Feller Nash, Brunswick, NJ.
The 1950 models have arrived at Havekost Nash, ME.
The rare Nash Healey, at P.K. Williams Nash in Austin, TX.
Renbarger Motors, Walla Walla, WA.
Ken Mar Oldsmobile-Rambler, Ridgway, PA.
Friedman Rambler, Utica, NY.
Tom Bush Rambler, Carlsbad, NM.
Glenn Burdick Rambler, Cicero, NY.
Patten Rambler, Chattanooga, TN.
The 1966 models have arrived at Larry Brink L/M-Rambler facilities in Mill Valley, CA.
’69 Ambassador in the showroom.
Here’s hoping the USAF airman could have actually afforded and bought the Nash Healey he is sitting in. At the pay scale back then, I doubt it.
But it’s always nice to imagine!
Apparently, he did actually buy it.
The article mentions that the dealer had already promised to use the car to lead the Texas State Fair parade – apparently Sen. Lyndon Johnson was the guest of honor and rode in the Nash Healey. I’d love to know if Sgt. Baty drove it in the parade too.
Amazing find!
Let’s say the airman enlisted in 1940. From the 1955 pay scale, an E6 with 14-15 years received $249.60/mo = $2,995.20/yr. If the car cost $6150 + tax/insurance, there must have been a real good credit union on base. Most likely someone helped him out.
You can bet there were a lot of fly boys on base envious of his sporty Nash Healey
I a bit perplexed by this – I looked into Sgt. Baty’s background as much as I could, and I didn’t find anything suggesting an affluent background for either him or his wife. Sgt. Baty grew up on a farm in Missouri; his wife was an Austin native who worked as a nurse.
It’s entirely possible that they came across some unexpected money and splurged on an expensive car… that’s the most likely way I can see them affording this car. I sure hope they enjoyed it!
I can only ever dream of owning such a fine Automobile .
Laughing at the oil drip pan underneath the new Nash Metropolitan F.H.C., I reduced mine to the occasional drip or drop but there’s no stopping an English car from marking it’s spot .
-Nate
Could this have been concocted as dealership advertisement?
Looks like Tom Bush Rambler needs a visit from the local fire squad, or to hunker down ahead of the tornado…
My thoughts exactly. Looks like a huge tornado behind it. Or, could it be a sign of the times to come for Rambler/Nash? That dark cloud hovering over them?
Looks more like a dust storm.
We know “Ken Mar Olds Rambler”, has “one” of each. The wagon in “Mill Valley, CA” photo’s well.
Bottom Photo:
Note the cutout of the chauffeur behind the ’69 Ambassador.
Part of AMC marketing was to demonstrate how luxurious the Ambassador was with the offer of a chauffeur driven ride.
IIRC, the Ambassador was the first domestic car that came standard with A/C. Also, Robert De Niro was in a commercial trying to convince his mother how affordable the Ambassador was.
Lots of AMC history here!!
I think I might have asked this before, but from my recollection, when Nash and Hudson merged, the corporation was called American Motors, but the dealers’ signs said “Rambler”. Somewhere around 1968 or 1969, the dealerships were re-branded as “American Motors” or “AMC” dealers.
So I’m not sure if the final photo of the 1969 Ambassador was shot at a Rambler dealer or an AMC dealer.
So I’m not sure if the final photo of the 1969 Ambassador was shot at a Rambler dealer or an AMC dealer.
Technically, an AMC dealer, but the 1969 American was still branded “Rambler”, so they were technically also a Rambler dealer. Two things can be true at the same time.
The first picture shows perfectly the target demographic for the very early Rambler: women; educated and affluent women at that. She’s buying that cute Rambler hardtop for herself. This is how Rambler survived those early years; on image, not low price.
I wonder if AMC’s trajectory would have been different had they kept the “upscale but small” car image. George Romney recast the Rambler as an economy car which served it well in the late-’50s recession, but AMC was never able to escape that miserly image when the economy improved. The success of the BMW 3 series from the late ’70s to the present showed there is a steady market for small but upscale cars.
During the `58 recession, I read somewhere that only two American cars showed an upswing in sales across the board–the new 4-seater Thunderbirds, and the Rambler American! I can understand both; the T-Bird with two extra seats was in demand and with the Rambler American it’s affordable economy attracted alot of buyers.
Also interesting to see how she and her children are wearing dresses and looking very nice. Just like today`style, right?
Another comment on the 1st photo, in Brunswick, NJ —
The signage is pushing “Hydra-Matic Drive.”
I’d thoguht that “Hydra-matic” was proprietary maybe even patented?) for Oldsmobile’s automatic transmissions.
The various automatic trans. names all seemed to be specific to the manufacturers —
Torqueflite . . . . Chrysler
Dynaflo . . . . . . .Buick
Ford-o-matic . . .of course, Ford.
So, I wondered if there might have been a link between Olds & Nash-Rambler that I didn’t recall.
My answer came in the the 5th photo, showing the Olds-Rambler dealership in Ridgeway, PA.
