Metropolitan Museum (full episode)

[@allanwhorrall5142]

Absolutely wonderful . Wish I could have one. I am 85 yrs old but remember when I was 16 yrs old and driving as a passenger in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia Canada. Thank You.

[@KennyClos]

Those are totally beautiful cars

[@mattcollier5957]

Great video, Jimmy is a legend, i have two of these here in England UK, love em as much as i do my 56 Olds Rocket 88, i would be in heaven if i visited The Metropolitan Pitstop, theres an owners club here in UK which im a member, most folk have never heard or seen one. Uneducated

[@palindromic7873]

Can remember as a kid in Cardiff seeing these unusual cars with the corrugated iron doors. Cool.

[@kennyscott1089]

Great little cars for sure but that bubble top is absolutely amazing. Some people’s imagination knows no bounds for sure.

[@mrdanforth3744]

Built by Austin for Nash, they used a version of the engine and power train used in a lot of BMC cars of the time. The Austin A engine was made from 1951 until 2000 in versions from 800cc to 1275cc and put into Austin, Morris Minor, MG Midget, small Riley, Wolseley, and the Austin Mini. Nissan even made them under license for their Datsun cars. After the first year they changed to the very similar but slightly larger B series Austin engine as used in the Austin A50 sedan. The B engine was equally versatile, being made from 1953 into the 1980s and used in as many different cars.

[@jjmac3561]

They use a B series engine, 1200 cc. Essentially the same block as the 1500cc and 1622cc, slightly different to the 1800cc in the MGB

[@grahamepigney8565]

@@jjmac3561 They used 1200 and 1500 cc B-series engines depending on year/model after the Series 1 (approx. 10,000 of which were built) which used the 1200cc A series.

[@saxongreen78]

Yes...Metro never used an A Series, which was a different block - the early 1200cc B Series was known simply as the 'A40 Engine' and was renamed the B Series due to production rationalisation after the formation of BMC.

[@chrisjohnson4165]

When I first saw one of these in England (very early 60s) my older brother told me it was amphibious...It would be a great car if it was converted to the aluminium V8 (Buick) engine from an MG V8.

[@feltongailey8987]

Art deco in motion! I love em!

[@Glendetta]

Great Video Thanks!!!! Metropolitans were truly a SUPER NIFTY automotive PIONEER - I loved them!!!!

[@vagarytv]

Great video! Super interesting. Hope to stop by the museum some day!

[@harvey1016]

Luv the jetsons metro.

[@trainliker100]

I see these at car shows occasionally and they are ALWAYS a big hit and well liked. (And when it comes to things like Mustangs, Corvettes, Tri-5 Chevys, Camaros, etc. I think "Once you've seen 500,000 of them, you've seen 'em all.") I suggest to people that if they want to get in to the "collector car" game a little, and have something to take to car shows and likely be the only one there with one, this can be a good choice. And they are also not terribly expensive.

[@saxongreen78]

A great happy-to-dollar ratio...and a practical daily.

[@alycekollmer1056]

I’m just blown away! Fantastic fun! Thank you, from Pennsylvania! Miss the Metropolitan shows in Macungie, Pa!♥️🌈

[@jafsietrade3780]

Metropolitans are ALWAYS in attendance at the Macungie car show every August at Macungie PA!

[@vintagevehicle]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@gregoryp2859]

I always wanted one of these when I was a teenager.

[@clarkgriswold5903]

Great video I enjoyed it, thanks!

[@rogerdodger5415]

Awesome!! Thank you very much!🙏🏼 I’ve always had an attraction to the Metro. I TOO would love to have one of these beauties!

[@ToyKingWonder]

An excellent video, Jimmy Valentine is a great interview and a great resource.

[@Al-thecarhistorian]

Lots of solid information. One small quibble: the Rambler American did come out in 1958. But only as a 2-door sedan. The station wagon version came out for the 1959 model year.

[@nygelmiller5293]

Funnily enough, I myself thought they should have made an estate car version, so there would have more useable space, and I thought the American styling would be suitable to be adapted. And I'm delighted to see that my idea has been realised in this version And that it also looks every bit as glamourous as I would have hoped!

