Founded by Charles W. Nash,
a self made entrepreneur that started out as
a farm labourer, then by 1912 had landed the
job as president of none other than General Motors.
But Nash wanted to be his own boss, and in 1916
he purchased the Jeffery Motor Company with the
intention of building his own cars. In 1917 the
very first Nash hit the roads, it being powered
by a 244ci 4 litre six cylinder engine; this
was soon followed by the release of both sports
cars and roadsters.
A smaller 2.5 litre 4 cylinder
engine was developed, and by 1920 there were
no less than eight different body styles using
the new engine. Wanting to move the marque up-market,
Nash purchased La Fayette Motors to provide a
fast entry into that sector, particularly given
he would benefit from the La Fayette 341.7ci
5.6 litre V8. The attempt to market a high end
Nash proved difficult however, and soon the plan
was abandoned, Nash having to settle on the middle
ground.
Like most other manufacturers Nash was
hit hard by the Depression, however clever management
and rationalisation ensured the company remained
in profit, despite production falling to a mere
14,000 units in 1933. The La Fayette name was
introduced in its own right, but not as an up-market
limousine, but rather as a cheap big car; while
to aid in rationalisation the model line-up was
reduced from 32 to just 6. In 1941 Nash replaced
the La Fayette with the all-new Nash 600, a car
incredibly advanced for the time.
Featuring unitary
construction, the 600 was light, enabling particularly
good fuel consumption combined with more spirited
performance from the 2.8 litre six. Nash car
manufacture was halted in 1942 so that the company
could concentrate on war time production, but
following the war the Ambassadors were reintroduced,
and they now featured Airflyte styling complete
with wrap-around windshields and semi-enclosed
road wheels.
Then came the 1950 Rambler, arguably
the first US compact sedan, but despite the forward
thinking, quality and value for money each Nash
offered, it remained too small to viably compete
with the Big Three. The company merged with Hudson
in 1954 to form the American Motors Corporation
(AMC), and while sales of the Rambler and Metropolitan
continued to do well, the bigger Statesman and
Ambassador models were fairing poorly. In 1957
AMC gradually dropped both the Nash and Hudson
names.
