Recent £20k restoration and only 2,500 fine weather miles since; Carcoon stored; wonderful condition; original number plate; one of fewer than 100 surviving in the UK; find a better one! At a time when most US car makers were hell bent on the ‘bigger is better’ philosophy, the bigwigs at the Nash Motor Company decided to branch out in the opposite direction and create a small, economical car aimed specifically at women and overseas markets.

Designed in Wisconsin by William J Flajole, the Metropolitan looked like a scaled-down Nash Ambassador and had a shorter wheelbase than the VW Beetle.To keep tooling costs down, production was farmed out to two British firms: Fisher & Ludlow would produce the bodywork while the Austin Motor Company would provide the mechanicals and undertake final assembly.

This was the first time that an American-designed car had been entirely built in Europe.

Two body styles were offered, a convertible and a hardtop coupe.

Power initially came from a 1,200cc A...