Nash - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Next Blog - Nash Ambassador

My blog a few weeks ago about an uncle in the furniture business got me thinking about the various professions of some of my other uncles. For example, my uncle Ed lived in Dayton and was an executive for Dayton Tire & Rubber back in the 1950’s. He drove a big ole Nash Ambassador model like the one pictured here. It was likely his company car and was considered a luxury vehicle by the standards of the day, but to me it literally was the ugliest car I have ever seen. It was nicknamed the “Kenosha Duesenberg”, but I considered it the "Kenosha Edsel”.

The car was the first model ever to be designed with reduced aerodynamic drag, which the company developed after World War II using its wind tunnels funded by the government to develop airplanes for the war effort. The body style was appropriately named Airflyte and included the first application of curved glass windows.

The car literally was a boat, with a huge turning radius because the articulation of the front wheels was severely limited due to the fender skirts to improve aerodynamics. Each summer I’d ride back to Dayton in the car with the family for a week stay to experience the city slicker life as documented in this previous blogpost.

The car had a huge interior that easily held their family of 7 and me, 3 in the front and 5 in the back. Plus the seats could be turned into twin travel beds as shown in these photos.

The trunk was huge due to the sweeping rear end, providing all kinds of room for luggage and belongings.

The Nash was heavy and underpowered with a 235 cubic inch in-line 6 and a three speed column stick shift because the company could not afford to develop its own V8 or automatic transmission. In the mid-50’s, Nash merged with the Hudson Motor Company, who had a V8 and auto transmission. The new company became American Motors.

The only other Nash I recall as a kid was driven by the Fuller Brush man who visited our farm about twice a year. Mom always was suckered into buying something from him, cause he was a real fast talker. Dad hated it when the guy would show up with the trunk and back seat full of all kinds of household items for sale.

There was even a 1948 movie spoof about the Fuller Brush Man starring Red Skelton, Dad’s favorite comedian. I’ll have to write a future blog about the many memorable variety show comedian’s from my youth. Stay tuned, Fish Report readers.

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