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19/03/2011, 18:16
Classic Car Review By MURRAY HUBBARD
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Selling the concept of economical cars to the American public has always been as difficult as asking Colonel Gaddafi to walk away. Yet, back in the post-war era of the early 1950s the American motoring public were asked to consider buying the small Nash Metropolitan. In many ways this little Nash was unique.
The Nash Metropolitan entered the US market just as things were starting to boom after WW2. As as result of that boom - brought on by the freedom of world peace - buyers were celebrating by consummating the marriage of drivers and gas-guzzling, powerful V8s. Fuel consumption was simply not a consideration as petrol in the US was as cheap as chips.
It was into this scenario the Nash Metropolitan was launched as a small, economical commuter/shopping car aimed at women. Nash identified an emerging market sector, that of the two-car household and believed a smaller, yet typical-American car in appearance, would appeal. The key words here are typical-American. At this time the market identified by Nash Kelvinator was already the target of a foreign small car, the ubiquitous Volkswagen Beetle, which in appearance was as distant as you could get from being typically American.
The Nash Metropolitan was designed in the US and produced as a concept car, the NXI and built by independent designer, William Flajole for Nash Kelvinator. In essence the car was a new design, but looked like a scaled down version of a large American car with some likeness to the large Nash automobiles of that era. It would look much more at home in a US driveway than a Beetle.
The Nash Metropolitan had its public debut at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 1950. The showing was aimed at finding out what the US buyers thought of the car, in particular the size, with the Metropolitan having a slightly shorter wheelbase than the Beetle. The reaction was solid and Nash decided the car could be successfully sold, as long as the pricing was sharp. This raised a challenge for the US-based maker. To produce the car in the US would mean high start-up tooling costs. They needed it to be manufactured off-shore, using existing mechanicals, to compete against the VW.
By 1952, and after negotiations with several European makers, Nash selected the BMC owned Austin Motor Company - along with coach builders Fisher & Ludlow - to produce the car. Austin would undertake the final assembly with the bodies being transferred from Fisher & Ludlow’s Birmingham plant to Austin at Longridge for the mechanicals to be united with the monocoque frame. The Nash Metropolitan has the honour of being the first American-designed car to be marketed only in the US, but built entirely in Europe.
Our review car is a 1958 hardtop model we found in a small motor museum called Pete’s Pioneer and Transport Museum at Kerikeri near the Bay of Islands on New Zealand’s North Island. The Metropolitan came in two models, the hardtop and a convertible. They were well-appointed cars with quite a few standard features that at the time were options on many other makes. These included a cigarette lighter, electric windscreen wipers and a map light. They were also fitted with AM radio and heater as well in the US the Metropolitan came with white wall tyres.
The first of the Nash Metropolitans used Austin A40 (Devon and Dorset) running gear including a 1200 cc four cylinder engine connected to a three speed transmission and driving the rear wheels. Early prototypes sported bucket seats but in the end the front seat ended up being a traditional bench format.To start with the car was called the NKI Custom, but this was changed just before the release to the Nash Metropolitan and the first Nash-badged cars went on sale in March, 1954 in the US and Canada. Production was just 400 cars a week, so unless the car was a runaway success, the Beetle was not going to be challenged. Nash merged with Hudson in 1954 to form AMI - American Motor Corporation. Soon after Hudson Metropolitan cars appeared.
By August 1954 some 10,000 Metropolitans had been produced and the car underwent it’s first major changes: The Austin B-Series engine, also of 1200 cc from the Austin Cambridge was fitted along with a new three-speed transmission and hydraulic clutch. In late 1955 the Series III commenced with the B-Series engine now at 1498cc, the same as the Austin A50 Cambridge. Another major change was the inclusion of a stainless steel lightning-bolt-style strip down the Metropolitan’s side. (In Australia Holden achieved a similar result with some FE and all FC Holdens of 1955-56). This allowed the car to have a two-tone paint job and delivered a modern vehicle that looked lower-riding.
In 1957 AMC dropped the Hudson and Nash brand names and the Metropolitan continued with the Metropolitan badging only and was sold through Rambler dealerships. The ‘Hudson’ and ‘Nash’ grille medallions were shelved and the ‘M’ style grille was used as a replacement.
The first three model Metropolitans appear to have a decent boot, but the reality was there was no outside access to the boot space. Access had to be gained by pushing the rear seat upright forward. Hmmm. Even the Beetle had a proper boot, although it was at the front. This fault was rectified in the Series 4 Metropolitan. Almost 10,000 Austin Metropolitans were also sold outside the US in non-AMC markets from early 1957. |
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