How can one supplant the most mainstream autos in Nash Statesman Classic Car history? We don’t know whether Nash-Kelvinator’s George Mason at any point made this inquiry in simply that way, however it entireties up the assignment confronting his organization for 1952, and that substitution – the 1952-1954 Nash – steps its inceptions back to that errand.
Bricklayer progressed toward becoming leader of the firm because of the 1937 merger of the Nash Motors Company and machine creator Kelvinator Corporation. Nash Chairman Charles W. Nash consented to the association since it was the main way he could persuade Mason to come work for him. Charlie Nash was getting on in years and was on edge to locate a more youthful man equipped for assuming control over his namesake firm when he resigned. He asked his old companion, Walter Chrysler, on the off chance that he knew anybody equipped for running Nash. Chrysler proposed he call Mason, leader of Kelvinator. Artisan shied away from leaving Kelvinator; however an arrangement was inevitably struck whereby the two firms combined.
Once on board, Mason energized Nash Statesman Classic Car in spearheading new thoughts. Essential among these was the unitized body, which Nash named “Airflyte Construction.” Of the unitized Nash 600 that appeared in 1941, Nash stated, “In car history, the year 1941 will most likely be noted chiefly for the presentation of another sort of car body development.” Mason saw unitized body development as a particular item advantage and confirmed that in the end all Nash autos would have it. (The 1941 Ambassador, in spite of its outward comparability to the 600, was based on a customary casing.)
World War II postponed designs a bit. Be that as it may, when Mason at last propelled a profoundly streamlined new “bath” Nash for 1949, Ambassadors and 600s included unitized development. Generation, which as per Nash yearly reports had been 115,914 in monetary year 1947 and 119,862 out of 1948, expanded to 139,521 in financial year 1949, 178,827 of every 1950, and 177,613 out of 1951, making them the best Nash autos ever.
What to improve
So what to improve the situation a reprise? New items showed up; the minimal Rambler in 1950 and the Nash-Healey sports auto for 1951. Yet, these were just “sidekick models” (or specialty vehicles, take your pick). The core of Nash deals was the Ambassador and Statesman (nee 600) lines.
Nash had another outline boss, Edmund E. Anderson, once in the past leader of the Chevrolet and Oldsmobile styling studios at General Motors. At the point when employed by Mason, Anderson was accused of gathering an in-house configuration group. Anderson staffed his little division with gifted young fellows, numerous from GM and Ford. The outline group included William E. Reddig, once in the past with Ford, Royland Taylor, Bob Thomas, Charl (sic) Green, and Don Butler. To this new group, at that point, went the activity of outlining a successor to the marvelously effective Nash baths.
Artisan could support his wagers on the new auto, be that as it may, due to an arrangement his associate, George Romney, had as of late struck. At Mason’s ask for, Romney had marked an agreement to have renowned Italian planner Pinin Farina outline autos for Nash. In this manner, the modest in-house Nash configuration group would rival one of Europe’s most prestigious studios for the respect of planning the 1952 Nash senior line.
Ed Anderson was procured the specific day that Farina was to come back to Italy from his first visit to Nash. The two met and shook submits George Romney’s office. It was friendly enough, and the two men got the opportunity to see the opposition up close and personal.
It was an essential and esteemed task. Essential in light of the fact that the Ambassador/Statesman lines were the volume and benefit pioneers for Nash; esteemed in light of the fact that the new line would make a big appearance for the 50th commemoration of when the organization’s first vehicles, the 1902 Ramblers, were presented by the Thomas B. Jeffrey Company, ancestor of Nash.
The essential bundle of body measurements had just been touched base at by Nash building, headed by Nils Erik Wahlberg, and the two fashioners would need to remain inside those parameters. Artisan – at Wahlberg’s encouraging – demanded that completely encased wheels like the ones seen on 1949-1951 Nashes remain a component on the new autos also. Wahlberg stressed, as usual, the streamlined favorable circumstances of the plan, while Mason felt they were an extraordinarily Nash include.
The planners, in any case, were not as much as captivated. “We couldn’t have cared less for it,” reviews Bill Reddig today. “Be that as it may, it was something Wahlberg pushed. Our inclination was, well certain it enables the auto to show signs of improvement numbers in a breeze burrow, yet hmm, no one drives in a breeze burrow.”
