auguswiss1 posted this fine shot of a 1950 Nash Ambassador Custom, which was the top trim of the top model line of Nash at the time. I was really taken by this shot, because I’d forgotten just how long the front end of this Amby was. Looking it up confirmed it: the Ambassador had a 121″ wb vs. the 112″ of the Statesman. And that extra 9″ of wheelbase is all in the front end.
Here’s the Statesman, with the shorter front end. Realistically, it’s the better proportioned of the two. But long front ends convey status, and the extra price paid for an Ambassador better get one a bit of that.
And what was hiding under that long hood? A big straight eight? Hardly. Nash’s eight never made it into the Airflyte cars that arrived in 1949. Nash’s 234.8 cubic inch ohv six, rated at 115 hp. Well, that was at least adequate perhaps, especially in comparison to the Statesman, which had to do with the rather anemic 85 hp 184 cubic inch flathead six, a slightly larger version than the one used in the compact Rambler. And these weren’t exactly featherweight cars either; the Amby weighed some 3,500 lbs, and the smaller Statesman some 3,000. Those numbers weren’t too far off from what Studebakers weighed at the time, so it was par for the course. By 1953, the Ambassador six was up to 140 hp.
That long hood really deserved a straight eight.
And what was hiding under that long hood? A big straight eight? Hardly. Nash’s eight never made it into the Airflyte cars that arrived in 1947.
I think this body style debuted in ’49.
I know Studebaker was the “first by far with a postwar car” in ’47.
Oops; typo. Fixed.
These are definitely an acquired taste, as I in my “humble” opinion, think these are the freakin” ugliest cars ever made!!! There I said it..let the hate begin! 🙂
I hesitate to designate any one car the ugliest, but the bathtub Nashes are up there, as is the Nissan Juke. If cars were animals, the Juke would be a Tasmanian devil.
Lolol no offense taken its why I bought one only a mother can love her. She is so much so. I fell for her Mines named La’ Noir after the LA Noir films of the late 40’s and 50’s she appears as a star in them….
A straight 8? Why not a 12? Seems they could have taken 2 of the Sixes and made a nice 12 that would have fit, and could have compared the car to the V-12 Lincolns. Upmarketing at its finest…..
I thought you meant a straight-12. And with another foot in hood length on that Nash, it could have been done. But then the shape would have looked pretty weird. Only attempt at a “production” straight-12 I’m aware of: the 1936 Voisin.
Yes. The Nash I-12 hood is a bit longer. Park it next to a 6 and the difference is noticeable 🙂
Splendid. Always love you photoshops, Barry.
Just bolt two of those Nash sixes back to back, and presto: the Ambassador 12!
As long as it is a V-12 would be a tight fit plus the weight is 1500 lbs lol. I know I have another project that has a GMC V-12 aka twin six
To me, the long hood on the higher level Studebaker Commanders and Land Cruisers helped the proportions – the Champion looked stubby. On this Nash, the stretch doesn’t do it any favors and it is the smaller Statesman that looks right.
Much appreciated, Paul.
Funny how in the 70’s the major difference between a Matador and an Ambassador was an extended front clip.
Always has been that way with AMC since ’57. Ambassadors were always stretched from the firewall forward Ramblers, Rambler Classics, Rebels or Matadors except for ’63-4 when they were the same length, just a higher trim level.
As the all-steel bodies, which were significantly more expensive to tool, became the norm, therefore shared across series, lengthening ahead of the cowl also became the norm. It was a practical way to not only accommodate the longer eight cylinder engine but also create impressive length that appealed to the upmarket customer. Nash, as well as most all middle-price carmakers practiced this approach from the 1930’s into the 1950’s. AMC continued to do so into the 1970’s.
Studebaker, to their credit, with the introduction of the V8 for 1951 settled on one front-axle-to-cowl length through their 1966 end. The additional four inches added to their longer wheelbase Land Cruisers/President Classics sedans were inserted in the rear passenger compartment where the occupants could actually benefit.
“Note how the renderings in this ad exaggerate the size of the windows”
No ad is showing on my end, Paul.
Sometimes images I copy from the web are wacky, and don’t show consistently on all browsers. I’ve eliminated it.
Love these! In fact, I just started looking around a few days ago to purchase one. They are hard to find. The references to Studebaker in this post are interesting since I have a later model. Maybe Nash and Studebaker attracted the same customers?
