This Is Aston Martin's Smallest Car You've Never Heard Of

Aston Martin is one of Britain's best-known luxury car manufacturers and is responsible for gorgeous creations such as theDB11 Coupe. The brand has recently started venturing into the world of SUVs with theAston Martin DBX. One of its lesser-known endeavors was the Cygnet, a pocket-sized car based on the Scion iQ that started out life with a 97-horsepower four-cylinder but eventuallyhad a V8 shoehorned into its engine bay.

But the Cygnet wasn't Aston's first tiny car, and the automaker has another dirty little secret in its closet. It goes by the name of the Frazer-Tickford Metro, one is now up for sale.H&Hauctions is selling this rare example, and with only 26 of these interesting little machines ever produced, it is expected to reach between $47,230 and $60,725.

This interesting little hot hatch was exhibited at the Los Angeles Motor Show in 1982 and was ordered from Dutton-Forshaw Maidstone by Wendal 'Rick' Mc Bride, the man who named the wildDe Tomaso Pantera. Based on the Austin Metro, these cars were sent to the Aston Martin Tickford department for conversion into "Frazer-Tickford" examples. Only three were ever built for the American market.

The exterior features a Cairngorm Brown paint job and an impressive full wide body kit. At the front end sits four Marchal fog lights, and the car is emblazoned with enamel name badges. The exterior look is finished off by a sunroof and 5 1/2J alloy wheels. The interior features Saddle leather and Chocolate piped seats with Wilton carpets. The tiny 1.3-liter naturally-aspirated engine was tweaked by Aston Martin, and features a Weber twin-choke carburetor, a more aggressive camshaft, bigger valves, and a gas-flowed cylinder head. The total power output? A massive 80 horsepower. Aston Martin also fitted a handling pack for improved driving dynamics.