Small cars never caught on in the US the way they did in Europe, but many automakers tried. Nash thought they could produce a car for American buyers to switch over, so out came the Metropolitan in 1954. Manufactured in England and shipped over, it was never a huge sales success, but you could get your hands on this small characterful car 60 years later. Our little red Metropolitan comes at us from Valparaiso, Indiana, and is available here on eBay for $3,500 with no reserve and just over a day remaining on the auction.
The Metropolitan was actually sold under 4 brands over its life; Hudson, Nash, and AMC in the US and Austin in the UK. Our car here wears the Nash badge and although there was thought to be a significant desire for smaller cars, few were sold in the end. It was not a complete disaster though as they were sold all the way up until 1962 and their unique design and style, thanks to Pininfarina, means it has a loyal following to this day.
Our Metropolitan here looks great on the surface with its red and white paint job but is described as having ‘old’ paint with lots of touch-ups. The seller states their intention was to restore it, and that it was running when they purchased it. Ultimately it looks like it needs some TLC to help it come back to life, and without a hugely significant amount of work. However, we are not told how the engine is at the moment except that someone mechanical needs to look at it. The engine bay appears in good condition, and these small 1.5l engines are easy to work on with plenty of space to repair.
On the interior, we have leather seats and door cards which wear their 60-year-old age very well without cracking or damage. The dashboard is fully intact with its single speedo gauge in the center, recording its 56,592 miles, or about 1000 miles per year! So is this a great chance to get into a small car with bundles of character, or would you wait for the next Metropolitan to come along?
I always liked these little cars. A turbo Buick V6 would be perfect. I saw one at the Street Rod Nationals way back when Pro Street was cool, tube chassis, funnycar caged for two(I couldn’t see where one could ride, let alone two) blown BBC, M/T 33?x19 tires. Wicked
I ran across a junk yard near Lancaster, CA a few weeks ago. They had a gaggle of Metropolitans. I’m sure they were rust free, but probably better to just buy a running car. I like the convertibles. Would be cool to make a lowrider out of one.
Lee
Do you have a name of the yard in which you saw the Metros?
The place didn’t have a name. It just looked like someone had a collection of different stuff. The address is: 1954 Soledad Canyon Rd, Acton, CA 93510 You can see a street view if you plug the address into Google Maps.
Maybe you can do a property search or call:
Acton Indoor RV & Boat Storage (Close by)
2210 Soledad Canyon Road, Unit C
Acton, CA 93510
(661) 269-2562
Let me know what you come up with. Looks like these cars have been sitting around for some time. You may have more money in restoring one, than buying a driver. Too much work for me
I’m guessing there will be a lot of last minute bidding that will drive up the $3500. This looks like a really nice little car that’s been well maintained.
Didn’t Detective Columbia drive a Nash Metropolitan?
No Columbo did not drive a Nash his car was a very obscure French car only a hand full in the US
https://www.metv.com/stories/peter-falk-got-to-pick-columbos-car-and-this-is-why-he-chose-the-peugeot-403
Thanks , Patrick
“Our car here wears the Nash badge …”
No, it doesn’t wear the Nash badge — Nash no longer existed in 1960. It wears an “M” badge for “Metropolitan.” I don’t think these ever had an AMC badge. They had either Nash, Hudson (when those brands existed) or M after Nash and Hudson folded in 1957.
The interior is not original to the car. They never put leather in the mid or late series Mets. The trim was in Black and white vinyl with black/white houndstooth cloth. The door panels (if it is a mid series car) should have a curving pattern with white vinyl on top and black vinyl on the bottom. A late series car would have a horizontal division of black on top and white on bottom. The seats here have the V pattern that should have white vinyl in the V with the houndstooth cloth to cover the seat. Later cars have white vinyl on top with a gray/black diamond pattern cloth.
PLEASE don’t tub this car. One that’s shot , that’s cool. Go for it. But this is way to nice to change
Please don’t tub this or put a V any thing in it. You got one with a bad frame or blown motir cool. Go for it. But this one is too nice to mess with. Cheerleader in high school had one. I was the only one that didn’t think it was funny
also the interior is not original. They never put leather in the mid or late models . if it is a mid production car it should have black and white vinyl with black/white houndstooth cloth in the front seats and on the backseat seat back. The door panels should have a curving pattern with white vinyl on top and black vinyl on the bottom.
they actually made over 94,000 of these, so its not like they didnt sell well.