CarBrandLogos archive · Nash · 1954

NashNash Metropolitan

Detroit's first small car, designed by market survey and built in Birmingham.

Photo: Davidjohnaustin at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in Nash history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Nash Metropolitan, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Nash did something unusual before committing to this car: it asked. William Flajole's tiny NXI show car was toured around the country in 1950 and visitors were invited to fill in questionnaires about what a small second car should be. The answers shaped the production version, making it one of the first American cars specified by consumer research rather than by instinct.

1958 Nash Metropolitan owned by Buffett · CZmarlin — Christopher Ziemnowicz, releases all rights but a photo credit would be appreciated if this image is used anywhere other than Wikipedia. Please leave a note at Wikipedia here. Thank you! · Public domain

1959 Metropolitan convertible by AMC red-and-white rear view

Design and engineering

Building it was the harder problem. No American plant could turn out something that small at a price that made sense, so Nash contracted the work to Austin, which assembled the whole car at Longbridge using BMC B-Series engines of 1200cc and later 1500cc. That made it an American-branded car built entirely in England, an arrangement almost nobody had tried.

1959 Metropolitan convertible by AMC red-and-white rear view · CZmarlin — Christopher Ziemnowicz — photo credit is requested if this image is used anywhere other than Wikipedia. Any questions? Ask me at my Wikipedia talk page here. If you use my image, please leave the URL to it, or a note describing where it is, on my Wikipedia talk page here. Thank you for using my free image! · Public domain

1961 Metropolitan convertible at 2012 Rockville l

In production

It sold through Nash and then Hudson dealers, and after those companies merged into American Motors it became a marque in its own right. Britain got it in 1957. Roughly 100,000 were built over eight years, which was modest by Detroit standards but healthy for a two-seat runabout with cartoon proportions and two-tone paint.

1961 Metropolitan convertible at 2012 Rockville l · CZmarlin — Christopher Ziemnowicz, releases all rights but a photo credit would be appreciated if this image is used anywhere other than Wikipedia. Please leave a note at Wikipedia here. Thank you! · CC0

Legacy

Its significance is in the timing. Years before the Falcon, the Corvair or the Volkswagen boom made small cars respectable in America, Nash was already selling one, and doing it as a captive import in a way the industry would copy repeatedly.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Engine

1200 cc BMC B-Series engine

Designer

William J. Flajole

Body

2-door hardtop

Technical specification

The Nash Metropolitan, in detail.

Production: October 1953–April 1961
Class: Economy car ; Subcompact car
Body style: 2-door hardtop ; 2-door convertible
Layout: FR layout
Engine: 1200 cc BMC B-Series engine; B-Series Inline-four engine; I4 ; 1500 cc BMC B-Series engine; B-Series I4
Transmission: 3-speed manual
Designer: William J. Flajole
Assembly: Longbridge plant, Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Manufacturer: Austin (BMC)