Nash Metropolitan 1953 to 1961

This turquoise-and-white Nash Metropolitan carries a spare tire mounted like a compact ship’s wheel on its trunk lid, chrome hood ornament and whitewalls gleaming in the sun. Built entirely in England by Austin for an American company that couldn’t afford its own tooling, fewer than 95,000 ever landed stateside across eight years. Read on for how a car with four different badges became one of the more affordable classics a collector can still buy today.

Somewhere between a real car and a toy sits the Nash Metropolitan, a two-tone turquoise-and-white convertible with a spare tire mounted on the trunk lid like a compact ship’s wheel. Nash called it “the world’s smartest car” back when nobody was using that phrase, and looking at the example pictured here — chrome hood ornament catching the sun, whitewalls gleaming against that continental-kit rear end — it is easy to see why the claim, however odd it sounds today, was not entirely marketing hot air.

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A British Prototype for an American Idea

The Nash Metropolitan is available as a hard top or a convertible and was billed as “the world’s smartest car” at a time when there could be no such thing as a smart car in the modern sense. The original name, used in the U.K. starting in 1953, was the “NKI Custom” (Nash-Kelvinator International). A number of prototypes — five of them built by Austin — were made to test market response beginning in 1951 in Europe and North America, introducing a new budget-minded economy compact called the “NXI” (Nash Experimental International). One of these prototypes used an engine built in Italy, but that combination never came close to production.

An American Idea, Built Entirely in England

The car is an American idea developed for the North American consumer, but it was produced wholly by the Austin Motor Company of Longbridge, England, using Austin-sourced parts and drivetrain. Sheet metal changes versus contemporary Austin products were minimal, which dropped tooling costs dramatically. This arrangement came at a time when the U.K. badly needed foreign currency, making it an astute financial move for the Nash Motor Company as much as a styling decision. It was the first time an American-designed car built exclusively for the North American market had been produced entirely overseas.

One Car, Four Different Names

The Metropolitan was sold in the United Kingdom, North America, and other international markets including France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and South Africa from 1953 through 1961. The car was aimed at re-establishing Nash as an automotive supplier to international consumers. When Nash and Hudson joined forces in 1954, emerging as American Motors Corporation, the car briefly became known as the Hudson Metropolitan, then simply the Metropolitan, and still later, on its own, as a Rambler-branded model.

Unitized Construction and a Growing Engine

The Metropolitan uses a unitized-body, or monocoque, design at a time when body-on-frame construction was still the industry standard. The economical, easy-to-drive compact was initially powered by the tried-and-true 1200 cc (1.2 L) Austin A-40 four-cylinder engine paired with a three-speed manual transmission, but a 1,500 cc (1.5 L) “B-Series 14” engine delivering 52 hp (38.78 kW) became available in November 1955. The Met was also cosmetically refreshed that year, gaining a simulated hood scoop — the same ornament visible on the hood in the photo above — two-tone paint, and an outside trunk latch that allowed storage access from outside the car for the first time.

Smaller Than a Beetle, Aimed at a Different Buyer

The car weighs in at 1,785 lbs. (810 kg), is 148.5 inches (3,797 mm) long, 54.5 inches (1,384 mm) tall, and rides on a wheelbase a full ten inches shorter than its main rival, the Volkswagen Beetle. Both the Bug and the “Met” competed in a market segment the Big Three domestic automakers had largely ignored. Nash-Kelvinator’s automotive arm, led by George Mason and a team of engineers determined to find a survivable niche, bet correctly that not every buyer of the era wanted a bigger car. The little Metropolitan was pitched as a second vehicle — nimble in parking lots, perfect for short hops, a “sub-compact city car” before that was a recognized category.

Reading the VIN: Series I Through III

There were 10,000 Series I cars exported to North America in the first group, carrying VIN numbers from E1001 through E11000, all fitted with the 1.2 L engine. The Series II (“B” series) cars used the same 1.2 L engine, but the clutch became hydraulically operated and the transmission was beefed up, adding 50 lbs. (32 kg) to the curb weight. The Series III (NK3), starting with VIN E21008, received the newly upgraded 1,498 cc (1.49 L, or 91.4 cu in) bored-out version of the “B” engine. In 1955 the car carried an MSRP of $1,527.00 for the hard top and $1,551.00 for the convertible. Nearly 95,000 Metropolitans landed in this country over the model’s eight years of production, a modest number by Detroit standards but a genuine success for a niche import competing against far larger, better-funded rivals.

What This Car Is Worth to Collectors Today

Because Metropolitans were built in relatively large numbers and were designed to be cheap to run rather than fast, they occupy an unusual place in the collector world: genuinely affordable entry-level classics that still turn heads at a car show, largely on the strength of their color combinations. A two-tone example in good order, with its whitewalls, chrome continental-kit-style spare cover, and hood scoop intact, tends to draw as much attention from casual showgoers as far more expensive muscle cars parked nearby, simply because almost nobody expects to see one in person.

What to Check Before Buying One

Because the Metropolitan’s body panels and unitized structure were unique to the model rather than shared broadly with other American cars, rust in the rocker panels and floor pans is the first thing a buyer should inspect closely, since replacement sheet metal is far scarcer than it would be for a contemporary Detroit compact. The Austin-sourced drivetrain is mechanically simple and generally reliable by the standards of the era, but parts specialists who understand the Austin A-Series and B-Series engines are worth locating before committing to a restoration, since a generic American parts counter will not have what a Metropolitan needs. The interior fabrics and door panels are another area worth budgeting for early, since correct reproduction upholstery is a specialty item rather than something available off the shelf, and a black cabin with red piping like the one pictured here shows every bit of wear once the seams start to go.

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