Keeping old Nash Metropolitans running

LOS ANGELES -- Back when minicars were decidedly uncool, the Nash Metropolitan served as a tiny counterpoint to the road beasts of the 1950s, even though it looked more at home in a carnival than on a street.

Given the Metropolitan's odd but lovable looks, it seems only natural that the American-badged, British-built two-seater would develop a cult following.

And at least one entrepreneurial family has made a business of restoring and selling parts for a car that hasn't been made in 51 years.

The Metropolitan Pit Stop, a storefront on a busy boulevard in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, is one of many specialty shops around the country that cater to owners of long-dead brands.

There is the Fiero Store online for owners of Pontiac Fiero sport cars from the 1980s, based in Manchester, Conn. Or South Bend fanatics can visit Studebakers West, a Redwood City, Calif., repair shop that stocks more than 20,000 parts just for the brand that brought the world models such as the "bullet-nose" Champion in 1950 and Raymond Loewy-designed Avanti in the 1960s.

But the Metropolitan Pit Stop is different. It isn't just a place to get a Nash Metropolitan fixed. Rather, it's a temple devoted to the minicar, complete with a mini-museum crammed with prototypes and rare models.

Metropolitan Pit Stop's president, June Valentine, says business has steadily built over the past decade, serving a legion of faithful owners of the minicar.

Just how many Mets are left isn't clear. About 100,000 were built in England by the makers of the Austin sports car. The 42-horsepower cars (later upped to 52 horsepower) were imported by Nash, which merged later with Hudson to become American Motors, the automaker that was eventually bought by Chrysler. The original Mets were sold under both the Nash and Hudson names.

Far from being a smash sales hit, the Met found its parking spot in a corner of automotive history because it was quirky and cute in an era of big sedans with ever-expanding tail fins.

The Met was cheap and easy to park, and a forerunner of city cars of today, such as the Smart ForTwo and Scion iQ.

Nash Metropolitans now are worth from $4,000 in rough but driveable condition to $21,400 in top shape, according to the latest Hagerty Price Guide, which tracks auction prices of collectible cars. In January, a fully restored 1955 "Caribbean green" convertible fetched $50,600 at the big Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Ariz.

And Valentine says the car is catching on with younger car collectors.

Hobby becomes a business

The Metropolitan Pit Stop got its start in 1975 when Jimmy Valentine, her dad, turned his affection for Mets into a business. The watershed moment came when he bought 5,000 taillights to sell as a service to other owners who were having trouble finding replacements.

"We thought he was crazy," daughter June recalls.

The Metropolitan parts soon started stacking up, first at home, then at the recording studio that had been his business for many years. Word spread among Met owners about Jimmy Valentine's parts operation, and some started offering to sell him rare versions of the vehicle at prices he decided he couldn't refuse.

Some were truly rare. A 1956 Met station wagon concept that never went into production? He got it. A red Met pulling a hook-and-ladder fire truck trailer? It's there in the museum now.