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Features Another look at the Nash Metropolitan

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Bill McGuire, Feb 5, 2013.

  1. jreeder41
    Joined: Jul 23, 2009
    Posts: 477

    jreeder41
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  2. Greenblade
    Joined: Sep 28, 2020
    Posts: 554

    Greenblade
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    I really like Metropolitans. I wanted one for awhile before I got my Rambler.
     
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  3. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Had a 55 Ragtop when I was a senior in highschool. Not the best car for a hard driving 18 year old but it ran cheap when it ran. My buds would chip in 50 cents each and four of us would run around all night in it. Me in Metro (2)-X2.jpg
     
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  4. There is a antique car business a few miles outside of Lagrange Texas on a major road that had 20-30 Nash metros about 2 years ago and a bunch of t -birds also—- many were on the rough side but there were quite a few last time I passed thru there.
     
  5. exterminator
    Joined: Apr 21, 2006
    Posts: 1,695

    exterminator
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    There was a met that raced at Mooneyes with a blower which i wished i had taken a picture of.
     
  6. Clydesdale
    Joined: Jun 22, 2021
    Posts: 177

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  7. Barn Hunter
    Joined: Feb 15, 2012
    Posts: 1,514

    Barn Hunter
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    Had a convertible for a little while many years ago. My oversized buddy checking under the hood. LOL mb2.jpg ago.
     
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  8. farna
    Joined: Jul 8, 2005
    Posts: 1,282

    farna
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    The Met ultimately "met" it's death due to the cost of building in Britain and shipping over. That and most Americans considered it just too small. Small is what got it noticed at first, but finally doomed it. Nash had no four cylinder engines nor engineering for really small cars, that's why they turned to Britain (Austin in particular) in the first place, though the original prototype was Fiat powered. They soon figured out that it would be cheap to re-launch the Nash Rambler in 1958 as the Rambler American. It was still relatively small, but large enough to comfortably sit four adults... at least for around-town situations. That made it more appealing to US drivers as a second car, and all the tooling had long been paid for -- for both the 50-55 Nash Rambler body (which was slightly modified for the 58) and the reintroduced flat-head six to power it. The flat-head shared all reciprocating parts with the OHV six AMC was producing at the time (which was a conversion of the flat-head, with some block changes to accommodate the OHV head), which made it very economical to produce. The larger 58 American was cheaper to produce as well as more practical than the cute little Met, which made it much more profitable for AMC. And so the Met was quietly ushered out.

    The back seat of a 58-63 American (and 50-55 Nash Rambler) might still be a little cramped for hours of driving, but for 30-60 minutes it was fine. Can't say that about a Met! I wouldn't want to be one of Mr48chev's four friends who had to ride in the back! Probably more cramped than the 75 Honda Civic I rode in with a friend from SC to PA and back one year. At least the hatch back Civic had more head room in the back! My friend and I were both right at 6', and took turns riding in the back (he was 16, I was 18 -- both maybe 150-160 lbs.). His 4.5' sister had no trouble though (his dad did all the driving). My parents also had a 74 Civic that was the kid's car on weekends (until I rolled it...) a couple years. Usually only three of us rode at a time, sitting crosswise in the back wasn't that bad.
     
  9. Ned Ludd
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 5,025

    Ned Ludd
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    The Metropolitan is one of a small number of cars I could just never get a feel for. It's probably because it promises to be really weird but in reality turns out to be thoroughly conventional, only extremely inelegantly so. For a start it's about four feet too long for what it purports to be. You've got to love American designers of the era: "OK, we've got 150" of car to work with. What can we get in there?" "I dunno, not a lot. Maybe two people — but the driver would have to drive standing up." "And some luggage, of course?" "Oooh, we'd have to do some serious research. Give us a few years to figure that out." Meanwhile Italians are building eleven-seat minibuses in the same envelope.

    The idea that a moderately smallish car can't be a proper, fully-fledged car would of course persist, so much so that when the Vega and Pinto appeared they were to some extent at least styled as toy cars, cute little caricatures of real cars. And if Americans have by now by and large been cured of this it is perhaps in part because the rest of the world has begun to suffer from the same disease.

    So, that suggests to me that modifying a Metropolitan such as to pique my interest would have to take one of two routes: either cutting bits and pieces out of it to bring it down to a ±95"-long two-seat runabout, in which case the motorcycle-powered option would make sense (as the original 1800lbs or so really isn't all that light); or adding a lot more practical content: small station-wagon? (it is after all not much smaller than a Morris Minor Traveller) with something far sexier than Austin A40 Cambridge gubbins underneath. The computer I've got Gimp on is acting up, so would anyone like to try some Photoshop? @James D? @madfish? @themoose?
     
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  10. GordonC
    Joined: Mar 6, 2006
    Posts: 3,141

    GordonC
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    This little guy is in the queue awaiting it's turn. Got a 9 inch, 302 automatic for it along with some other stuff. Might straight axle it with some big slicks on the back.

    20181010_123755.jpg 20181010_123804.jpg
     
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  11. brjnelson
    Joined: Oct 13, 2002
    Posts: 605

    brjnelson
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    Here is one I built 18 years ago, much of it was posted on the old HAMB[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
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  12. brjnelson
    Joined: Oct 13, 2002
    Posts: 605

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  13. farna
    Joined: Jul 8, 2005
    Posts: 1,282

    farna
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    There actually was a station wagon design proposal in 1956, with two prototypes built by Pininfarina. Would have been much more practical, but I think they already had the idea to resurrect the even more practical (for US drivers) Nash Rambler as the American at that point, or were discussing it. Too bad the Brits didn't go ahead with the "estate" version though. They were sold by Austin in Britain and other commonwealth countries.
    https://carsthatnevermadeitetc.tumb...ash-metropolitan-station-wagon-prototype-1956
     
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  14. exterminator
    Joined: Apr 21, 2006
    Posts: 1,695

    exterminator
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    WOW on the picture above! Love the blower engine on brjnelson's post.
     
  15. There is a very good reason why those cars are still around, mostly in good shape. They rarely ran! I have had two over the years. The first was one I bought for $50 and restored for my soon to be wife in about 1965. I was a teen so didn't do a very good job. Upholstered it in black 'Hyde, painted it orange. It limped along for a year or so and she got rid of it.

    Second one was obtained in about '88 for my twin daughters to drive to school. I did a better job restoring it. Had to patch a lot of floor rust, rebuild the engine which cracked two sets of Egge pistons before I got a set to last. Shifter locked up between gears so had to rebuildt . I made a copper T-hose to replace the infamous factory one that always rots. And the winner is the Lucas electrical system that is always malfunctioned. Our kids drove it for several years, actually gave good service. I did a really good red & white paint job a nice interior. Finally sold it to an old lady who had a house full of die-cast models, featuring Metros, and had half of her garage decked out as a Metro shrine. She was in tears when I delivered the car to her. Couldn't have gone to a better rest home.
     
    R A Wrench likes this.
  16. willys36, do you know why the British drink warm beer? They have Lucas refrigerators.
     
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  17. happy1.jpg
     
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