1949-57 Nash Ambassadors in Collectible Automobile
Thursday-June 24, 2010
Patrick Foster definitely knows his Nashes. He writes a compact history of Nash’s full-size car in the August 2010 issue of Collectible Automobile (Anyone know how/if/when they’ll ever get a web site?).
Normally, I would slam the article as another car history that reads like a book report: all facts and very little human interest. Indeed, my eyes started spinning when I saw the overwhelming number of prices, model year changes, and trim variations. It gets so overwhelming.
But I have to cut Foster some slack. He slipped in a little bit of human interest with the story about how Nash Vice-President Meade Moore sabotaged stylist Ed Anderson’s design for the 1952 Golden Airfltye Ambassador, because Moore held a grudge for anyone who took the job that he felt his son was entitled to.
(Foster has always been partial to Ed Anderson and led a renewal of interest in Anderson back from the time he published his book American Motors, the Last Independent. I’m sure he’s responsible for anyone at all remembering Anderson’s contributions to Nash and AMC.)
Foster was probably given an assignment and a word count. It’s hard to tell the human story of product creation when you have so much to say and so little space in which to say it.
Nevertheless, if you want a tight, concise story about the postwar Nash Ambassador, Foster’s article is a great place to start. He boils it down and fits it in. You’ll find a lavish display of pictures, including many from Foster’s own impressive archive.
In fact, there are so many pictures of Ambassadors in the article, that I’ll bet half of the Nash Car Club’s members are name-checked in the photos!
Normally, I would slam the article as another car history that reads like a book report: all facts and very little human interest. Indeed, my eyes started spinning when I saw the overwhelming number of prices, model year changes, and trim variations. It gets so overwhelming.
But I have to cut Foster some slack. He slipped in a little bit of human interest with the story about how Nash Vice-President Meade Moore sabotaged stylist Ed Anderson’s design for the 1952 Golden Airfltye Ambassador, because Moore held a grudge for anyone who took the job that he felt his son was entitled to.
(Foster has always been partial to Ed Anderson and led a renewal of interest in Anderson back from the time he published his book American Motors, the Last Independent. I’m sure he’s responsible for anyone at all remembering Anderson’s contributions to Nash and AMC.)
Foster was probably given an assignment and a word count. It’s hard to tell the human story of product creation when you have so much to say and so little space in which to say it.
Nevertheless, if you want a tight, concise story about the postwar Nash Ambassador, Foster’s article is a great place to start. He boils it down and fits it in. You’ll find a lavish display of pictures, including many from Foster’s own impressive archive.
In fact, there are so many pictures of Ambassadors in the article, that I’ll bet half of the Nash Car Club’s members are name-checked in the photos!