[@berlynreed4253]

I have a friend that has a beautiful Metropolitan convertible!

[@izziesane]

This is the car i learned to drive in, my grandfather was a mechanic and had two convertables and a hardtop on his farm along with many others back in 1972, i was 12 then and he would gas it up and send me out into the field to have fun and stay out of his hair.

[@paulrubery1042]

I'm in England this is a very interesting bit of car history I remember seeing the odd metropolitan around in the late 60s and 70s always liked them because they are different and cool little cars PS also like the ones with V8s in that people have built 👍

[@bobspeller2225]

Great story of a special car, Thanks Bob

[@packingten]

These were really GREAT Cars,Dad worked @ a tool&die company that had a Nash station wagon I rode in it,I,was maybe 5 or 6,It had huge radio knobs...Dad loved the car.

[@hxxt8596]

I laughed at it when I first saw it , then looked at it ? It was a beauty , 35 to 40 mpg and could do 90 mph . After I rode in it , it was beautiful . Handled like a hot rod .

[@peterjeffery8495]

Honestly it looks like a car designed by a 1950's era children's book illustrator. Its small and round and cute and friendly looking.

[@duanezimmerman1586]

Fantastic !!! Thank You !!

[@51WCDodge]

In England these used be reffered to as Aero cars after the chocalate bar that is 'Full of Bubbles' . The bars have a distinct rounded shape as opposed to the ususal square.

[@garnerjazz58]

These vids would be better with less camera time on hosts discussing the cars and more time on the cars themselves. Don't mean to be critical, because this is a great series, but a little more camera time on the autos would be more engaging. Thanks for your effort.

[@vintagevehicle]

Thanks for your comment and we don't at all completely disagree. Most of these episodes were produced prior to youtube's existence for television and it was necessary to fill a 30 minute time slot. With just car shots we'd probably have 10 minutes of footage. We initially just uploaded short clips knowing the societal shift to short attention spans but are now uploading everything we produced as full episodes with the intent (as we always had) of educating younger people and non-car people about these cars so that they hopefully will not vanish in the future as time moves beyond the baby boomer generation.

[@WhittyPics]

There was one of these that lived down the street when I was a kid. I haven't seen one in years. I would say they are rate.

[@TheGearhead222]

Am amazed and impressed that these were as succesful as they were, back when the US market was dominated by V-8 " Lead Sleds"-John in Texas

[@rosalieschischka4999]

Great thank you I once owned a 54 Nash rambler here in N Z Ron

[@retiredammo4617]

I’ve never seen the wagon version. Love it! Enjoyed this video, became a new subscriber.

[@jliz6435]

Wow nice 🔥

[@smartysmarty1714]

It would have been nice to see the interior of the station wagon, especially how he gate functions. It seems like there's only a trap door type of thing below the glass, and that it really has no opening hatch...which would render it useless.

[@radioguy1620]

Great video , deserves more views. Friend of mine just restored one,

[@bethfarmer4142]

I’ve been there! Jimmy is gone, but his daughter June now runs the business.

[@stephensmith60]

Great little cars. My parents bought one of these in 1962, as a second car. I was about 9 years old. One day while my dad was coming home from downtown Chicago, a wheel came off, scaring the crap out of him. He then traded it off for a VW bug. These were good little commuters.

[@653j521]

When they didn't lose a wheel? :)

[@billhuffman4327]

I love Metro's. 35mpg

[@rjl110919581]

thank you

[@NickRatnieks]

BMC/Austin was given permission to make a right hand drive version which was then sold in the UK as the Austin Metropolitan. As a kid I can remember seeing the odd one about but it is likely most people bought BMC's Minis which were launched not long afterwards.

[@51WCDodge]

The Aero car. For thosenot English, a choclate bar F'ull of Bubbles' with a distinct round shape.

[@fluffybadger9832]

Less than 10,000 were made for the UK market.

[@robertphillips6296]

The Lois Lane character on the Superman Television show drove one. It was also on Starsky and Hutch.

[@ramblergarage]

Common myth. She drove a Rambler convertible.

