The Nash Metropolitan is an American automobile marketed from 1953 until 1962, manufactured in England. While designed and marketed in the United States by Nash and its successor companies, it was built entirely in British Motor Corporation factories using many existing BMC parts.
It conforms to two classes of vehicle: economy car and subcompact car. The Metropolitan is considered a "subcompact", but this category was not yet in use when the car was made. At that time, it was categorized as a "small automobile" as well as an "economy car".
The Metropolitan was also marketed as a Hudson model when Nash and Hudson merged in 1954 to form the American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Nash and Hudson lines were phased out in favor of the Rambler line, and in 1957, the Metropolitan became a standalone brand, badged with a stylized 'M' on hubcaps and the grille. The cars were also sold in the United Kingdom and other markets.
Design While most domestic automobile makers were following a "bigger-is-better" philosophy, Nash Motor Company executives were examining the market to offer American buyers an economical transportation alternative. The Metropolitan was designed in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was patterned from a concept car, the NXI (Nash Experimental International), that was built by Detroit-based independent designer William J. Flajole for Nash-Kelvinator. It was designed as the second car in a two car family, for Mom taking the kids to school or shopping or for Dad to drive to the railroad station to ride to work: the "commuter/shopping car" with resemblance to the big Nash, but the scale was tiny as the Met's wheelbase was shorter than the Volkswagen Beetle's.
The NXI design study incorporated many innovative features and attempted to use interchangeable front and rear components (the symmetrical door skins were the only interchangeable items used in production). Although more complex, the new vehicle also incorporated Nash's advanced single-unit (unit body) construction. It was displayed at several "surviews" (survey-previews), commencing on 4 January 1950, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, to gauge the reaction of the American motoring public to a car of this size. The result of these "surviews" convinced Nash that there was a market for such a car if it could be built at a competitive price.
A series of prototypes followed that incorporated many of the improvements from the "surviews" that included roll-up glass side windows, a more powerful engine, and a column-mounted transmission shifter with bench seat (rather than bucket-type seats with floor shift fitted in the concept car). The model was named NKI (for Nash-Kelvinator International), and it featured revised styling incorporating a hood blister and rear wheel cutouts.
Nash was positioning this new product for the postwar market as a "personal use" automobiles. These specific-use vehicles were focused as a second car for women or an economical commuter car. The Metropolitan was also aimed at returning Nash to overseas markets. However, Mason and Nash's management calculated that building such a car from scratch in the U.S. would be impossible because the tooling costs would have been prohibitive. The only cost-effective option was to build overseas using existing mechanical components (engine, transmission, rear end, suspension, brakes, electrical), leaving only the tooling cost for body panels and other unique elements.
With this in mind, Nash Motors negotiated with several European companies. On 5 October 1952, they announced that they had selected the Austin Motor Company (by then part of BMC) and Fisher & Ludlow (which also became part of BMC in September 1953, later operating under the name Pressed Steel Fisher), both English companies based in Birmingham, England, and vicinity. Fisher & Ludlow would produce the bodywork, the mechanicals would be provided, and the Austin Motor Company would perform the final assembly. This was the first time an American-designed car was exclusively marketed in North America and had been entirely built in Europe. It became a captive import – a foreign-built vehicle sold and serviced by Nash (and later by American Motors) through its dealer distribution system. It is believed that Austin completed the first pre-production prototype on 2 December 1952. Austin Motors built five pre-production prototypes and tested them before production began. The total tooling cost amounted to US$1,018,475.94 (Austin: US$197,849.14; Fisher & Ludlow: US$820,626.80), a fraction of the tooling cost for a U.S.-built vehicle.
The styling for all Nash vehicles was then an amalgam of designs from Pinin Farina and his design house of Italy, and the in-house Nash design team. The Nash models, from the Ambassador to the Metropolitan, utilized similar design features, including fully enclosed front wheels, notched "pillow" style door pressing, bar-style grille, etc.
The new Metropolitan was made in two body designs: convertible and hardtop. All came with several standard features that were optional on most cars of the era. Among these factory-installed customer benefits were a map light, electric windshield wipers, a cigar lighter, and even a "continental-type" rear-mounted spare tire with cover. To give the interior a "luxury" image, "Bedford cord" upholstery trimmed with leather was used (similar to larger Nash vehicles). An AM radio, "Weather Eye" heater, and whitewall tires were offered as optional extras for the U.S. market. (It is unlikely that a Metropolitan could have been purchased without a heater and radio, as all vehicles left the factory with both items fitted.)
