Speaking of small convertibles, check out this smallest Nash. It rides on a wheelbase six tenths of an inch longer than the one on the Yugo that William Stopford shared with us earlier this afternoon. Yet it’s about a foot longer overall than that Yugo. Still, when you walk up to it, it seems like the smallest car ever.
The interior is cozy, which is to say very tight. A person of girth would find that steering wheel in their gut. But for the skinny among us, this car looks like it would be a lot of fun to buzz around in.
You can tell this is a ’59 or later Met because of its trunk lid. Earlier Mets allowed access to the storage compartment only by leaning the rear seat forward.
Related reading: Here’s a story of a kid whose first car is a ’57 Met.
Is there a 2 seat convertible farther removed from my Miata as this? I’m not sure that there is.
And yet, is there anyone who doesn’t love the Metropolitan? This car just begs you to take it home and love it.
Me. I really hate these. They’ve always struck me as the dorkiest car ever made. I found them impossible to take seriously as a kid in the 60s. They look like the bumper cars I rode in at the carnival, and about as roadworthy. Maybe I’ll warm up some day, but I don’t see it.
Not to worry Fred ;
They were specifically designed and marketed to and for Women .
Not everyone wants one but most folks think they’re oh so cute .
-Nate
I guess I can see a Doris Day type in a head scarf behind the wheel. I also can see her driving comically off the road at the first curve, because it seems there’s no way the front wheels on this car can turn.
Curved Dash Olds? 🙂
Tiny, but not all that tiny. At 149.5 inches in length according to the brochure on TOCMP, the Metropolitan is around five inches longer than a first generation Honda CRX. I’d say that between the two cars, it’s a toss-up in cuteness.
My father used to refer to these as “washing machine Nashes”. If he told me why, I can’t remember. Maybe a childhood name, as he was a kid when these were new?
At any rate, it’s the type of car that you can’t help but smile upon seeing. So darn cheerful!
He was probably referring to Kelvinator, which was a branch of American Motors that made household appliances, including washing machines.
Kelvinator, a company that made major household appliances, became part of Nash in 1937, and was part of American Motors till 1968. That’s probably where “washing machine Nashes” came from.
Just so David ;
n fact , the very fist Metropolitans were badged ” NKI CUSTOM ” for Nash Kelvinator International ~ the Dealers were supposed to swap out the chrome NKI scripts for Metropolitan ones but a few still remain .
-Nate
GM manufactured Frigidaire into the 60s. One of my first jobs in college was working for GM parts on Tireman Road in Detroit and we had some work handling refrigerator panels at that plant. Chrysler was not in appliances, but they did have Chrysler Airtemp HVAC in the 60s I believe
Frigidaire was GM-owned until the late ’70s-early ’80s. My grandparents had a Frigidaire side-by-side that they bought around 1978 or so and it still had the Mark of Excellence on the door.
I think Chrysler dumped Airtemp sometime in the mid ’70s.
When I was in college in the late ’70s, I had an International Harvester refrigerator from the 1950s in my apartment, complete with the “man on a tractor” logo on the door.
My brother still has a Kelvinator refrigerator. The interior light lens looks like, and probably is, the dome light from a Rambler.
1936: Charlie Nash was aware of George Mason’s business acumen as head of Kelvinator and wanted to recruit Mason to run Nash Motors in preparation for Nash retiring. The only way Mason would join Nash Motors was if Nash merged with Kelvinator Corp. The deal was struck and Mason took over the new combine.
Interestingly ;
The Mighty Metropolitan Nash is a pretty good little car ~ yes it’s British and quirky but they’re easy to drive and handle well , the ‘B’ Series 1500 C.C, BMC engine is mostly the same as the MGA engines so it’s dead simple to power tune .
Keeping every drop of oil _inside_ it alas , is something I’m unable to *quite* accomplish =8-)
I run mine *very* hard , the original engine with modified cylinder head allows it to breathe well and give many other old cars a run for their money in the twisty bits .
-Nate
“Keeping every drop of oil inside it alas, is something I’m unable to *quite* accomplish.” HA! Proving it’s right to claiming it’s proud British heritage.
Paul sez, “Tiny, But Larger Than the Yugo” and I daresay built a whole lot better.
I’m getting to be quite the expert at _gluing_ the engine closed but it still manages to drip .
-Nate
HA! My Dodge also likes to mark it’s territory.
There used to be one of these at some sort of service station at 32 and boiler road in Oak Creek WI where my Grandpa lived until a few years ago, it was orange and white IIRC, loaded with patina and the soft top was always up(my Dad said it was parked in that same spot since the 60s). As a kid I knew we were close by Grandpa and Grandma’s house when I saw that goofy Metropolitan come into sight. Unfortunately it disappeared, along with the whole place it was parked at around 2000 or so(and my Grandpa’s house even more recently thanks to the nearby coal plant, but that’s another story…).
I helped my brother yank an engine out of a scrapped Metro for his MGA. He just added the twin SU carb manifold, but otherwise it was the same.