[@mrknotthall]

I love the wagon 6:22

[@fk4515]

wonder if one of the boys that was getting tutored was Mitt? And thus we see the problem with AMC, they didn't have the money to adequately fund model development. We can say how unfortunate it was that they didn't build the Metropolitan wagon but the fact is the American was a profitable model for them and beat the competition to market. Point of interest International Harvester was a Chicago firm and not New York and the Metro Vans they were making had a BMC engine, probably pretty close to what the Metropolitan was using. Sitting here in 2018 we can armchair quarterback the "mistakes" made at both AMC and Studebaker Packard on what they could of done to get enough market share to be viable.

[@uhn100]

You forgot to mention they sold them in England as well

[@fluffybadger9832]

Total cars produced for the UK market was only about 9,300. My Uncle had one in the sixties, Turquoise/White.

[@uhn100]

@@fluffybadger9832 Yes not a lot but I remember seeing through the 60s and well into the 70s a friend of my dad had one two tone blue and cream looked great

[@robertklein9190]

Where's the Hemi powered one? He drove it at 45 mph, that was flat out! Who remembers going to Nash dealer in the 50's, or even seeing one, or even wanted to be seen in one.

[@davidkastin4240]

The station wagon is my favorite. Too bad they didn't have the hindsight to produce it. They are all fascinating 😊

[@653j521]

The woman losing control and crashing didn't bode well for handling.

[@auggie803]

@@653j521 -She was likely texting one of her girlfriends and then lost control.

[@servicarrider]

I have loved these cars since I saw my first on in fifth grade. Jay Lenos wife, Mavis, has one.

[@eottoe2001]

The Astra-Gnome looks like the car Robbie the Robot drove on Journey to the Forbidden Planet in 1956.

[@kevinlawrence2229]

Nothing to do with the ACTUAL Metropolitan Museum in NYC --- but rock on, car enthusiasts!

[@michaelszczys8316]

Craziest Nash Metropolitan I ever saw was one used as strip car all tubbed out with huge V8.

[@ritamoore8346]

I watched Soylent Green from the back seat of a Metropolitan at the drive-in movies.

[@johnpowell9156]

I used to have a '62 which was a fun little car but a little tail-wagger on wet days.

[@Ease54]

Richard Arbib's greatest accomplishment was dating Bettie Page in the mid 50's.

[@jonmolson7819]

Interesting side note 🤔

[@jafsietrade3780]

Really? The watches he helped design are worth endless thousands of dollars in todays collector market, not to mention the NYC buildings he designed, and the other concept show car he produced.

[@Ease54]

@@jafsietrade3780 No diss intended to Mr. Arbib, I love his work. But c'mon...Bettie Page?

[@dancahill8555]

There was a great episode of Topper featuring his Metropolitan convertible, where the car appeared to be driven by nobody (the ghost George Kirby drove) and then looked like the St. Bernard "Neil" drove it-- to the policeman who had told Topper he was illegally parked. The question is what the episode is known as.

[@mattcollier5957]

R.I.P Jimmy valentine

[@michaelmott8086]

Did the Metropolitan cars only seat 2 people?

[@fluffybadger9832]

Could get a couple of small kids in the back.

[@saxongreen78]

The wagon is gorgeous...they shoulda made it!

[@keithschwartz7318]

There is a man here in Pennsylvania who has a Metropolitan fire truck. In was used in a local drive in theater to give kids rides. In a fire, the seats folded up to get to the ladders and hoses.

[@jafsietrade3780]

Keith. What area of PA are you referring to? There were two fire trucks in the Allentown area. Was the one you remenber from Eastern or Western PA?

[@adoreslaurel]

Would love to know how they re engineered the 4 speed down to a 3 speed because in Australia we had a one off engine built no where else, it was a BMC 6 cylinder version of the "B" series 4 cylinder and the gear box was altered to make it a 3 speed with no synchro on first, however they gave it a "Dog" engagement so you could crunch back into first without gear damage, reason for the 4 down to 3 was they thought the engine would have had too much grunt for the 4 speed. The 1600 four then became a 2400 six.

[@donaldappelhof2059]

It’s kinda funny but I get more looks and thumbs up with my Met than someone with a 57 Chevy.