Geigs, 55-56 sedans and wagons are just a couple of my favorite Studebaker models.
The 50 [ parents brought me home in a six year old sea foam green one, a 2 door with wrap around rear window ], 52, 53, Scotsman and the 59-60 Lark are the others.
Nice.
When I was very little we had an Airflyte Nash, I just barely remember it. It was followed by a new ’55 Studebaker Champion. So there’s one case for your theory!
PS: After the Stude my folks drove Fords for the next 25 years.
Nash and Studebaker were poles apart in their clientele. Studebaker buyers always marched to the beat of a different drummer. Their descendants buy SAABs and Subarus.
(Is SAAB still in production, or did they finally expire? – last I knew, GM was selling them to a Japanese buyer.)
Saab is dead.
To make a long and agonizing story short, in the wake of GM’s bankruptcy Saab was sold to Spyker (a small Dutch maker of hand-built boutique sports cars). Spyker managed to produce several thousand 2010 and 2011 Saabs before running out of money and going bankrupt.
The remains were then sold to a Chinese electric car company (NEVS) which lost the right to use the Saab name when they ran into funding problems and went through the (more or less) equivalent of a Chapter 11 restructuring. (The rights to the Saab name belong to the “Saab Group,” a defense and aerospace company which is the direct descendant of the original Svenska Aeroplan AB.)
Saab parts was not part of the bankruptcy and still exists today as Orio, which provides parts and support, and franchises official Saab service centers, for the existing Saabs still on the road.
Maybe this is the ad you wanted to post, Paul:
Or perhaps this one (two pages):
Weird cars what with the bulbous sides and enclosed front wheels, but the strangest part is the rear end. Hulking trunk lid with martian-eyes taillights.
If ever a car needed a rear view camera….the view from the interior rear view mirror must be almost worthless.
+1. The window needs to be lower down, and the trunk lid smaller. As it is, it’s more like a skylight.
I wonder if there was some trick or secret drivers back then used when they wanted to change lanes in this car? The back window points toward the sky; very similar to today’s cars where you can’t see a damn thing out the back without aid of a rear-view cam.
Interesting car, but it would make me nervous being able to see nothing when I wanted to change lanes.
Woah I never paid much attention to that backlight to realize how high and flat it was. So what’s worse, this or a 71-73 Mustang fastback?
Were the taillights mounted below the trunk lid, or on it? The latter would pose problems if you were carrying a big load with the trunk lid open.
Adding the 9″ of length to the passenger compartment would have been desirable, but tricky both technically and esthetically.
The taillights were on the trunk lid. Nash put an extra taillight inside the trunk so that the car could be driven safely at night with the trunk open.
Love these cars, the independents all had the most interesting designs during this period.
Are you sure the front overhang is longer? It looks like it in the pics you posted but I think it’s the angle. I found this pic of an Ambassador – in fact it may very well be the same car – in full side view and the front overhang looks no longer than the Statesman in the second photo.
Agreed. The front overhang appears to be the same.
I think the extra distance was between the wheels and the edges of the front doors, Ambassador was usually stretched this way. Must have made for a longer driveshaft too.
Why are the hoods on these things so high? It’s almost like the hood rises as it flows towards the front of the car – something to do with the engine config or the carbs perhaps? They would have looked much better if the hood had sloped down more and the back end wasn’t so bulbous.
Yes. The end of the wheel well to the front of the door is much longer than that of the Statesman.
Good point Frank, There is something about that era of car designs that has led me to feel that some hoods seem to rise from the cowl to the front ornament.
I drove a black 1955 Cadillac 4 door sedan (probably a Fleetwood – not sure) many years ago and it felt to me that the hood went up as viewed from the driver’s seat. That impression was not apparent in similar vintage (and light colored) Buicks, Chryslers, or Packards.
Maybe the shiny black paint or my unfamiliarity with the car created that illusion – or perhaps all the cars I had driven previously had hoods that descended to the front.
I agree with you in that the hood of the 1950 Nash Ambassador Custom seems to rise as it flows to the front. I’d like to see a driver’s POV photo (or actually sit in one) to see if that impression remains.
I love reading and learning about these old beauties, especially the rare and odd models.
Optical illusion. The hood on this car slopes down slightly from the cowl to the front.
I suspect an optical illusion from a hood that is too straight and does not slope downward towards the radiator the way we are used to seeing.
