Projects what to do with nash metros

Anybody here ever make a rod out of a nash metro? This chick I been hangin with has two of them in her backyard. I'm gonna help her restore one of them to drive (more like she's gonna help me), but I was thinking about makeing something different out of the other one, like a gasser or something, too short and squirelly for a race car, do they have a frame or are they unibody? (havent jacked em up and looked underneath yet) or ??? Just fishing for ideas. I know they're not very popular around here, but the price is right, and they weigh nothing... Any ideas/examples? I must do something with the other one....

 

This will likely offend someone but you sort of verify this with your post.

Most guys I know that have one, paint them pink and give them to their daughter.

 

make it a gasser

 

Hmmm... somehow I missed it when I ran a search the first time, but I ran it again and found there are already a few threads about this... sorry for the redundancy.

 

There was a instructor at the laramie wyotech chassis fab class that built one. He mini tubbed it and narrowed the rear end, i think the axle housing ended up being like 26 or 29 inches it was cool.

 

they make nice doorstops.

um, if you're going to build a gasser, that IS a race car.

if you want some kinda inspiration, try lookin for crosley bodied racers... seen some insane crazy cool shit built out of worse cars.

the orange one is a crosley panel/wagon. the sky is the limit man

 

85" wb was too short to be a Gasser....

CC

 

I know, what I meant was is it too short and squirelly for a racecar. inflection doesnt show up well in print

 

There was a guy who advertised Metropolitan Parts For Sale in Hemmings Motor News years ago. His ad always finished with "Largest stock of Metropolitan Parts in the Midlothian Texas Area". No kiddin'!

 

One of th ecoolest hot rods I've ever seen was some guy, just a few years ago, that built one for the street with a big block Chevy in it. Poor choice of engine for sure, but really nice car.

 

Too short and squirrelly -- no.

 

Cool pics, both Altereds.... what I should have said was the 85" wheelbase was below the minimum requirement for the gasser class..

CC

 

A guy we raced against had a cool one set up as a bracket car in the '70s. Small block Chevy, 'Glide, cage, fat/skinny tires. It was a neat little car.

They are certainly short enough to keep your attention while driving, but with some attention to detail will work well enough in a (sort of) straight line.

 

Saw a tubbed one at the roundup last year. I would be scared to drive it, but it looked mean as hell. And yeah, there was practically no axle left to speak of.

 

Heres one I saw on the 2007 power tour,

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0E5XuxNjA4</EMBED></OBJECT></EMBED>

 

I saw one last year at the NSRA in York , Pa . Had SBC in it with a blower and was street driven ! That car was just evil looking !

 

my wife has had for a while and we still don't know what we're going to do with it

 

Install the drive from a 10-speed bike and have the ultimate eco-friendly car.

 

possibly the best idea yet! Or, I could cut the floors out and go flintstone style

 

might be able to make it cool with a v-6 or hot 4 banger.

 

don't hang out too long because she might cause you to make a bad decision and you'll be letting her drive your sdn. del. when she figures out no matter what you do to those nashes they will never be as cool as the 53'.

 

The altered wheelbase racers are neat but they're race only, not even close to streetable, and the tubbed out ones look like early 90's holdovers, back when "Dare to be Different" meant "Dare to Pro-Street a Bodystyle that's never been Pro-Streeted Before".

There's a lot of guys in Europe who road race Austin Mini's and little tiny Fiats, you could set up a Metro that way, open up the fenders and put some Minilites on it, keep it low to the ground with stiff suspension, and power it with something high winding, like a Hayabusa engine in the trunk. Road race it on the weekends and drive it back and forth to work once in a while.

Wouldn't really be "traditional" but I don't think Metros were ever concidered custom fodder back in the day.

 

The engine is the very same 1500cc four that is in MGB's and they accept the very same mods. With the rear axle from an MG Midget, you have a more highway-friendly gearing and you can drive it safely and comfortably at 80 mph, all day long. I've seen Nissan and Toyota engines in these, too. Build it to suit you, race car, driver, or whatever - these are great little cars. There were over 100,000 built between 1954 and 1960, though they were sold up through 1962. PLUS, nearly 90% of ALL of the parts in a Metropolitan can be had new or repop! Top that with any other '50s car, other than a Tri-Five Chevy!

The largest Metro parts house anywhere is located in Hollywood, CA. They are very reasonably priced.

Neat Met web site - www.hoosiermets.com

 

Fill in the belt-line dippy-do and channel it. Here's a Photoshop for ya:



-James

 

I'm sure some of you guys in SoCal have already seen this one...The Metronator! It's a wild ride,but the guy's kind of a dick! He thinks his shit don't stink!!! If you have tried to ask him about his car,you know what I mean. He put a Top Fuel wing on it now....looks stupid!!!
He claims,1600lbs/1700hp!
It has a 5gal gastank,so it can go 2 miles...

 

He did not need a wing to make it look stupid...