Lot Ended
Description
Recent £20k restoration and only 2,500 fine weather miles
since; Carcoon stored; wonderful condition; original number plate; one of
fewer than 100 surviving in the UK; find a better one!
At a time when
most US car makers were hell bent on the ‘bigger is better’ philosophy, the
bigwigs at the Nash Motor Company decided to branch out in the opposite
direction and create a small, economical car aimed specifically at women and
overseas markets. Designed in Wisconsin by William J Flajole, the Metropolitan
looked like a scaled-down Nash Ambassador and had a shorter wheelbase than the
VW Beetle.
To keep tooling costs down, production
was farmed out to two British firms: Fisher & Ludlow would produce the
bodywork while the Austin Motor Company would provide the mechanicals and
undertake final assembly. This was the first time that an American-designed car
had been entirely built in Europe. Two body styles were offered, a
convertible and a hardtop coupe. Power initially came from a 1,200cc Austin A40
engine driving through a three-speed column-change gearbox.
The Metropolitan went through four series between 1953 and 1962 and
some 95,000 were built in total, only around 9,400 of them for the UK market
with the rest going back to America and Canada – somewhat ironic as it was meant
to be an export model.
This particular car is a
Series 3, easily distinguished by two-tone paint, houndstooth cloth interior and
larger 1,500cc B-Series engine which produced 47bhp and gave the Nash a top
speed of 76mph. It does not have a boot lid, a luxury that was introduced for
the Series 4 of 1959, so luggage has to be stowed by folding the rear seats
forward.
First registered in London in July
1957, it has no early history but from 1986 – 2009 it was owned by a Club
member, Mr D Illing of Buckingham, before moving to Jersey where it remained
until 2014. Our vendor, also a Club member, acquired the car in February 2016 at
which point it had 15k miles on the clock, although whether this was genuine is
impossible to say.
His first
ever car had been a Metropolitan and he immediately set about a meticulous
restoration to bring it up to showroom condition, a quick tot-up of the bills
showing that some £20,000 has been spent on the car during the current 10-year
ownership.
The bodywork was stripped to bare
metal and repaired as required before being repainted in black over white. A new
wiring loom was also fitted, the window frames were rechromed and the interior
was retrimmed, all this work being carried out by ABB Coachcraft of Halesowen at
a cost of £8,900.
The engine was fully rebuilt
with new pistons, bearings, reground crank etc, along with the cylinder head
which was also converted to run on unleaded fuel.
Other work includes: full brake system overhaul; suspension
overhauled with new shocks all round; new windscreen; new weather seals;
reconditioned wiper motor; reconditioned starter motor; electronic ignition;
spin-on oil filter conversion; Facet fuel pump; new tyres; new hood and tonneau
cover.
A host of new trim parts were sourced
from America – hub caps; radiator grille; tail lamp bezels; door handles; sill
plates; stainless steel side mouldings etc. An original radio was also sourced
from California, cleverly integrated into the centre of the dash, which cost
over $1,000 including conversion to AM/FM to make it suitable for use in UK.
Since the restoration was completed the car has
only covered some 2,500 fine weather miles, as shown by old MOTs on file. The
last test was in October 2023 when it passed with no advisories and it has only
covered 300 miles since. When not in use it has always been kept inside a
Carcoon in a nice dry barn.
As you can see in the
photos, this Nash is in super condition throughout and has been starting
promptly and running sweetly as we have moved it around on site. The restoration
was a labour of love and it is only reluctantly for sale due to the advancing
years and declining health of the owner.
The icing on the cake is the
original London-issue number plate, TYU 152, which is transferable and doubtless
has a value of its own.
It is believed that
fewer than 100 Nash Metropolitan Convertibles still survive in the UK today and
you would be hard-pressed to find a better example than
this.
Consigned by James Dennison – 07970
309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com