The Metropolitan was the first postwar American car that was marketed specifically to women. The Dodge La Femme was introduced one year later. The first spokesperson for the car was Miss America 1954, Evelyn Ay Sempier. The car was prominently advertised in Women's Wear Daily. American Motors' marketing brochures described the new model as "America's entirely new kind of car" (1955), "Luxury in Miniature" (1959), and "crafted for personal transportation" (1960).
First reviews Compared with the typical American car of the 1950s, the Metropolitan was considered "remarkably nimble" by many early testers, and "the consensus is that the Metropolitan isn't just fun to look at, it's fun to drive too." Owners of the cars reported that the "Metropolitan is a good thing in a small package".
Automotive industry veteran and the largest publisher of automotive books at the time, Floyd Clymer, took several Metropolitans through his tests. He "abused" a 1954 Metropolitan convertible and "got the surprise of my life" when its "performance was far better than I expected", that he "felt very safe in the car", and that "it may well be that Nash has started a new trend in American motoring. Perhaps the public is now getting ready to accept a small car". Clymer also took a 1957 Metropolitan hardtop through a grueling road test that even took him up Pikes Peak. He summed up his experience that "I can not praise the Metropolitan too highly. It is a fascinating little car to drive, its performance is far better than one would expect, and the ride is likewise more than expected".
According to Collectible Auto magazine, the car was described in Car Lifes review as "a big car in miniature" that was "fun to drive" and "ideal for a second car in the family," while Motor Trend was not alone in regarding the rear "utility" seat as "a joke".
Motor Trend praised the car's economy: its test Metropolitan returned: at , at , and "in traffic".
Mechanix Illustrated editor Tom McCahill wrote: "It is not a sports car by the weirdest torturing of the imagination but it is a fleet, sporty little bucket which should prove just what the doctor ordered for a second car, to be used either for a trip to the movies or for a fast run to a penicillin festival." He added that it was a "nice-handling car with plenty of control and amazing dig, considering it is powered by a small Austin A-40 engine" and that the finish was "very nice", although having no trunk opening except by pulling down the back of the rear seat "poses a problem". His test car accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in 19.3 seconds and could exceed .
A Road & Track road test recorded acceleration from 0–60 mph in 22.4 seconds, "almost half of the VW's 39.2". However, the magazine noted that at , a typical American cruising speed at the time, the Metropolitan was revving at 4300 rpm, which shortened engine life, whereas the Volkswagen could travel at the same speed at only 3000 rpm. Road & Tracks testers also said that the car had "more than its share of roll and wallow on corners" and there was "little seat-of-the-pants security when the rear end takes its time getting back in line".
Road Test magazine wrote in 1954 that "on roadability and responsive handling, the Met shines. It also offers easy maintenance and downright stinginess when it comes to gasoline consumption. Also, it's literally a brute for punishment. On several occasions I took familiar corners at speeds half again what I would dare to use in some cars of twice the weightproof that proper weight distribution, low center of gravity and well engineered suspension have more to do with roadability than massiveness, weight and long wheelbases. Admittedly, the short wheelbased Met does pitch moderately on very rough roads, but the sensitivity and ease of steering make driving a pleasure."
Production for U.S.
Series I
Production at Austin's Longbridge factory started in October 1953 (Commencing VIN1001). Nicknamed the "baby Nash", the cars were tiny compared to the standard domestic models at that time. They had an wheelbase, an overall length of , and a gross weight of for the convertible and for the hardtop, thus making the Metropolitan smaller than the Volkswagen Beetle. The two models, a convertible and a hardtop, were powered by the OHV straight-4 Austin 'A40' series engine (as used in the Austin A40 Devon/Dorset) driving the rear wheels through a three-speed manual transmission. The initial order was for 10,000 units, with the option for Nash to increase it if sales were sufficient.
The new car underwent rigorous testing at the Nash Proving Grounds, but the first assignment for newly hired Assistant Technical Advisor, Carl Chakmakian, was to conduct supervised testing to achieve advertising and sales training objectives. In December 1953, two new NKI-branded (serial numbers 1009 and 1013) were driven from their arrival port to the new Raleigh Speedway in North Carolina to conduct two days of speed endurance and fuel economy evaluation. The tests were run and certified by NASCAR officials that included Bill France. With two drivers from Shreveport, Louisiana, Roxy Dancey and Herschel Buchanan, one car finished the 24-hour endurance run achieving at an average speed of and overall. It had eleven pit stops to change drivers, add fuel and oil, and make tire changes because of the track's abrasive aggregate surface and fast corners. The car did not need any service or parts other than the tires. The second car was subjected to a non-stop 24-hour fuel economy test with drivers changing every three hours while the car was in motion, and refueling was also accomplished in motion three times by attaching a gas can to the side window drained into the car's tank. The car averaged .