Bangers & Cash
Series 14, episode 3: a Nash Metropolitan, a 1935 AC, an Ariel Atom and a Vectra
By Jon Cosson · Last checked
An independent guide from the village. Not connected to Mathewsons or the programme. For entries, bidding and the catalogue, go to mathewsons.co.uk. Checked 10 October 2026.
Episode 3 aired on U&Yesterday on Thursday 6 August 2026. In the broadcaster's words, Derek is in Cambridgeshire picking up a car built in Britain in the 1950s for the American market, the Nash Metropolitan. The episode title adds a 1935 AC, an Ariel Atom and a Vauxhall Vectra, about as wide a spread as the programme manages.
The cars
- Nash Metropolitan
- commissioned by Nash-Kelvinator of Detroit and built for it at Longbridge by Austin, with bodies from Fisher and Ludlow, from 1953 to 1961. American sales began in March 1954 and it went on sale in Britain, badged Austin, in 1957. About 95,000 were made; sources differ by a few dozen cars.
- 1935 AC
- AC of Thames Ditton built its sixteen horsepower cars through the 1930s round John Weller's two litre overhead-camshaft six, an engine that stayed in production from 1919 to 1963. Motor Sport tested the 16/80 Ace two-seater in 1937 at over 80 mph. Mathewsons catalogued this car as a drophead coupe.
- Ariel Atom
- the exoskeleton sports car built by Ariel in Crewkerne, Somerset. The Atom 3 of 2007 to 2018 used a two litre Honda Type R engine, 245 horsepower in a car weighing about 520 kilograms, and cost £29,750 new.
- Vauxhall Vectra
- the Cavalier's replacement, built from 1995 to 2008 and the last Vauxhall made at Luton. More than half a million were once on British roads; about 80,000 were left at the end of 2019.
What they made
Mathewsons' published results include a 1935 AC drophead coupe sold for £25,000 and a 2010 Ariel Atom sold for £27,500, both on 26 June 2025; each is the only car of its kind the firm has listed, so we take them to be the cars in this episode. Two 1958 Austin Metropolitans went through the saleroom in 2025, so we give no figure for the Metropolitan until we can tie one to the episode. No published result has been found for the Vectra.
Visit
The cars on Bangers & Cash are sold at Mathewsons' Pickering saleroom, and the Mathewsons museum and shop are in Thornton-le-Dale.
U&Yesterday episode pages and the Sky, TVmaze and TheTVDB listings for series 14; Mathewsons lot pages, read 10 October 2026; Air TV and UKTV announcements of 12 April 2019 and 31 July 2025. Car histories from manufacturer press material, owners' clubs, Grace's Guide, Motor Sport, Autocar, PistonHeads and Classic and Sports Car.