Nash
Stout Scarab in Hemmings Motor News
Thursday-January 21, 2010
There’s a nice refresher by Ed Heys about the Stout Scarab in the February 2010 issue of Hemmings Motor News.
The Scarab was a mid-1930’s car that looked more like an Art Deco bus. It kinda reminds me of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion with a 1950 Nash Airflyte rear end.
Like Fuller, Bill Stout was another ahead-of-his-time designer. He designed the Ford Tri-Motor and thought he could translate his success from airplanes to autos.
He might have done it if he had built more than four (maybe nine) Scarabs. (One of them was built in 1945 in conjunction with Kaiser-Frazer and Owens/Corning Fiberglass.)
The Scarab was a mid-1930’s car that looked more like an Art Deco bus. It kinda reminds me of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion with a 1950 Nash Airflyte rear end.
Like Fuller, Bill Stout was another ahead-of-his-time designer. He designed the Ford Tri-Motor and thought he could translate his success from airplanes to autos.
He might have done it if he had built more than four (maybe nine) Scarabs. (One of them was built in 1945 in conjunction with Kaiser-Frazer and Owens/Corning Fiberglass.)
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Fiat accidentally summons the ghost of Nash.
Friday-January 08, 2010
Fiat has released a brand new Nash Rambler Landau. It’s called the Fiat 500 1.2 Pop Convertible.
There’s a review of it on Autocar. (Thanks for the tip, Aaron Severson!)
This descendant of the original Fiat 500 Topolino looks less like its predecessors and more like the original Nash Rambler to me. Compare the photo above to our copy of a 1950 Nash Rambler TV commercial.
It looks like Fiat’s shamans accidentally summoned Nash’s ancestors along with their own. Motorized sliding top. Pleated folds.
This reminds me of Studebaker’s Lark Wagonaire and GMC’s 2003-04 Envoy. No idea, er, product feature ever dies. It’s just forgotten until it gets recycled. (In GM’s case, they claimed that their recycled feature was brand spankin’ new. FF to about 45 seconds into their commercial to see what I mean.)
There’s a review of it on Autocar. (Thanks for the tip, Aaron Severson!)
This descendant of the original Fiat 500 Topolino looks less like its predecessors and more like the original Nash Rambler to me. Compare the photo above to our copy of a 1950 Nash Rambler TV commercial.
It looks like Fiat’s shamans accidentally summoned Nash’s ancestors along with their own. Motorized sliding top. Pleated folds.
This reminds me of Studebaker’s Lark Wagonaire and GMC’s 2003-04 Envoy. No idea, er, product feature ever dies. It’s just forgotten until it gets recycled. (In GM’s case, they claimed that their recycled feature was brand spankin’ new. FF to about 45 seconds into their commercial to see what I mean.)
A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck
Saturday-November 14, 2009
I judge books by their covers. (I'm shallow that way.)
And if the cover of Richard Peck's book A Season of Gifts is any indication, I'm going to like it. It's the first kids' book I've ever seen with a green 1950 Nash Airflyte on the cover. (Statesman or Ambassador? They're both long enough to strap a Christmas tree to.)
I'm not going to reveal the plot, but one section of the book is like a walk through an orphan car parking lot.
Exhibit A: The Pickle. The description: "The steering on a 1950 Nash is loose as a goose, and the hood's as big as an aircraft carrier." (Couldn't be more true if it was a police report.)
Exhibit B: on page 135, Miss Flora Shellabarger owns a 1942 Packard Clipper. (Miss Shellabarger has good taste and good sense. She's not strapping any Christmas trees to the top of her car.)
Exhibit C: Roscoe Burdick's DeSoto on page 98.
Exhibit D: the homecoming queen's float is built on a 1932 Hupmobile sedan.
I didn't see any illustrations other than the cover Nash, but I love the fact that Peck has excellent taste when it comes to orphans.
The book is available online and in bookstores now.
And if the cover of Richard Peck's book A Season of Gifts is any indication, I'm going to like it. It's the first kids' book I've ever seen with a green 1950 Nash Airflyte on the cover. (Statesman or Ambassador? They're both long enough to strap a Christmas tree to.)