Also it’s about 50 feet long.
The extra length is spread between the front-door seam to the wheel well, and from the wheel well to the bumper. Without an I-8 under the hood, the extra length had to be prestige selling. Rambler did the same thing in 1965 with Roy Abernethy at the helm. There was a 4″ wheelbase stretch from the Classic to the Amby, if I remember rightly, and not one millimeter of it went into the passenger compartment – it all was forward of the firewall. I’ve owned or driven both Ambys and Classics of that year (Dad loved Nash and Rambler) and there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference that I could tell in their comparative interior dimensions. They both were comfy, but snug.
Now that’s an audacious ad, and maybe it worked, but DARING folks to drive any car seems counterproductive.
My father’s foster mother had a brother that always drove Nashes or Ramblers. He traded cars every 2 years so if he had one of these “bathtub” Nashes I never got to see it. But I do remember several different Ambassadors, and usually with every possible optional extra.
What a gorgeous Airflyte. Never saw one in two-tone blue, it really suits the car.
I like the longer Ambassador, even though I agree the Statesman is better balanced. What can I say.
There’s still a streak of madness in me that wants to build a long-range electric Airflyte, or as JPC dubbed it, an Electrolyte. The Ambassador is heavier, but that long nose gives it more room for batteries. All it takes is lots of time and lots of money.
IT’S STOLEN !!!
Double-take time scrolling down the page.
I wish that this idea of a stretched wheelbase ahead of the cowl would make a comeback. Packard used the concept with great results too. As referenced above, I would guess that the high hood, besides being the style of the day, helped to facilitate the oil bath air cleaner.
A sidelight to the Nashes of this era is the advertising by Ed Zern that I only recently learned about–I’m not sure if it’s ever been a CC topic. For a certain kind of (potential) postwar buyer, this would be a “hit,” but I can’t imagine the Big Three doing anything like this at the time: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BH1151-Vtg-Nash-Motors-Hunting-Fishing-From-Airflyte-To-Zern-1949-/371985059000?hash=item569c098cb8:g:9JwAAOSwDrNZRVoJ
The big Nash 6, iirc a 252 in later years, was an old design and must have been massively long for a 6. After the merger, the Hudson 308 fit in the Ambassador engine bay. I have measured a 308. The head is 30″ long. For comparison, a Packard 359 straight eight is 32 1/4″. The only mod needed for the 308 to fit was a switch to hydraulic lifters as the valve adjustment was unreachable in the Nash engine bay.
Hudson also differentiated the Hornet from the Wasp by using a longer front clip. I had at first assumed the 308 to be substantially shorter than the straight 8 the big step down Hudson was designed for, as the 262 in the Wasp had basically the same external dimensions as a 308. When I was at the Hudson museum in Shipshewana 3 years ago the hoods of the 54 Hornet and 53 Wasp were open, so I took a look. There was no surplus of room around the 308 in the Hornet. How did they get the engine to fit in the Wasp, with it’s 5″ shorter front clip? I took a look. They dished the firewall to fit around the back of the engine.
I have read that the skirted wheels were a particular fetish of George Mason’s. Romney started phasing them out as soon as he took over and the 57 Nashes had unskirted front wheels as well as getting rid of the chipmunk look by moving the headlights from the grill to the fenders.
Nash knew the 252 was not adequate by the mid 50s and contracted to use the Packard V8, which Packard would only sell to them in combination with the Ultramatic. The teething troubles of the Packard powertrain have been detailed elsewhere. I have a 1956 Nash sales training film. In the film, the narrator acknowledges the major problems Nash had with the Packard powertrain in 55, but assured the salesmen everything had been fixed. Then it gets weird. The film goes on that, if the salesman thinks the customer will go for an Ambassador with a 6, *don’t* try to sell him up to the V8 because the upcharge for the V8 was so high he’ll probably lose the sale.
btw, if anyone wants to check out the Hudson museum in Shipshewana, you better crack your shirttail. The owner of the collection, Eldon Hostetler died in early 2016. His will left the collection to the city. His wife died last month. Within a couple weeks of her death, the city announced they wanted to auction off the collection, with the auction tentatively scheduled for this September. I was there for a last visit Wednesday and spoke with the Hostetler’s son. He said a local group is trying to put together a proposal to keep the collection together. The collection is valued at over $4M, so I am not optimistic that a local group can raise that kind of money that fast.
