Who knew one town could have so many classics? Paul’s already shared his vast collection of sightings from Goldfield, Nevada and we’ve also featured photos from Cohort contributor/magnificent photographer, Curtis Perry. Now it’s my turn with these two Nash Supers, parked just off the main street through town.
I have to give credit to J.P. Cavanaugh and Instagram user roborated for identifying these cars as 1946-48 Nashes when I shared them on my @parkedinbnenyc Instagram account. I’d initially mistaken them for Buicks, having been thrown by the Super nameplate I hadn’t realized was also used by Nash.
How thoughtless of me to forget about these Nashes, widely regarded as the first mass-produced American automobiles to use unibody construction. With independent front suspension and coil springs all-round, these were quite innovative for an American car in the 1940s. Production of this generation of Nash commenced in 1941, pausing for World War II as all American automakers did. Production resumed after the war ended, the cars unchanged.
During the ’46-48 period, the Nash lineup was split into the 600 and Ambassador lines with both available in Super trim in 1948. The 600 was named for its ability to go 500-600 miles on a 20-gallon tank of gas, probably a strong selling point for an owner who lived in the middle of the desert in Goldfield.
Goldfield is a strange town. It was founded in 1902, named of course for nearby deposits of gold that had been discovered. Its population swelled to 20,000 by 1906 but once the mining opportunities dried up, most people left. Today, there are only a couple of hundred residents.
Although it’s not technically a ghost town, there seems to be more abandoned stuff than people – it’s not unusual to stumble across old relics like subway entrances from an unknown city, monolithic abandoned schools, or seventy-year-old cars, all just steps from the main street.
I knew Goldfield would have some old iron worth photographing and the town didn’t disappoint. These Nashes were a highlight, as was the delicious meal I had at The Dinky Diner just across the parking lot (it involved sausage and country gravy).
One is a fastback (“Slipstream” in Nash parlance) while the other is a “Trunk Sedan”. As to whether they’re 600s or Ambassadors, I’m afraid I wouldn’t know without a tape measure – although the Ambassador used a 121-inch wheelbase (instead of 112 inches), exterior styling was otherwise identical with the same grille and chrome trim. That can’t have helped sales of the Ambassador considering its base MSRP was almost $400 more than the base 600. Fortunately, there was at least a larger engine, a 112-hp 234 cubic-inch inline six instead of an 82-hp 172 cubic-inch six.
The presence of Super badging and chrome side mouldings on the trunk sedan is puzzling as I was under the impression the ’48 lost said mouldings while gaining the Super nameplate.
The Nash nameplate was lost to history just a decade later and the marque has long since been forgotten by many. How fitting, then, to find two rusty survivors in a mostly abandoned town in the middle of the desert.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1947 Nash Super 600 – A Unibody Pioneer
Curbside Classic: 1950 Hudson Pacemaker – For Best Results, Use Daily
Curbside Classic: 1954 Kaiser Special Club Sedan – Some First Car!
Thanks for this posting. When I was a (young) child, my parents had a 1948 Ambassador that they purchased new. My Dad always praised it’s overdrive, an allegiance he passed on to me. Those Ambassadors had the unibody of the Nash 600 placed on a frame, sort of a “belt and suspenders” approach.
I believe the trunk sedan is an Ambassador, and the fastback is a 600, the point of difference being the lower wheel cutout in the rear fender of the 600.
I agree with Stumack, who beat me to it.
I do love these early poswar Nashes, probably much more than I do the Airflytes. The 600 and Ambassador were an interesting attempt to blanket the market. “Presenting the Nash Six. And the bigger Nash Six.”
Let us not forget the 47 Ambassador’s claim to fame as the pace car for the 1947 Indianapolis 500.
I will forever associate Goldfield with the Dodge Challenger, thanks to the movie “Vanishing Point”, but these Nashes fit in well too.
I like these, in high school art class I had to scale up a photo as a pencil drawn poster, I did a picture from Rod & Custom of a 48 Nash Gasser. Turned out well, and hung on the wall in the basement for many years.
These two Nashes were recently dragged from somewhere else, they aren’t in the Google SV shots until 2018. Amazing how you can look that up 🙂
Simply amazing how “ancients” like these accumulate just like tumble weeds blowing in with the wind. I was in Goldfield in May 2018 driving through with the 914 and there was only the forlorn Nash Ambassador Super sedan sitting alone, by itself with the 914 in the background..
Now as a companion to the Super Sedan, a Nash Fastback, The SlipStream, has seemingly appeared out of the desert air accompanied with fenders and other extraneous body sheet metal and with the miraculous appearance of the six cylinder engine block. Maybe the cylinder head, and who knows what else will blow in with the next desert storm.
Who knows what the next passerby will find traveling through Goldfield. Ah, the mysteries of the West.
Even at its advanced age, that Ambassador was evidently able to breed. But there appear to be some serious DNA issues.
Yup, but I can’t listen to this without thinking of the Muppet Show. This one had our family in stitches back in the 70’s
What happened to the roof of the lighter one and how?
Rollover accident on a quick, hard turn onto the desert sands after a night out at the local bar. The boys rocked it back on its wheels and drove home, Used to happen a lot.
The telltale for which model is the length of the front fender behind the wheelhouse to the door. The short is the 600, the longer the Ambassador which is the trunk sedan here.
AMC came by the practice of longer front clips for upper series models by family tradition.
Pic of the solitary Nash, 914 in the background.
Solitary Nash Ambassador Super Sedan, May 8, 2018, Goldfield, NV. (14 in background.
Solitary Nash Ambassador Super Sedan, Goldfield NV, May 8, 2018
Apparently no luck in posting the pic of the solitary Nash Ambassador Super Sedan with the 914 in the background. Bad Karma, or my luck blew out with a desert wind storm after depositing the Nash Fastback, engine block, and the miscellaneous body sheet metal since May 8, 2018. Whew, maybe I need to find an open saloon in Goldfield to ask for help. Hey Bartender Paul any ideas?
Because the 914 broke down on the way to Las Vegas maybe we should have dragged its sorry carcass back to Goldfield to lie next to both of these fine Nash specimens. Oh well.
Sorry Guys for my ineptness, or a CC server glitch.
What happens in Goldfield stays in Goldfield, Vic. 🙂
Amen
The 48 nash ambassador was the first car i ever road in ,home from the hospital .
My dad bought it new in 1948 and he sold it in ’59
A nursery here in colts neck n j has a nash 600 on display during the summer months
It was in fact called a 600 because it could go 600 miles an a tank of gas
Fun pics!
There were some differences between the 600 and the senior Nashes: The 600 (the smaller car with the crumpled roof) did have a unit body, but the larger Ambassador was conventional body-on-frame. Also, the Ambassador six was an ohv unit, while the 600 was a flathead. After the introduction of the fully postwar Airflyte all Nashes would be unibody, though they continued to offer a choice of L-head and ohv sixes.
The solitary Nash Ambassador Super Sedan patiently waiting alone for its near future arrival of its playmate Nash Fastback, sheetmetal body parts, and the tumble weed like engine block missing from this earlier photo taken on May 8, 2018.
21 comments in, and no one else has gotten excited by the mention of the Dinky Diner’s sausage and Country gravy. As much as I like those old Nashes, I’m just thinking of biscuits and gravy now.