I'm not going to reveal the plot, but one section of the book is like a walk through an orphan car parking lot.
Exhibit A: The Pickle. The description: "The steering on a 1950 Nash is loose as a goose, and the hood's as big as an aircraft carrier." (Couldn't be more true if it was a police report.)
Exhibit B: on page 135, Miss Flora Shellabarger owns a 1942 Packard Clipper. (Miss Shellabarger has good taste and good sense. She's not strapping any Christmas trees to the top of her car.)
Exhibit C: Roscoe Burdick's DeSoto on page 98.
Exhibit D: the homecoming queen's float is built on a 1932 Hupmobile sedan.
I didn't see any illustrations other than the cover Nash, but I love the fact that Peck has excellent taste when it comes to orphans.
The book is available online and in bookstores now.
Ate Up With Motor
Thursday-September 24, 2009
If you need an alternative to the automotive scholarship of Hemmings Classic Car, Collectible Automobile, and even the Society of Automotive Historians, you should try Aaron Severson's site Ate Up With Motor.
Severson writes with a desire to share the human drama behind the stories of our favorite cars. Like me, he values first person accounts and numerous quotes in his stories from the people who were there at the time.
I recommend his latest article Ramble and Roll: The Compact Nash Rambler. Look for Torq-O's contribution: a where-do-you-find-this-stuff 1950 Nash Rambler TV commercial. (Anything to help out a car fan who wants to write something more interesting than a book report!)
Severson writes with a desire to share the human drama behind the stories of our favorite cars. Like me, he values first person accounts and numerous quotes in his stories from the people who were there at the time.
I recommend his latest article Ramble and Roll: The Compact Nash Rambler. Look for Torq-O's contribution: a where-do-you-find-this-stuff 1950 Nash Rambler TV commercial. (Anything to help out a car fan who wants to write something more interesting than a book report!)
Lucky Lee Lott in Garage Magazine
Thursday-July 23, 2009
Back in the day, it seems like every car manufacturer had a group of stunt drivers who jumped, burned, wrecked, and tortured its cars at public events like county fairs.
Kaiser Frazer had the Aut Swenson Thrillcade. Plymouth had the Hurricane Hell Drivers. And Nash had Lucky Lee Lott.
So imagine my jaw-dropping surprise when I saw a picture of the late Lucky Lee Lott in Issue 18 of Jesse James’ Garage Magazine. (Nash fans, don’t get your heart rate up. There’s no story about Lott. Only some chest thumping from Garage at Lott’s expense.)
The picture shows an older Lucky Lee behind the wheel of one of his stunt cars. A reader sent in the photo claiming that THIS is the kind of guy who reads Garage.
I laughed, and it’s all in good humor. But Garage reminds me of some nerd who has to stand in front of the mirror and tell himself every morning what a badass he is even at the expense of others (like Lucky). He can weld. He can fabricate. He has tattoos. Friends, if you have to loudly announce your garage cred to everyone who cracks the spine of your magazine, then you, sirs, are not really badasses. Just asses.
But, hey. There’s an awful lot that Garage does right. Design, layout, stories, cheesecake. It’s all done really well. Only the self affirmation is overcooked.
Kaiser Frazer had the Aut Swenson Thrillcade. Plymouth had the Hurricane Hell Drivers. And Nash had Lucky Lee Lott.
So imagine my jaw-dropping surprise when I saw a picture of the late Lucky Lee Lott in Issue 18 of Jesse James’ Garage Magazine. (Nash fans, don’t get your heart rate up. There’s no story about Lott. Only some chest thumping from Garage at Lott’s expense.)
The picture shows an older Lucky Lee behind the wheel of one of his stunt cars. A reader sent in the photo claiming that THIS is the kind of guy who reads Garage.
I laughed, and it’s all in good humor. But Garage reminds me of some nerd who has to stand in front of the mirror and tell himself every morning what a badass he is even at the expense of others (like Lucky). He can weld. He can fabricate. He has tattoos. Friends, if you have to loudly announce your garage cred to everyone who cracks the spine of your magazine, then you, sirs, are not really badasses. Just asses.
But, hey. There’s an awful lot that Garage does right. Design, layout, stories, cheesecake. It’s all done really well. Only the self affirmation is overcooked.