View From The Porch: So cute you just want to pinch it.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

So cute you just want to pinch it.

Seen in a parking garage in Portland: a Nash Metropolitan. I snapped a photo because I can totally see my roomie with one of these funky little cars.

25 comments:

Bob said...: I'd love one, myself. Jimmy Buffett has one.; 8:10 AM, July 18, 2012
Woodman said...: I just saw a cherry red one in Pendleton Monday. Sweet looking little cars.

It would be nice if instead of making all the new cars fancier and fancier if we could just rebuild some classic machines and update them with new materials and engines.

When the new bug came out I was hoping it would be like the old one as far as simplicity and cheapness. Instead it's a complicated expensive toy.

I am not an engineer, so maybe it's just stupid talk.; 8:40 AM, July 18, 2012
Jim said...: My Dad had one of those.... bought his somewhere around 1965, drove it as his daily ride till about 1969. That's when he was a U.S. Navy Recruiter, working the downtown L.A. office, while living in Fullerton, CA.

Loved that the back of the miniscule, torturously uncomfortable rear seat would fold down, allowing access to the trunk.

And that the turn-signal switch was mounted atop the steering column, right behind the hub of the steering wheel. I used to be "in charge" of that switch, whenever I was along for the ride.

My Mom sure hated that car though. Wasn't the cause of their divorce, but I'm sure it helped things along, there.

Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX; 8:52 AM, July 18, 2012
Anonymous said...: Heh. Then there was the "Nasty Nash", with a Chrysler Hemi up front. Not exactly an econo-cruiser, but you didn't have to worry about lifting the front wheels when you hammered the gas pedal.; 9:25 AM, July 18, 2012
Kevin said...: Beep Beep, (The Nash Rambler Song); 9:47 AM, July 18, 2012
Kevin said...: Dammit, this version goes all the way to the punchline.; 9:50 AM, July 18, 2012
Anonymous said...: Do visit Powell's City of Books while in Portland. It's a city block square, multiple stories, packed with books. Also, no sales tax.

Try Voodoo Doughnuts as well.; 10:09 AM, July 18, 2012
Roberta X said...: Do want! (And I know how to get it out of second gear!); 10:09 AM, July 18, 2012
Drang said...: Woodman: They can't just reintroduce the old cars for the same reason that, for example, the Toyota Hilux cannot by imported to the USA, to many Federal and State environmental and safety requirements cannot be accommodated.; 10:46 AM, July 18, 2012
rickn8or said...: Drang, it's a shame about the Hi-Lux, if only for the commercials; 10:57 AM, July 18, 2012
Jim said...: This is your lucky day, Ms. Roberta. A pretty red and white '57 lives in a storage locker not a dozen miles from me. I watched my buddy B, the good gun dealer, buy it at auction a few weeks ago.

Timing is everything here. You'll want to close the deal after he fixes the transmission but before he decides to paint her camo. It could be a cash-free deal. Just toss old Colt revolvers on the pile until he smiles and says, "done."

Noting that the Metro is largely a Brit assembly, you'll be in your own in getting someone to follow you around to retrieve parts that fall off when you cross a painted line too fast.; 11:10 AM, July 18, 2012
davidc said...: I remember seeing one of those being driven around the small town in which I used to reside.; 12:24 PM, July 18, 2012
Roger said...: They had an MGA engine in them (BMC series B engine) but with only one carburettor. Not know as a powerhouse, but definitely different.; 12:52 PM, July 18, 2012
Kristophr said...: Expect those to go away.

The City of Portland had to start salting roads in the winter because caltards can't drive on snow without hitting things.

So all of those good condition old cars will start rusting away like they do in the rest of the northern states.; 2:31 PM, July 18, 2012
Nate said...: Positive ground electrical systems in those critters if my cranial activity recalls correctly. My dad wouldn't let my buy one in High School, but a buddy had one and we used to pile 5-6 guys in it for after school drive-in trips.

Can't turn them around in a 40 acre field either eith the front wheels skirted in like they are.; 2:49 PM, July 18, 2012
Will said...: My dad had a couple of them on his used car lot in '66-'67(?). I learned to drive stick in them, pretty much. The learning curve was steep, as his partner kept screwing with the shift linkage for some reason, so the shift pattern kept changing. Neat little cars. Built in Britain, but designed here. Unfortunately, they wanted an American big car feel to it, so the handling is not what you would expect from a little car.

Wish I had that summer's inventory now. Corvette Stingray w/327 4sp. Handful of Corvairs. '57 Chevy 2dr hardtop w/V8. '66 Mustang GT w/4spd. I was the attendant during that summer, just me and thirty-some cars to play with :D

If a buyer turned up, I'd call dad.; 2:51 PM, July 18, 2012
ajdshootist said...: During the sixties myself and a school friend were picked up and tranfered from one train station to another by his aunt in London who had one of those to use an expreshion from those days "would not pull the skin of a rice pudding" all the London cabs used it for target practise.; 4:29 PM, July 18, 2012
Stranger said...: Why would you want to get out of second in town? Tops was on the north side of 80 in second and the only thing you need low for is to start rolling on an uphill.

If you shift much below 60 it is a slug. Rev on out in 1st and 2nd and it can be fairly sprightly. About like an F-10 Datsun. Merging is interesting - but once you get there it will roll.

If you get one, lay a manual, a timing chain set, a can of water, and a wrench set in the trunk, because sooner rather than later you will need all of them.

Stranger; 5:56 PM, July 18, 2012
Jay G said...: I love the continental kit the most. It looks like it wants to be a Ford Fairlane when it grows up...

"Just like daddy!"; 7:43 PM, July 18, 2012
CGHill said...: The last few Mets to appear had trunks that actually opened like real car trunks.

A neighbor of mine, circa 1960, had one; I think it was a '57. He took me and another neighborhood kid for a ride once. I think this was the tool of Moloch that led my dad to trade off a perfectly good '54 Ranch Wagon for a Ford built in Britain, with half the space and one-third the engine.; 7:46 PM, July 18, 2012
Hank said...: Back in the early 60s, my youngest brother (long gone now, alas) referred to one of those things as it drove by as a "snot car".

So I can never think of it as anything else. Not that I've seen one in next to forever.; 8:53 PM, July 18, 2012
Old NFO said...: I only remember the fact that they had NO power, and it seemed like every bump something fell off... But they are 'cute'.; 9:53 PM, July 18, 2012
Gerry N. said...: The Metropolitan was the car that embodied the term "Piece of Shit."

I did own a '60 Rambler 2 door station wagon that I called my "Rolls Canardly." Rolls down one hill, can hardly make it up another.

Gerry N.; 11:25 PM, July 18, 2012
Secesh said...: I would love to have that body, but with a Corvette under it. The ultimate sleeper.; 12:33 AM, July 19, 2012
RollsCanardly said...: A friend put an injected Lincoln engine in a Nash Metropolitan, and ran it on Nitro. He said it handled like a 500 mph forklift.; 8:19 AM, July 19, 2012