Like many of its British Contemporaries
The Met’s 50-inch-wide front seat may have been fine for two friendly grownups but was no fit place for three. On the other hand, two adults were more comfortable in front than might be expected. Nor was there much space for luggage or — more tellingly for a “suburbocar” — packages. And Motor Trend was not alone in finding the little utility seat “a joke.” At best, it was habitable for two small children on a short ride. And what little space the Met had was accessible only through a lockable hatch that doubled as a backrest for that utility seat.
The revised Series 56 1500 (the original Met was officially Series 54) incorporated a number of welcome improvements. Fuel consumption stayed about the same, ranging from 25 to 35 miles per U.S. There was also a longer-striding final drive ratio, 4.22 versus 4.625:1, which contributed to quieter operation and probably longer engine life as well. To cope with the increased power, a larger eight-inch-diameter clutch was specified, as was a different transmission. Not least of these was substitution of the Austin A-50 engine, whose 0.3-inch larger bore upped displacement to 1,500 cubic centimeters (90.9 cubic inches) and horsepower to 52. This 24 percent increase was enough to lower 0-60-mph sprints from the high to low 20-second range.
He failed to stir much interest until he went to Nash-Kelvinator, where Mason sat up and took notice. Altogether, some 235,000 people saw the NXI, and no less than 90 percent said they liked it. The result, dubbed NXI for Nash Experimental International, was sent on a cross-country tour in 1950 and paraded before specially invited audiences in key cities. Nash nevertheless approached the idea with all due caution, perhaps because Flajole’s car was as small as the fast-failing Crosley. Romney was on hand at each stop to gauge reaction. So did his assistant, George Romney. First, a running prototype was constructed around the chassis and 500-cubic-centimeter engine from the little Italian-built Fiat Topolino (mouse).
Hindsight suggests several reasons. The three-speed transmission was an obvious performance handicap. For all intents and purposes, the Met was a two-seater, but it wasn’t a sports car, as Motor Trend writer Walt Woron observed. A couple of prototype station wagons were built during 1960, handsome little machines that might comfortably carry four adults. But a wagon never reached production, and that was likely a mistake. If you liked this article and you also would like to receive more info regarding What are the release dates for Designed to Sell – 2004 Downsizing to a Condo? please visit the web site. Limited seating capacity was a big drawback.
Not that there hadn’t been attempts at getting Americans to think small. So when George Walter Mason, the burly cigar-chomping president of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, decided to market what would ultimately be called a “subcompact,” he seemed headed down a well-worn path to nowhere. Cincinnati appliance magnate Powel Crosley, Jr., gave it a shot with a two-cylinder minicar in 1939, followed by a larger, more “adult” four-banger after World War II. But apart from 1946-1948, when a public deprived of cars by four long years of war literally lined up to buy anything on wheels, the little Crosley didn’t sell either. The Depression spawned the tiny American Austin and its somewhat more stylish successor, the American Bantam, but they, too, were hardly rousing sellers. There was the “cyclecar” craze around the time of World War I, though it didn’t last long.
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