Nash’s “Mini Me” for ’53

Princess Margaret received one as a wedding gift for her 1960 marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones, but it was stolen

by Rob Sass

The American automotive scene is littered with the tiny carcasses of small cars that U.S. manufacturers have tried to foist on a largely unwilling and disinterested market. American Bantam, Playboy, Crosley and Nash with the Metropolitan all tried, with varying degrees of success. But in the end, the American market’s love for large cars would always prove too strong.

But in the early 1950s, with the postwar import fad in full swing, the unconventional Nash-Kelvinator corporation believed there was a market for a small car that was backed by a well-known name and dealer network. Austin Motor Company in Birmingham, England, contracted to build the Metropolitan for Nash in what may have been the first “captive import” sold on a large scale by a major American manufacturer.

When production began for the 1953 model year, the car was known by the awkward moniker “NKI Custom” for “Nash-Kelvinator International.” This was quickly changed to...