It crossed my mind to bid on their 56 Hornet. They aren’t popular so would probably go for $10-$15K. Then hire a transporter to get it back to Motown…then see if I can loan it to the museum in Ypsi as they appear to have room so I could at least get free climate controlled storage.,.,,,but spending that kind of money that way would be one of my nuttier ideas.
Speaking of these early 1950s Nash. They also did some cameos in the tv series Superman with George Reeves.
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_499929-Nash-Ambassador-1951.html
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_499974-Nash-Ambassador-1951.html
Jay Leno did a vid on one of those a few years back…
Always had a soft spot for these Nashes, as my cousin, born in 1948, had a model of one which I played with at my Aunt’s.How it came to be in Luton I have no idea.
So, the engine was was a similar size and configuration but in a larger engine bay? Do we know if there was an intention to fit the straight 8 that didn’t come to pass?
Also, shades of the Morris Oxford and Isis.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/carshow-outtake-1956-morris-isis-not-a-london-bus-honest/
I had a 55 Isis yes similar method of lengthening all ahead of the firewall the Isis retained the smaller Oxford interior, I had a A90 Westminster too they were wider and longer than their lookalike A50 stable mate, Ive not seen one of these Ambassador in the metal Statemans yes the long one not from memory but stylish interesting cars from an era where there were different ideas in the market place.
The styling of these is exactly what everyone was predicting for the wonderful high tech future in around the World’s Fair GM Autorama days. By the time it actually came out it was already outdated. Everyone was moving on. And the skirted front wheels obviously made for a larger turning circle and narrower track. Nash started facelifting to reduce the now unfashionable one big blob look, but not enough. Even on their budget they could have and should have opened up the front wheels ASAP, and even gotten rid of the fastback at a much higher cost, which the eventually did anyway. The 1952 rebody kept the skirted front wheels and a less one big blob but still rounded look which was still too out of the mainstream. Just opening the front wheels on that one probably would have doubled sales although of course all the big 3 competition had V8’s by then (if only flatheads in Mercurys and Lincolns). I know a lot of people think BMW 6’s are awesome but particularly back when you could hear the engine the low rumble of a V8 is way cooler.
It seems like management was sort of conservative and progressive at the same time.
Oh well. Still an amazing car, and like Leno said a great collectible at a much more reasonable price than a lot of cars.
FWIU the boss of Nash was a fan of the skirted front wheels which is why they happened here, on the Ramblers and even the Metropolitan which should’ve had the narrowest possible turning radius as a USP (and could’ve, having been made from Austin parts they could’ve used the London Cab steering parts).
Yep. not until Mason died were the old solid skirts opened up. And I believe the front track was widened at the same time. And it happened in a fairly short time frame for the Rambler and Rambler American. In the Metropolitan they were halfway cut out but never a full one. To me the Metropolitan always looked the most dated AMC car in the late 50’s-early 60’s. The pictures below show the progression.
I’m not normally a fan of fender skirts but I think my sense of symmetry made the earlier fully skirted designs appealing to me, turning radius be damned. The Rambler in particular just looks so bland with the fronts opened up, in the “introducing the 1955 Car” sort of way.
I think these obviously inspired Bruce Willis’ flying Taxi in “The Fifth Element”. Cool.
My great uncle bought a car just like your featured one (except all black) brand new and then in 1958 or so gave it to my father who then badly needed something to drive. Never had my dad disliked a car so much! Yes, the rear window seemed nearly vertical and when my father had to back and fill just to complete a U-turn on our narrow street it wore thin on his patience. Those front fenders did seriously limit the angle of the wheels to turn as I recollect and visibility was poor looking out the front as well with the front fender edges being relatively low. Unlike his previous series 25 Packard touring sedan, which was relatively a piece of cake to drive. My brother and I did have fun with turning the Nash into a bed though. What killed that car was simply a problem with the gearshift crossover. My dad bought a hard salami with what the junkyard paid us. I remember offering my uncle some of the salami and his not being too happy about what had become of what had once been a prized possession. Somehow, I got the feeling that my dad was happy to get rid of it. He called that car the U-boat after the submarine of the same name.
Did the longer front clip make the engine significantly easier to work on?
I have a ’56 Ambassador, with a giant V8, but it’s a Packard engine that Nash “outsourced”.