?

[mercrocker]

You have to remember these things were designed for septics. Quite why a nation paying pennies for petrol felt the need to own a so-called "economy" car (that actually delivered comparable fuel figures to a Chevrolet Six in real-world driving) is debatable but seeing the car in the full Nash line-up did at least make a little visual sense of the styling.

Nash/Rambler were in business largely because of the success of the Rambler - a slightly larger Metropolitan-looking model - and so it was logical to try another market segment that appeared to be being filled by the likes of Volkswagen and Austin themselves (the A40 Dorset/Devon were good sellers Stateside). Nash just could not invest in a new assembly line or the tooling etc, hence Fisher-Ludlow and Austin's involvement.

Longbridge generally were far from happy building the thing, certainly at production management level but they did well out of it and even managed to flog it on the home market which was never the plan. 8 years and 95,000 cars is not a bad turnout, I suppose....

[SiC]

I always think they look flipping horrible. Ungainly bathtub with some wheels chucked on.

[mercrocker]

Yes, it undeniably works better in larger scale....Pininfarina sculpted the details so we cannot entirely blame the Yanks.

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[cros]

4 speed box with only 3 working

How did that work? They didn't put all the cogs in that were originally designed in?

I guess they left out the non synchro 1st on the main shaft, wouldn't be worth doing a special layshaft so the corresponding teeth would still be there doing nothing. I think the early Healey 100 had a similar arrangement but with an overdrive so it wasn't miserable for cruising.
When Vaux Victor's got the option of 4 gears they made the box longer but it wouldn't have been worth doing the opposite for the low numbers of Metropolitans.
Apologies to Mr Guest, he already said all this but I failed to see it.

[59Impala]

Anorak fact, some early Metropolitans were badged as a Hudson so presumably sold through Hudson dealers. I was offered one for free but had to decline the kind offer as it was situated in small town Minnesota. I believe that the Met was the second best selling imported car in the US for a while.

Back in the late 70s I owned a turquoise and white '58 Chevy Belair 4-door, original import car thus RHD. I was returning home on the A2 into Sarf London when I saw a similarly hued Metropolitan bumbling along. Naturally I was obliged to draw alongside and exchange a cheery wave with the Met's driver before I hit the gas and the mighty 283ci V8 whisked me off into the distance at a speed that a Metropolitan owner could only dream about.

[mercrocker]

Aye, a Neapolitan driver couldn't even offer the usual small-car response of "see you at the first corner...." either.

I watched one die outside our local when I was 12. It came out of the car park where it should either have turned left or right. It kind of veered on a slight diagonal from 90 degrees to either of the correct directions, took out a Corsair and demolished one of those concrete bus shelters with one glazed wall and a curved cantilever roof.....

To be fair to the little bolide it did look like it could manage it again, the distorted front wings actually offering slightly more lock than the Nash designers gave it.....

[cros]

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ANUS Motorcycles, the most horrible, pathetic thing I've ever seen. American with Chinese bits.

[Hooli]

That does look like a fucking awful shed built pile of wank trying to pretend to be an old bike.

Still Eddie will like the headlight peak

[Eddie Honda]

GRRRRR!

[cros]

The above wanky bike has an Amish built frame. Apparently it's alright for these religious types to involve themselves in welding so long as the workshop is not connected to the electricity grid, so the welders are powered by a diesel generator.
The Amish don't allow themselves mobile phones or internet access either and presumably they wouldn't be allowed to try the bikes as I believe inflatable tyres are banned on some bonkers religious ground.