1953 Nash Ambassador Custom Country Club Hardtop 🇺🇸

This Nash was purchased by Colorado farmer Leroy J. Roderick in 1953 to celebrate a very good wheat harvest. Leroy, “Roy” to his friends and family, made a roof rack for the car so he could haul his 12’ fishing boat on the roof and he used the car as his primary transport until his passing in 1974. The car was parked in his barn at  that time and remained there until 2005. Roy’s grandson, Jim, took the car to his home in California and tried to revive it. Little progress was ever made. When he retired in 2016 he sold the car to a collector in New York. The NB Center subsequently purchased the car from this collector in October 2019.

The Nash was  complete but very worn out.   It was  confirmed to be equipped with the Le Mans Dual Jetfire engine option. After the car was purchased,  some research with the Nash club indicated that no other ‘53 Ambassador Country Club hardtops were known to exist with the optional engine.

The restoration began in early 2022. When the car was being disassembled it was discovered that a worker at the factory, Walter,  signed the inside of the rear fender using undercoating. This wonderful detail was photographed and carefully maintained  as an important detail of the car’s history that cannot be seen.

The restoration was challenging on numerous fronts. Unusual materials like  the unique headliner had to be located or duplicated. The poor manufacturing methods in this period meant the aluminum cylinder head had become porous and leaky requiring replacement.

The car was completed in time to debut at the 2023 Spring National Meet of the Antique Car Club of America in Gettysburg, PA. The car easily won its Junior level national first place and followed that with a senior at the fall national meet in Hershey, PA.  The car was subsequently nominated for the AACA Zenith award in recognition of the best restored car shown in that year. 

Company
Nash Motors Division of Nash-Kelvinator Corp.

Make
Nash

Model
Ambassador Custom Country Club, model  60, style 5377

Body Style
Hardtop Coupe, 2-dr., 6-pass.

Body Manufacture
NA

Model year
1951

Wheelbase
121.25 inches

Length
204.25 inches

Engine
Inline 6, OHV,    252.6 cid

Horsepower
140 hp @ 4000 rpm

Transmission
3-speed automatic with overdrive

Original Base Price
$2,829

Brand Production
121,793

This Car Production 

6,438

In 1952, Nash Motor Company celebrated its 50th anniversary. Nash took this occasion to introduce new styling for the large series Statesman and Ambassador models. The commemorative car and new styling, named the Golden Airflyte, was a collaboration between Italian designer Battista “Pinin” Farina and Nash lead designer Edmund E. Anderson.  The styling maintained the fully enclosed front wheels that had become a trademark of the Nash in the post war period. It was in some ways similar to the smaller Nash Rambler introduced in 1951 with its European inspired reverse slanting C-pillar and unadorned smooth slab-side flanks. Yet, the cars were unlike anything else being offered at the time.

The fully unitized bodies allowed for three-across seating and when ordered with the optional fully reclining front seats, the front and rear seats together could form a bed capable of sleeping 3 adults. Nash claimed that the Ambassador comfort and luxury features were so advanced, "that other new cars seem outdated in comparison.”

In 1953 the Statesman and Ambassador series carried over the bodies and styling of 1952. The only real outward difference on the Ambassador was the addition of little chrome strips on the fresh air intake vent below the windshield. The Ambassador Custom came standard with two-tone interior, electric clock, turn-signals, chrome wheel covers and automatic interior lights.

The big difference for 1953 was to be found on the option list.  If  buyers chose they could have the “Le Mans Dual Jetfire” engine option. This engine had a revised high compression cylinder head and intake with dual side-draft Carter carburetors. The engine was inspired by the similarly equipped Nash-Healey race cars that participated in  the Le Mans 24 hour races. The optional engine raised horsepower from the standard 120 to 140 hp.

Nash saw their sales slip in 1953. Chief Executive of the parent Nash-Kelvinator company, George Mason understood that the post-World War cars sales boom was over and competition was about to get very heated. He feared that the smaller car manufacturers, those outside of the “Big 3”, would need to get creative to stay competitive.