Nash-Kelvinator was way ahead of it’s time in designing a car based on how it is to be used, not on marketing. It was simple and practical like the refrigerators they made. For example, the left and right door skins are identical. After Hudson merged in 1954 with Nash to form AMC, it was also sold as the Hudson Metropolitan. This Nash Metropolitan listed here on eBay is another example of a car that was restored but never driven. It’s in Van Nuys, California and offered with a BIN of $7,500. This may not be a great deal considering the market value, but for a fun little car that appears to need little work, it seems reasonable to me.
It’s reported there’s no rust anywhere. The engine was rebuilt years ago and there was a lot of mechanical work done recently. It’s said to run well with no transmission issues. The tires are said to be rotted from sitting, but otherwise this little car looks ready to go. It won’t take up much room at car shows. Could it be cute enough that if you brought it home the wife might be less upset?
I hope no one minds my sharing a picture. My mom grew up on a peach farm near Gilbert SC and her dad bought this car for her. She was kicked out of nursing school for attending a party (nursing schools back then were extremely strict) and she worked for a year as a volunteer to get back in school. She finally became an RN. They were married for just over 50 years and both are no longer with us. These Metros always makes me smile but my father hated it. From their wedding day.
Fantastic, thanks for sharing! An early model Met, too, very nice.
Hi guys. Thanks for sharing, Gerry. My dad bought a ’60 Met. from the local postmaster for $85.00 back in ’68. All that was wrong was dent in the right front fender that didn’t affect the trim. Dad wanted to have a collection of them and managed to buy a ’59 that was kind of a flesh color and white (the ’60 was red/white). Unfortunately he ended up selling them when he sold the farm and retired in ’79. Both of them stayed close to home but I don’t know what happened to them in the last 10 years.
It looks like a great example.
I had a red one, belonged to my Grandfather. You had to be very short to sit in the back seat unless you wanted to stretch out in the trunk.
Len – do you recall how much room was in the front for driver/passenger?
Our family had a Nash Metropolitan, but in yellow over white, when I was a kid, at about age seven, growing up in La Jolla. All I remember about it is that we didn’t see many others on the road!
One of my worst car stories… When I was in high school in the early 70’s a friend and took his mother’s ’61 Nash Met convertible and thought we could make a dune buggy out of it. We cut off all the fenders, doors, hood, quarter panels, etc. We basically made a piece of junk out of it. It was as nice as this car and in the same colors. When she found out what we were doing she got very angry and had a wrecking yard come a haul it away.
Dumb… so very dumb.
I was restoring a 1961 convertible in my basement garage/shop and had it completely dismantled and the body media blasted and ready to paint, engine rebuilt, all new parts, everything ready to back together. I told my wife at the time I wanted a divorce. (another long story) The next day I went to work and when I came home she had it all hauled away and sold it for scrape! It would have been yellow & white.
First car I ever brought back to life was a ’56 Met ragtop. Bought it in high school, it needed rust repair (like all of them) and various mechanical repairs. Fun little car, and it was quite a girl magnet. Sold it to fund my last semester of college.
I’d like to get another one someday. This one looks nice but I can’t tell if the rockers have been patched. Too much blue for me, especially the wildly non-stock interior. The price seems high, and the painted bumpers don’t help.
When you think about it, the price isn’t bad for a car designed by Pininfarina and built by Austin! I bought one of these for my then girlfriend (now my wife) back in the 70’s, but I guess I liked it more than she did. Too bad. It was really fun (but gutless) and got great mileage, plus the shifter was always entertaining. A good ride for $500.00!
Sorry – not a Pinin Farina (2 words – early/mid ’50s) design.
Industrial designer William Flajole penned the original sketches for the prototype MXI built on a Fiat Topolino chassis. Massaged a bit it became the MKI (K for Kelvinator) pre production prototype Metropolitan shown to American public. American Motors’s production agreement was with Austin Motor Company and Fisher & Ludlow – who built the unit bodies.
David C’s story reminds me of a similar story about a friend’s son who acquired a Delorean, because he was a young lad around 30 who loved the Back To The Future movie, and had the financial means to buy a 20K “classic” car.
Soon my friend was telling me that his son was down-and-out, because his girlfriend had left the young lad high and dry. Our joke was that the boy should have spent more time tinkering with her flux capacitor than the one on the car!
Lots of interesting stories above about these Metros and how loved they were. I remember them on the road back in the day. All of their owners I knew or talked to really enjoyed them. But none of the gearheads I knew ever owned or wanted one. No surprise there…engine too small, not cool, or macho, or aerodynamic. None of that ever bothered any of the owners of these cars. Two different worlds of car fans.
This is a properly sorted and exceptionally nice looking Nash Metropolitan. Yes, it did compete in the St. Mary’s Trophy race at the Goodwood Revival:
https://grrc.goodwood.com/more/nash-metropolitan#vrm0KQAxCGxz6s3p.97
Engine details, dyno run, and Brands Hatch testing of CCK Historic’ Metropolitan race car:
http://www.cckhistoric.com/tag/nash-metropolitan-race-car/
My Mom drove one of these, her Dad bought it for her to drive to College, Dad also hated it because he was a big boy that topped out about 300 pounds, but he was also 6’4″. I never knew what happened to that Car!!!!