Shelly's 58 Nash Metropolitan Convertible

In 2004, we went to the Unique Little Car Show in Long Beach Ca. This was a show of Micro-Cars.  Technically, a micro-car has less than a 1000 cc engine and commonly have 2 cylinder engines and may have 3 wheels.  Both our Fiat 500 and Mini Cooper are technically Micro-Cars.   As we were walking into the show, a Nash Metropolitan car club pulled around the corner and one by one pulled into the parking lot just outside the show.  Shelly was mesmerized.  There was one car in particular that she was really fascinated with.  "Cupcake"!!  You see In most households a cupcake is a small cake baked in a muffin tin, usually topped with frosting.  In our house this word has completely lost this definition and now holds a completely new meaning.  The first car in the row was a pink Metropolitan convertible with a white bottom and white roof and the license plate on the car was "CUPCAKE".  The paint on this car had a blue metal fleck inside the pink paint which really made it sparkle and pop in the Southern California sun.  Ever since this day, the word "Cupcake" has had new meaning in our household. 

About a year and half later, while surfing around I came across an ad for a 58 nash metropolitan convertible on Ebay . The car was in the Phoenix, Arizona area, which was very convienient but the ad made an odd reference.  The seller indicated that the car was advertised elsewhere and that if it was sold from that ad he would end the Ebay auction early.  Shelly and I talked about the cute little car and she was excited especially after seeing the ebay pictures (below). 

Here are the pictures that I pulled from the Ebay auction.

We bid until we were the high bidder.  Then I started looking for the other ad.  The Phoenix area only has a few places for classified ads, and a Nash Metropolitan is really going to stand out.  Finally I checked CraigsList, and there it was.  I was beside myself.  I couldn't believe it.  I called Shelly, a little lost for breath, as the price on the ad on CraigsList was just a little above what the Ebay auction was at.  She was so excited.  I emailed the seller from the CraigsList ad and received the pictures below.  These show more of the condition the car was in.  They show some rust in the rocker panels but it could be a lot worse.  The floors look solid but the trunk has a hole in the far back against the rear panel.

Well we worked out the deal and were totally stoked.  These are the pictures we took of it when we were coming to pick up the little car. It was in better shape than I could have hoped for from the above pictures. While I was excited, Shelly was beside herself. I think she could already see her self cruising around giving the parade wave to all her friends as she pulled into work with the top down.
These are pictures shot when we came to pick up the car she was in good shape, but definetly showing the wear of the Arizona sun. The canvas roof was very brittle and the stitching holding in the rear windows had mostly given way.

The last picture is our new tow rig.  Not as sexy as Shelly's Lincoln, but can tug around a Metropolitan and haul our Great Dane with out a problem. Well despite a horrible storm on the way back to So. Cal, the only event on the drive home took place at a rest stop.  I jumped out of the Tahoe, and ran (trying to beat the storm) around the trailer to use the facilties.  I had just glanced up at the Met as I was really checking the straps to be sure they were still tight, when I stopped cold.  Car guys and girls will under stand this, You know when you see the vehicle you have been looking for (No dreaming about) sitting in somebodies side yard as you drive a different way home from work and it's been sitting there for A LONG time.  Or an example for the ladies, how about a Coach purse on the clearence rack!!!  So anyway, I'm stopped cold by the rear corner of the trailer.  I looked around to make sure the other things I could see made sense.  I slowly turned my head back to see a skeleton of a convertible top.  Now I knew the back windows might flap a little, but this thing was picked clean by the carnivorous wind scavangers, and left nothing but the bones.  I laughed so hard  as I rounded the back end of the car and came to the passenger side and had to fill my wife in on the hillarity of it all. 

The rest of the trip was uneventful and worked great.  Thanks to my neighbor Matt from El Cajon Cruisers for letting us borrow his trailer, and thanks to my family for a wonderful down in the spa in Tuscon.