On The Road To Recovery

There has been a serious lack of blog posts for the Metiki of late. Sadly, the Metiki has been sitting parked waiting on repairs. Although I'm a serious car lover and possess much car knowledge, mechanics are not my strong suit. This is way beyond my very basic mechanical skills. Finding a good mechanic was my first hurdle. The last repair shop I used when I went to get the brakes done was very slow and charged an exorbitant price. I will not be using them again. Through some recommendations I found a new shop which specializes in the repair of British performance vehicles. Now the Metiki does not exactly fit these parameters. First, it's technically an 'American' car. Second, it is in no way, shape or form a 'performance' vehicle. Metropolitans were designed in the U.S but built in Birmingham, England at the Austin factory. It has mainly English parts; Austin engine, Lucas gauges, etc. It was sold in the U.S. under the Nash & Hudson brands. It is only 53 horsepower but again sports an 1500cc Austin engine. So my pick for a mechanic leans toward someone with experience working on similar vehicles.

So The Metiki made it's journey to the shop. Hopefully the repair time will be quick and I'll be back on the road next week. I'm very excited to get to drive it again. The cooler weather is here & car show, cruise-in season is in full swing.

I have such grand plans for this blog and places to go in The Metiki. However, mechanics seems to be working against me for the past year. I've barely been able to keep it running for more than a month or so. Considering the age of the car and the fact that most every engine part is original, I should not be surprised by the repairs needed.

I've owned the car for over 8 years now and have been debating about selling it. But I have such affection for this car, I could not bear to never drive it again. I grew up around classic cars. We always had two or three cars in the garage; '67 Corvette, '69 Camaro, Impala's of various years, '69 Coupe de Ville, the list could go on and on. The design and style of cars from the late 1950's has always fascinated me.During the 1980's when old cars were not cool, I was obsessed. I had pictures of Impala's on my wall next to posters of Duran Duran.  There were so many modern & space-age influences put into these pieces of machinery. You may never be an astronaut but you could feel like one driving a 1959 Impala. The impossibly long fins on these vehicles served no purpose. You would not go faster or drive smoother because your 1959 Cadillac but you would look cooler. I miss fins, chrome, pastel car colors and plaid interior.

I have decided not to sell the car for the moment. I will hopefully be up and running within the next week. I hope I still have a few readers of my silly little blog.