Contemporary Automobile Gallery and Event Venue Where
"The Automobile Is The Art"

The Steering Column
1961 Metropolitan – a Nash-ional Treasure!
 
Emerging from World War II, America was on the move and everyone was thinking big, well, most everyone. In 1953, Nash Motors was thinking small….very small…when it introduced the Metropolitan. Swimming upstream against the tide of Detroit’s “Bigger is Good and Enormous is Even Better” philosophy of the 50s, the Metropolitan was America’s first subcompact car nearly two decades before the subcompact category was even invented. Nash shrewdly recognized that one car families were quickly becoming two car families and focused on creating a miniature, affordable stablemate for the traditional family car.
The Metropolitan wasn’t just the first subcompact, it was also the very first car to be marketed exclusively to women.
Cute and cuddly, the Metropolitan was just one helping of mashed potatoes away from being too small for two people and the sliver that passes for a backseat is nearly non-existent. It measured all of 5’ wide and 12’ 4” long compared to a Cadillac which was 6 feet longer and a full foot and a half wider. Cute from tip to tail, the Metropolitan’s Continental Kit looks like the driver backed over beloved cartoon character Ziggy. Go ahead, take a good look and tell me I’m wrong.
To suggest the Metropolitan looks like a walk-in freezer from Sears isn’t as much of a stretch as you might think. Nash Motors merged with Kelvinator refrigerators in 1937 and remained married until AMC sold off Kelvinator in 1968. Conceived in America, designed in Italy by famed design studio Pininfarina and assembled in England, is it any wonder the Metropolitan has international appeal? At the time, Pininfarina refused to have its name associated with the Metropolitan fearing it would hurt its reputation. What a shame because the Metropolitan remains instantly recognizable all these decades later and highly collectible.
Make it a point to stop in and see us at The Automobile Gallery & Event Center where we have one of the rarest Metropolitans in the world on display. Ours is 1 of just 853 AMC Metropolitan Series IV models produced for the U.S. in 1961, the final year of production. If that isn’t music to your ears then take a listen to the 1958 million seller Beep Beep by the Playmates about a “Little Nash Rambler”. The song was a big hit and so is the car! 
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Founding Members
Sustaining Partners
Benefactors
Corporate Members
Sports Car Members
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Joyce-Lyn & Steve Altieri
Brent Baker
James Bednarowski
Christopher Boland
Ann & Steve Bradford
Kaleb Cieslewicz
Grant De Broux
Joe Griffiths & Family
Keith Obermiller & Family
Tom & Dawn Olejniczak
M2Logistics
Jeff & Cheryl Tyndall
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Contemporary Automobile Gallery and Event Venue Where
"The Automobile is the Art"
Gallery open 9:00am - 3:00pm daily, hours subject to change.

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