1954 NASH METROPOLITAN 
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When I was but a wee lad I liked to watch the TV show Superman. In the early 1950s black and white episodes Lois Lane drove a NASH Rambler Convertible. I thought it was really cool. Somehow I got to thinking that a NASH Metropolitan was the same thing. In the early 1980s I started looking in the Sunday Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper Collector Car section on a regular basis. One February Sunday I found my 1954 Metropolitan Hardtop #2096, as I remember. I checked it out in a snow bank and towed it home behind Pete Jauhola’s burgundy van. It had been painted red, white and blue, presumably for the bi-centennial in 1976. I got the thing running and drove it to a number of club events in the mid 1980s. Eventually, other classic cars took my attention and the Metropolitan languished from about 1992 – 2002. |
BY 2002 the 1951 NASH Rambler Deliveryman project was mostly done and it was the 1954 NASH Metropolitan’s turn to be restored. As usual the project became more than I bargained for. It turns out that in eight short years of existence Metropolitans had four engines, two at 1200cc and two at 1500cc, four transmissions, five rear-ends, two brake systems. I got to learn all of the things you have to change to get a 1500cc Series A engine to work in an early 1954 Metropolitan that came with a 1200cc Series A engine. My Met came with a 1500cc engine that was poorly cobbled to an early NKI transmission. It was but one of the reasons my Met never ran quite right. |
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