How often do you see a pair of matching Metropolitans? Thanks to reader Mark H for this great find! This lovely pair of cars are located in Ocala, Florida and are for sale here on craigslist for $2,800 for both of them. The seller states that one runs, while the other needs engine work. As these have the later “B-Series” engine, I wonder if an inexpensive swap with an MGB engine would work? I’ll bet one of you out there knows the answer to that – this forum thread says it’s fairly easy with a 3-main bearing rear plate. Apparently, both need floors; one in the pictures really needs them as there’s nothing much left. But I think this could be a really fun parent-child project – the mechanicals are straightforward and there’s plenty of specialist help for parts, not that it looks like they need a lot apart from sheet metal, and you’d end up with two matching cars to cruise in. Any takers?
Okay, since I know someone is gonna suggest it, what about a Honda S2000/Hayabusa/Accura GTR/et al engine swap?
Now that that’s out of the way, didn’t AMC license and build what was basically an Austin engine for these?
oooh….a Hayabusa motor….very cool, Mark E…
No, AMC did not license the engine. They had the car bodies built by Fisher & Ludlow in Birmingham, England and final assembly was done by Austin in Longbridge, Eng. Austin provided the engine. Other than the design, AMC did not do much more than sell these cars.
My dad had a Nash Metropolitan and it had an Austin engine in it. It looked very similar to my A-40 engine
AAAAHHHH, cut one all up, GM LS motor, aluminum int, wheel tubs, hot rod primer, ratrod all the way. And a rollbar, ’cause ya know you’re gonna tip it over..
Note Email address is numeral 1, and not an L.
I grew up in Northern Ireland, surrounded by Austins from the A30-A35,s and owned a lovely Black A40 Cambridge. Also drove Ausin 10, Austin 16, and Austin 18,s
I understood the Austin shown had an A40 engine installed.
….used to see a Nash Met rollin’ around my hometown (in these tuxedo colors) with the license plate “SKUNKS”
These has MGA 1500 engines in them, so an upgraded “B” engine should be an easy swap
I had a 1962 convertible. The engines are pretty much interchangeable. The Metro has a little smaller engine but the block is the same as the Austin and probably the MG (dimension wise).
What would be fun in a fairly unsafe way would be a T-series Turbo conversion (the T-series block was the O-Series Block and the O-Series was designed to drop into anything with a B-Series). The Turbo T-Series makes 197 BHP DIN out of the box, 300+ is not hard to achieve either!
That is one way to give this car some Zoom-Zoom!!