…… or just a coincidence ? ……..
Hydra-Matic was its own division of GM, not connected to any of the other GM brands/divisions. It had its own engineering and production facilities. It was in the business of selling its product to all takers, including Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet (trucks), Pontiac, Nash, Hudson, Lincoln, GMC truck and coach, Rolls-Royce and probably some others I can’t recall right now.
Buick had its own automatic transmission engineering and production facility (Dynaflow) as did Chevrolet (PG).
A potential CC: How each auto manufacturer sold parts & products to other manufactures:
– AMC bought transmissions from Chrysler
– Ford bought A/C compressors from GM
– Chevrolet sold engines to Checker
– AMC bought carburetors from Ford
The list goes on and on!!
So how is it that GM gave the okie-doke to a dual operation with Rambler?
Great pics!
The Cadillac-like Nash corporate logo, dating from the early 1940’s, is one of the most attractive and memorable wordtype logos of that era.
Strong ’40’s and ’50’s pop culture feel. I love it.
Many corporations used this widely kerned script typeface style in the 1940’s and 1950’s. It helped define the look of popular marketing, at the time.
As a kid in the 1970’s, whenever I saw this typography style still used in logos, it screamed ‘OLD school’ in a big way. Very dated branding.
Eventually the typeface style became cool again. As everything retro makes a comeback eventually.
A large trucking company, here in Southern Ontario, never updated their very 1950’s-look corporate branding through the ’70’s, ’80’s, or ’90’s.
Until eventually, their very dated brand look and feel, looked retro cool again!
The Spencerian script used in the Ford logo is even more dated than that ’50s font – but we’re so used to seeing the blue-oval logo that we don’t even think about how that lettering style looks early 20th century. The Coca-Cola and GE logos also use that very old-fashioned handwriting style.
I first saw that script on Lennon’s Rickenbacker back in ’63 – looked really modern to me back then – and very cool.
Daniel, the style of lettering on the word “Nash” was even called “Airflite”! I downloaded the font years ago on a floppy for my own use, but unsure if it’s still around. I’ll do some looking………
As someone working around a dealership shop, I really love those shop photos.
Great pics! The Mill Valley CA cars are actually ’66s, not ’65s. And that Ambassador in the showroom has the AMX 390 in it! And yes, I think AMC advertising it with a chauffeur, and even having some dealers offer to pick you up for a test drive was an attempt to go a cut above the Chevy Caprice, or Ford LTD, or Plymouth VIP.
My Dad, in between jobs, briefly worked in the service department of his friend’s Nash dealership in the 50’s. We had a 47 Statesman, 50 Ambassador (with Hydra-matic labeled as such) and a 52 Statesman. My grandparents drove Nashes as did an aunt and uncle. Dad even brought a Nash Healey demonstrator home and took me for a ride, a great early car nut kid memory. We had the yellow with red Nash script air mattresses for the fold down bed seats in the Statesman and used them on trips. There were even dealer window screens to use during the ‘sleep-in-the car’ nights.
One favorite toy was this cardboard Nash dealership – which of course did not last as long as I would have liked.
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1950s-nash-service-station-play-set-410924975
Gotta love those rare Cosmopolitans.
My first thought looking at Havekost Nash was that the Nash “bathtub” body doesn’t wear the continental spare well at all. Then I clicked on the photo to enlarge it and saw that wasn’t a continental kit but rather the reflection from the fluorescent lights onto the trunklid, creating a partial circular shape.
I remember a turquoise and white Metropolitan from my childhood.
I had a conservative uncle who only bought plain Ramblers. His daughter, one of my favorite cousins, was the first topless go-go dancer in that city. Those rebellious 1960s.
I had to smile at the “World famous custom sports car Nash Healey” lettering at the P.K Williams dealership. Methinks a slight exaggeration there (the world’s a mighty big place), but full points for enthusiasm!
The Nash-Healey wasn’t a big seller, but it had a prominent competition career, the highlight of which was the 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Leslie Johnson and Tommy Wisdom won their class at Le Mans in 1952 and came in third overall.
Those 48
Those ’48 through 51 Nash’s were just plain butt ugly. As kids we used to call one a Trash Can Nash. The small and dowdy Rambler at Ken-Mar looks even worse with that sleek ’59 Olds in the picture.
George Mason’s meddling held Nash back in the late Forties and first half of the Fifties. Those front wheels should have never been enclosed, or made to look wimpy when they were finally opened up. The Nash-Healey shows how they should have looked… prominent via max front track. And the ’52 Golden Airflyte was well-proportioned for the Stateman, but the Ambassador should have gotten a 7-inch longer rear deck/fenders to maintain the balance with its 7-inch longer hood/axle-to-dash. And maybe it needed fully exposed rear wheels.
The name Nash belongs to a 200 year old company Peugeot that bought FIAT CHRYSLER, now known as Stelantis.
Great photos. I had been to the dealership pictured in Walla Walla back in the day. Family friends of my family always owned and drove Nash autos, including Ramblers, Americans, etc. Amazing memories.