Years later my brother had one of these…fun car to scoot around in, but with the narrow front wheels and softer suspension, it did not handle nearly as well as the MGA had.
” fun car to scoot around in, but with the narrow front wheels and softer suspension, it did not handle nearly as well as the MGA had.”
Yes but easily fixed : I had custom springs made for all four corners then replaced all the soft rubber suspension bushings (a-frames , rear leaf springs) with polyurethane ones , changed the final drive ratio and re worked the cylinder hear a lot to make it breathe better and I easily out run MG’s in the twisty bits these days….
Simply put : they’re FUN to drive .
-Nate
I always liked the color combinations on the Metropolitans. Those two tone pastel colors looked like Neopolitan icecream. My fifth grade teacher had a `60 coupe in blue and white. She used to drive me home in it, and it was a blast for this 10 year old to ride in. She loved it, but about a year later,she gave it to her sister when she moved up to a `62 Skylark coupe.She claimed the Skylark was like a Cadillac when compared to the Metropolitan,but she did like the comparitive luxury of the Skylark, so I guess she was happy with it.
I think the top photos certainly qualifies as a bona fide “Compare and Contrast” when you scope out the blue coupe behind the Met.
My Dick Tracy Tin Windup Metropolitan. A 1955 hudson Metropolitan!
Dick Tracy side view. The other one was Sam Catchum’s side view.
Back view
Front view
My grandson holding the actual car!
Not the 98 cent F. W. Woodworth price sticker!
Better view of the wind up Key and the Forward/Reverse Lever. Window panels are sheet metal.
Used to see a lot of them as Austins as a kid in 60s and 70s Britain.Very popular with Teddy Boys and rockers who couldn’t afford to buy or run an American car or a Cresta or Zodiac.Rust killed an awful lot of them,I remember a blue and white one round the corner from where my Aunt Rose and Uncle Larry lived.
The Metropolitan. The name was bigger than the car. They had a cartoon like personality and they’re painted like Easter eggs. They weren’t everyone’s cup of tea but it’s hard not to like them.
“The interior is cozy, which is to say very tight. A person of girth would find that steering wheel in their gut.”
I’m sure you are right, Jim, but George Mason, definitely a person of girth, was often photographed behind the wheel of a Metro. I quickly found this pic of him (and George Romney) in an early prototype.
I don’t think he looks very comfortable, LOL!
You beat me to that punch!
Theres a A50 Austin under the cute suit, so not really a power house or much of a corner carver, they can be tuned for speed but its hardly worth it, the handling traits will soon slow you down. Rare now here they never sold well and didnt last long rust just ate em up.
Does anyone know how Metropolitan sales compared with Yugo? In the U.S. Obviously I was very different ages when each was sold here, but it feels like both had similar reputations as oddities. Where the Nash was mocked for its size, and the Yugo for its poor quality. In my opinion they both beat the Suzuki X90.
Wiki says total U.S. Yugo sales (1985-92) = 141K
Metro (1953-62) = 83K in U.S., 11K in Canada, total almost 95K
I’m surprised at those numbers! I have seen more “Metros” in my life than Yugos! and that they are decades older really is a testament to the Yugo’s lack of quality! I have seen only 1 Yugo on the road since 1992! but in summer I’ll see a couple Mets and other various Nashes.
The CC effect; I saw one of these at a car show on Saturday, except it was red and white. I did not have time to dally, so I did not pay enough attention to see if it was a late or early model, as in with a trunk lid or on with the only access by ‘leaning the rear seat forward’. And I thought they were a two seater. You always learn something new here on CC!
I’ve always thought these were sooo cool!
“Weird Al” Yankovic drove a ’58 (IIRC) in his cult classic “UHF”. A car that fit his character perfectly.
Another British Motor Corporation ‘what if’. There was no successor model to this car in the BMC line up which was a great pity. Unhappily they handle like a boat if the lever-arm dampers are not in tip-top condition and the steering is not great anyway – using an old fashioned steering box. There was no excuse really as BMC had rack and pinion steering on some models from ’48. You always get the feeling that some BMC and later British Leyland automobiles had an ‘it will do’ approach with no eye to gradual improvement or market share with an established model.
No Met ever built had lever shocks .
they all had tube typ .
-Nate
We had one of these when I was a kid. My brother modified it with a cam and dual Webbers. The driveline was from MG so parts were available. According to my other brother, ours was the fastest in SE PA. Several times he used Vice Grips for a shifter after he broke the shifter racing it (Mom was not happy with that). Dad got rid of it after the drivers side lower control arm broke while Mom was driving and the car took a hard left turn across 3 lanes of traffic, which miraculasly was devoid of cars at that second. He traded it for a Valient, which my brother also raced as a teen.
Pete ;
.
Lucky no one was killed as early Mets had hollow , weak spindles that occasionally broke just turning the corner causing the cars to roll over .
.
-Nate
Smaller than the Yugo, but possibly leaking more fluids…..