The chronicles of automotive lore are filled with stories of secret, ultra-special automobiles being developed by troubled companies in a last-ditch attempt to stave off bankruptcy. Generally, these so-called Cars That Might Have Saved The Company either never made it to production or were developed too late to save anything. In many cases, the unseen autos ended up being canceled by the automaker because they didn't fit the product program, or were deemed impossible to bring to market because the company couldn't afford the tooling needed to produce them. Still others were merely variations that didn't make it to production, although similar models did.
What we have here are a bunch of Nash automobiles that, as pretty as they are, never quite made it to production. We'll leave it to you to judge whether or not these Nashes You Never Knew should have been produced, or if they would have made a difference in the Nash brand's fate.
One of my favorites (and the car that most Nash aficionados would tell you at a glance that the color photograph accompanying this story shows) is a 1956 Nash Statesman Country Club two-door hardtop, a very pretty car in Custom trim, though probably not a particularly rare sight. That's exactly what I thought to myself the first time I spotted this photo amongst a pile of literature being offered for sale. Then, however, I remembered a rather important bit of information: Nash didn't offer a Statesman Country Club hardtop in 1956. As a matter of fact, by 1956 Nash had condensed the Statesman lineup down to just a single four-door sedan offered in Super trim. That was all-no Customs and no two-doors. So if Nash didn't produce a two-door Statesman Custom for 1956, what could this thing be?
A closer inspection of the photo revealed three very notable features:
1) The car wears a V-8 badge, despite the fact that the Statesman series never offered an eight-cylinder engine;
2) If you look closely you'll notice there isn't any interior trim-just bare, unpainted metal!
3) The large turn signal housings set into the front fenders are different side to side. The passenger sidelamp looks like the production model, while the driver's sidelamp is unlike anything I've ever seen on a Nash. Hmmm.
So what the photo really shows, then, is either a mock-up of a V-8-powered Statesman Country Club, or a mock-up of what became the mid-1956 Nash Ambassador Special, a line of Ambassadors built on the shorter Statesman wheelbase and powered by the new AMC 250-cu.in. V-8. A photo of the rear of this interesting car, which appears above, shows some additional details. Notice the V-8 badge located in the side molding where it dips down. The taillamps look slightly different from production too.
We also have another black-and-white photo that shows a completely different 1956 (or possibly 1955) Statesman Country Club V8. This one appears to have unique rear fenders, although that may only be an illusion created by the lack of the large chrome molding that usually follows the character line. However, the hooded taillamps and separate back-up lamp housings are unique and didn't appear in production. Notice that it has a three-piece rear window, unlike the one-piece glass that appears on 1956 production cars. Also unique is the two-tone paint scheme. We sure wish we had a color photograph of this car!
Next up is a wild front-end drawing by Italian designer Pinin Farina, who was under contract to Nash (and later American Motors) beginning in 1950. Farina himself gave this photo, shown at the top of the next page, to a Nash designer who was helping him, and that designer gave it to us. Upon inspection, we see that Nash's trademark enclosed wheels are evident, but other than that, this concept bears little resemblance to any Nash production car. Still, the look is low and powerful, and very continental. We wonder: Would Nash management ever have approved it for production?
Appearing a bit earlier, chronologically speaking, are the two photos on the lower left corner of this page. These were found in a large three-ring binder with the name Nash Styling embossed in gold on its maroon cover. The photo of a two-door Nash appears to be a rendering of a proposal for the 1952 or 1953 senior cars. Judging by the short distance between the door and the front wheel opening, this particular car appears to be a Statesman, though the short-wheelbase Statesman and longer Ambassadors of this era generally used the same exterior trim. The bright band that surrounds the door glass and highlights the recessed door notch is quite attractive and it goes well with the thick chrome molding that runs along the lower body from front to rear. Below it we see essentially the same design (though it's a four-door sedan rather than a hardtop) but with the bright chrome band removed and the rear window trim toned down considerably. Indications are that these were done around the same time, leaving us to wonder: Was Nash considering limiting the brighter trim for use only on hardtop models, with the more conservative trim reserved for the four-doors?
The grille proposal for the 1954 Nash senior cars is a previously unpublished photo. This design featured a large recessed-type grille and painted headlamp rings somewhat similar to the 1954 models, but with a low-mounted grille badge and close-set bumper guards. Look closely at the photo above and you'll spot one of design chief Ed Anderson's innovations. To save time and money, only one half of the grille design is real. The other half was created by placing a mirror (specially cut to fit the grille's pattern) so that the mirror image would give the appearance of a full-width picture. Neat huh?
The other grille proposal also came from around the same time, this one a full-width eggcrate theme that we find especially attractive. This too, uses the mirror image technique to create the illusion of a complete front-end design.
Did you know that the 1955 Nash senior cars almost debuted without a wraparound windshield? It's true. Nash's Airflyte design was still fresh enough in 1955, entering just its fourth year on the market. And since the merger with Hudson was to be consummated that same year, the company was not prepared to tool up for an all-new car. The decision was made to freshen up the existing design. New fenders and a new grille were created for the big Nash (and its Hudson cousin). However, chief body engineer Ted Ulrich argued against a suggestion that they graft a wraparound windshield onto the existing body. To do so, said Ulrich, might weaken the upper body integrity, perhaps even cause stress cracks in the windshield. However, with management convinced of the need to follow the industry trend to wraparound glass, Ulrich put every effort into solving the problem of integrating it into the existing structure while maintaining superior strength and safety. He succeeded, and that's why the 1955 Nash and Hudson big cars look the way they do. But down in the Nash Styling studios designers created a clay styling study of what the 1955 Nash Ambassador would look like with the carryover flat windshield (pictured below). Notice that rather than wearing a hood ornament this model has a lay-down Nash emblem on the hood, similar to what appeared on the 1956-'57 Ramblers.
AMC stylist Allan Kornmiller did the neat drawing you see to the left, and it represents one idea for restyling the big Nash. The greenhouse is large and airy, and we love the rear fender shapes and those stylish taillamps. In this drawing the front wheels are opened up much more than the 1955-'56 production cars.
It's not often one sees a color photo of a Nash concept car but the colorized photo on the right is just that. However, this one was produced by taking a press-release photograph of a production 1955 Ambassador hardtop then hand-painting it to illustrate a possible two-tone color scheme. The upper molding on the body side is unique, while the lower molding was already in production. This color scheme was actually used, sort of. It was offered mid-year as Fashion-Tone two-tone paint, but in production Nash didn't paint the hood to match the sides. Too bad-it really looks great!
Another rare Nash was the 1958 Ambassador. Back in 1957, AMC chairman George Romney told his dealers that they would have, "A big Nash to sell and a big Hudson to sell" in 1958. Although he knew by then that, after six years in production, the senior body shell had to be retired, Romney at first thought the Nash and Hudson brands could be continued by using a lengthened version of the Rambler body. He asked stylist Bill Reddig to draw some proposals of what they would look like, and work began to create a prestige car out of a Rambler. One design that might have made it to production is the car you see pictured on the right. The front fender chrome reads, "Nash Ambassador." However, when it debuted for 1958, the car was renamed the Ambassador by Rambler.
A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but frankly, we would have been happier if this went into production as a Nash.
