was aways good for a laugh. BMC’s other great export joke of the time was the somewhat larger Austin A90 Atlantic, and no, our Yankee cousins didn’t fall for that one either.
I never see Nash Metropolitans around here they werent popular new and looked stupid Morris Minors on the other hand are still used as daily drives here ans are as reliable as the sun.
You mean *stock* cramped, gutless, drum-brake Minors are used as daily drives? I wouldn’t take mine out even on weekends if I can help it. I would have sold it I didn’t love its looks 🙂
But why aren’t they turquoise or yellow?
I love these cars! One day, baby, one day…..
“OK buddy, where’s the fire?
When I was in high school back in the late 70s, we had some neighbors who had a Metropolitan that I don’t think I ever saw in operating condition. It served as a lawn ornament for several years. Their eldest son always referred to it as “the Austin.” I suppose he was trying to sound worldly and sophisticated, which is kind of a tough thing to pull off when you’re talking about a rusty motorless hulk sitting in the yard.
While there were a couple of prototypes made, there was no production Met wagon.
I think that was part of Lee’s “story”. It does say:”but only whether it really existed (not)” in regard to the wagon.
I’ve always liked these ugly little warts.
I personally saw quite a few of these things as a kid…but then, it was because a local body-shop owner had a fetish for them. He had five or six in his lot at any given time…some of them had the round black badge with stylized silver “R” in the center, sort of like what was on our car’s steering wheel. Others looked the same but had a “N” in place of the “R.”
Interestingly, I never saw one of these things at a dealer. And I had plenty of chances, because the local Rambler dealer was a block from that body shop and two from our home; and because we were AT the dealer’s a lot with our own specimen.
Later on, I read about “Met-baiting:” A big car with a Metropolitan behind it, could slow….down…let the little Nash Rambler start tailgating. Then speed it up, and watch the car in the mirror, watch it wobble with the air turbulence. Apparently the Metropolitan didn’t do crosswinds very well.
Sad. Sad little car; sad way it came to be; sad about Austin and BMC and AMC and Mason and Romney. There were no winners in this story, except maybe the kid in the CC write-up, desperate for a car to love that he could actually afford.
Some had the “R”, others had the “N”, but then what about these?
Even as a little kid I thought that these things were an embarrassment, as were all Nashes. No self-respecting person would drive one of these self-propelled turds.
I just saw one on Saturday. Not as nice as these black and white ones, though!
in the 60s, I got very familiar with Mets as two of our regular customers at the gas station I worked in had them.
The drivetrains were Austin-Healy (or was it MG, I can’t recall ) and between the two customers, we cleaned out every junk yard in Mass. and RI of their transmissions. Seemed between the two of them, we were replacing them every six months.
A bit of trivia: the sedans and the ‘verts were the same body, including the windshield frame. You could take either model and make it into the other simply by changing roofs/tops and nothing else.
Bill Griffith’s underground cartoon character Zippy the Pinhead drives one of these.
The Nash Metropolitan: the only two-seater convertible endorsed by a microcephalic.