Beep Beep! Nash Metropolitans That Are Not Waiting for the Crusher
One of the things that makes Murilee Martin’s Junkyard Find series so engaging is not just his fine writing and photography, it’s the elegiac nature of the subjects and their settings. As with any elegy it’s hard to come away without a sense of sadness, at what was and is no longer and at what could have been and never was. I was uploading some images for a post that I was writing and I noticed that Murilee was working on another Nash Metropolitan Junkyard Find. The “little Nash Rambler” is such a cheerful, happy looking car, one that never fails to bring a smile to faces of both their drivers and those who see those drivers motoring around in their Metropolitans, that they look particularly forlorn sitting waiting to get recycled into scrap steel. I thought that some of you might enjoy seeing some Metropolitans that are treasured, not trashed.
That 1960 Metropolitan that Murilee featured back in May was a very solid looking candidate for restoration, but the truth is that while the car may be cute and while the model may be collectible enough that you see them at car shows, they just aren’t very valuable.
Right now there are 15 Metropolitans for sale listed at Hemmings, and it looks like you can have your choice of restored stock ones for somewhere between $7,000 and $15,000. It’d probably cost you more than that to restore that solid ’60 in the junkyard.
Perhaps if the Metropolitans were really small, their owners might be enjoying the current microcar bubble, no pun intended. When Bruce Weiner sold off his museum of microcars recently, they fetched really serious (or really silly from a different perspective) money.
I suppose, though, that Nash Metropolitans are in a never never land. Not small enough to be a microcar and not as hip as an early Mini Cooper or Fiat 500. Still, like I said, you see them at car shows and their owners love them.
These Nash Metropolitans were shot at the Orphan Car Show held in Ypsilanti every fall. If you want to find out more about the little Anglo-American car, Aaron Severson does his usual comprehensive job looking at the history of the Nash Metropolitan over at Ate Up With Motor.
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.
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Love the Metropolitan for its quirky, weirdness and obvious hipster status. Always wondered if its use in Clueless when Christian, the hottie, hipster and 'metro' guy that Cher then finds out is gay, picks her up for a date, is the progenisis of the use of 'metrosexual'. Also I believe the car that Mr. Incredible crams himself into in the beginning of the Incredibles is an early model Nash Metro.
Good lord ~ Not Hipsters ! those damn kids (Imagine my tremulous Old Man's voice shaking if rage/frustration) ruin every damn thing they touch ! . Weird Al Yankovic drove his personal Metro in the movie ' UHF ' . BTW : one of The Playmates contacted our Met Club and said ' yes , of _COURSE_ the car in Beep Beep was a Metropolitan ! ~ "Little Nash Metropolitan " didn't have the right cadence ' . -Nate