American Motors Corp. was no stranger to economy cars or building cars economically. The last of the independent car makers, AMC unleashed such notable small cars on consumers as the Gremlin by lopping off the trunk of a Hornet and Pacer by overinflating a Gremlin (just kidding!) and the Rambler before them. Even before the subcompact car category was defined, the idea of a very small car that could compete with the Volkswagen Beetle took shape in the minds of the Nash-Kelvinator bosses.
The result was the 1954 Nash Metropolitan, introduced in March of that year. The Metropolitan measured nearly a foot shorter than the VW Bug and was too narrow to fit on Nash’s Kenosha, Wis., assembly line, so a partnership was formed with some people that knew small cars: Austin of England, makers of the original Mini Cooper.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.