[@Nostrildomus]

* * * * * C O O L * * * * *

[@americanspirit8932]

One reason a bubble car never caught on was because the bubble would act like a greenhouse very very hot, and you would suffocate with the heat

[@cerealtiller]

The B.M.C. "B" Series Engine was never used to power the London Black Cab...the Cab used the B.M.C. "C" Engine in 2.2 0r 2.5 Litre capacity.....options were Petrol or Diesel. the Biggest "B" series Engine was 1800 cc ...the Metropolitan had either the 1.2 or 1.5 Engine.. the Metropolitan would have been a little more lively if fitted with the 1.8 litre Twin Carb. Engine which was used in the MGB later on.

[@saxongreen78]

Spot on. The end of production coincided with the development of the 1622cc version of the B Series in Australia...it was used in the Morris Elite, the MGA and various versions of the Farina cars and some commercials. Even that would have given it some more pep - but oddly enough, BMC didn't specify that engine in the Metro, nor in their popular Wolseley 1500 / Riley 1.5 which continued until 1965.

[@yuvegotmale]

I owned a body shop in the 70s thru th 2000s. I had customer that had a Met collection and he decided to do a re creation of a one of kind Met. It was for the Easter Parade in Manhattan. It was a convertible painted pink pearl with pink leather interior. The original does not exist so he re created all the name plates for it from original photos . I think Ann Southern was supposed to be in the car for the parade but I cant be certain on that. The car got done and won a lot of awards and peoples choice awards. The owner passed on and the last I heard two school teachers in Long Island have...or had it. Hemmings Motor news did a article on the car and I think they called it Pinky the Met. Not too long ago you could pull it up on line. I I also painted a Met that was a original taxi cab.....kinda hard to believe but it was a taxi at one time , but it was. I painted it tomato red....not sure where it is today.

[@bobbynelson2481]

Can you still get parts for them

[@chuckkottke]

The bubble top metropolitan is cool😎.

[@hermanvolkers1004]

Hard top looks like sunbeam alpine top

[@michaelmott8086]

How much does a Metropolitan car weigh, please?

[@jafsietrade3780]

1,800 lbs appx.

[@michaelmott8086]

@@jafsietrade3780 I would prefer a car that weighs at least 2,000 pounds. I would think that an 1,800-pound Metropolitan car, would tend to be blown all over our high-speed highways (over 60 MPH), by some big trucks passing them. Was the next smallest 1954 Nash car the Nash Rambler? How much did a '54 Rambler weigh, please?

[@OsbornTramain]

no way would the Met Wagon outsell the Rambler American Wagon of 58, the American Wagon was an instant hit and propelled AMC into third place in Brand Sales by 1960

[@donolbers9446]

Sherwin Williams acrylic lacquer always did that checking, while Dupont and PPG did not. A shame that so many lacquer jobs were done with Sherwin Williams, it gave acrylic lacquer a bad rep. Their companion line included NAPA's Martin Senour, and also Acme if memory serves correctly.

[@MikeMouradian]

My brother and his fiance' would drive me and my Baritone to Jr High in a metro. It was like a clown car unloading! In Detroit '64

[@whackadim2250]

Were all the Metro's standard shift? Were any automatic?

[@nygelmiller5293]

Don't think so.

[@lucwolf1]

Know so. No automatics. Three on the tree. The gear shift was very unusual. Reminded me of a human joint. The gear shift frequently came out of “ joint”, but it was a simple repair, but could leave you by the side of the road unexpectedly.

[@seadogharris2102]

My free-spirited Grandmother died leaving her Metropolitan under a tarp in her garage. Sadly, my Dad sold it "as is" to a collector.

[@653j521]

Is the door like that for a place to rest your arm?

[@stewartsmith1947]

The right and left doors are interchangeable ..

[@petercyr3508]

Should have panned through to show all the cars.

[@JustSomeGuyNotAnAlien]

It was all very interesting but that guy said, “Ahh” at least 1 in every sentence, in some sentences 4-5x.

[@michaelmiller9452]

Made by Hudson? No. It was badged as a Nash Metropolitan or Hudson Metropolitan, then just called Metropolitan when AMC dropped the Hudson and Nash names. It was a rebodied Austin A 50. The chassis was all Austin A 50 with a body based on early 1950's Nash styling.

