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.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
The first family car I remember was a 1950 Ambassador Custom, purchased in July 1950. The *Upside down* Airflite was a dream. As a Matter of fact, I often slept in the back seat returning from late night visits to family and friends, lulled by the soft tones from the AM radio. That Ambassador didn’t need an eighth cylinder motor. MORE than once, Dad burned rubber. We kept it until November of 1959 with only routine maintenance keeping it running like a clock. We probably would have kept it longer, but without power steering and Mom’s shoulder arthritis getting worse, on November 22, it was traded for a meticulously maintained 55 DeSoto Firedome, fresh out of service as a family car at a local Funeral Home. Charlie Nash and George Mason KNEW how to build Great cars.
Must have been awkward getting the wheels off of it.
No worse than skirted rear wheels on other brands, you jack the car off the axle not the axle,
?????
They should have called it the Schnozzola and advertised it as ‘The Jimmy Durante of Cars’.
The statesman is definitely better proportioned, but that long snoot on the ambassador sure does make it look like it drove off the pages of a Dick Tracy or early Batman comic
I like the Ambassador better than the Statesman but I like your Dick Tracy and Batman comment even better.
Or “Duck Tracy”.
Looks too long to me but I drove my friend’s early Ambassador and found it had good power and steered okay .
-Nate
Cartoonish appearance aside, it’s understandable that frugal-centric Nash didn’t have the money, or even desire, to tool up a straight-eight for the Ambassador. To that end, you’d have thought they could have cut a deal with Packard (or maybe even Buick) to supply them with one for the long-nosed Ambassador.
I could even see it unfolding as an early version of the Pacer fiasco when AMC created a vehicle predicated on accepting GM’s Wankel engine, only to have GM upset the whole idea when they terminated the rotary engine project at the last second, and AMC had to scramble to get a conventional engine into the Pacer’s short engine bay, which went a long way to killing sales.
OTOH, the straight-eight’s days were certainly numbered in favor of the V8 configuration, so maybe it was all for the best.
Speaking of cartoonish appearance, some of these Nashs did some cameos in the 1950s Superman tv series.
https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_499929-Nash-Ambassador-5168-1951.html
The extra sheetmetal on the Ambassador could have hid a straight 8, surely. These cars are rarely seen at any point in my life either they didnt sell many here or they didnt survive, they do have a certain charm but I dont want one, rare and unusual cars are all very nice until something breaks that you cant get anywhere.
In snowy weather, the wheel wells would be hard to clear of “gunk”.
The Nash body styles of this period with the pontoon fenders are too cartoonish to me. Not ever having experienced driving one, it must be difficult to handle during hard braking or body roll when cornering.