[@wmrayburn7620]

Waaay Cool ! (Daddio)

[@mattskustomkreations]

I never realized these were 100% British-made.

[@shamrocm]

You had to remember to turn the radi off when you parked it. You might have a dead battery in the morning..

[@david-lt9wj]

I saw these babies in England in the fifties....they were colourful and desirable

[@urbanfalk4398]

no sound...

[@Tonetwisters]

Lois Lane.

[@raypalise4512]

and arrrrrr and arrrr arrr and arrrr

[@crispycade4444]

I can't believe we lost a one off piece of history because some dudes wife couldn't drive one of the eaaiest platforms to drive at the time. Holy hell woman

[@automatedelectronics6062]

George Mason had already established a relationship with Don Healey of Austin Motors BMC and that was where the Nash-Healey was born. So, when desiring a new small car , whom better to ask? Don Healey, ofcourse. A new car was designed in England with 100% unmistakably Nash styling of the time. inside and out. The new Metropolitan could be displayed alongside American Nash cars in a Nash showroom and nobody would suspect the Metro to be anything but an American car. Afterall there was the Crosley line. Marketing towards women, mistake they made was to not offer an automatic transmission. But, there was nothing suitable for a small car at the time. The Borg-Warner Type 35 was years in the future. A perfect replacement for the original Austin engine would be an MG 1800.

[@bluerider7922]

Lance: Stop talking with your hands. I'm getting dizzy! [and distracted]

[@marioflavin2141]

looks like a dodgem car

[@stebro2738]

intro bait of you talking to ? other owners / enthusiasts do not buy me in .. I'm here for the vehicles, secondarily for the owner / enthusiasts.. Please don't take me wrong, but I bet you visit a lot of shows , and maybe have even talked to Jay Leno... I have a lifelong friend who does that, & I don't have the time for his stories. I'm too busy doing !!

[@simonworman7898]

I remember these in the late fifties in Ontario ,they looked dumb,usually bought by a husband for his wife,when really she would have liked an MGA or a Tbird.. An embarsment if you were fresh over from the UK as my family was, Back in the uk only very suspect characters drove them. Really silliest motor ever!

[@mattcollier5957]

I have 3 here in England UK, i love em as i do my 56 Olds Holiday 88

[@jamesgrannes1782]

Lois Lane drove a Nash Metropolitan, a little bigger than this the smaller model.

[@jafsietrade3780]

No, no. The car used on the original Superman series used by Lois was a 51 Rambler convertible. No Metro until 1954

[@user-neo71665]

The station wagon should have been the car they made instead of the stupid no trunk model.

[@markaustin4370]

A second omg... Convert it to automatic transmission??? Is that so idiots that can't drive a stick can dive it?

[@rickst7735]

More likely because parade work is much harder with a stick, both on the mechanicals and the driver’s left leg. Automatics also tend to be smoother in stop and go driving.

[@Madridme3]

The hand waving is really silly. Looks like a TV news reader.

[@markaustin4370]

Cool cars but really?. Pin a far in a? Peena far eeeeena. You probably call them eye tal eye ans too.

[@Norbert1819]

A really good car.....but an amerikan woman couldn't use it? What a news! But it's normally, amerikan drivers can't use their cars correctly....;) It`s better to learn driving cars, before testing one. :D

[@beowulf5982]

And is better to learn to spell before posting a comment

[@Norbert1819]

@@beowulf5982, you are right, but I never learned the english language at school. Maybe I made some mistakes? I'm sorry.....

[@wymple09]

@@Norbert1819 Some people think Americanized English is all there should be. Don't let it bother you. I'm sure he doesn't speak any of your language, let alone correctly.

[@kansaskactusiijlk4986]

@@wymple09 & Norbert I'm American and I wasn't offered any foreign language when I was in school. Some small schools just don't have the teachers for it. As an older adult I now see that a low quality education is very much a form of oppression.

[@653j521]

@@Norbert1819 I would consider your ;) while going after Americans and women to be a mistake, but maybe there are only misogynistic British men posting here who don't notice that.

[@Wildkat-1]

One of the ugliest cars ever built...!

[@mattcollier5957]

I have 3 of these here in England UK, i love em, as i do my 56 Olds Holiday 88