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“What,” you say, “a Nash truck?” Yes, it’s true, Nash did build trucks. As a matter of fact, at one time, Nash was the world’s largest producer of trucks, but that was a few years back — 1918 to be exact. Back then they manufactured about 11,000 four-wheel-drive trucks for the U.S. Army to use in World War I.
Nash Motor Co. has a long and interesting history. In 1910, Charles Nash became president of General Motors. He followed William Durant, the founder of GM, who was fired as GM’s president (he was actually fired twice). But Durant teamed up with Louis Chevrolet and once again took control of GM. That was enough for Nash, and he looked for another opportunity. Along with fellow GM veterans James Storrow and Walter P. Chrysler, Nash tried unsuccessfully to take over Packard Motor Co.
The company Nash ended up buying was the Thomas B. Jeffery Co., the origin of which dates back to 1897. Jeffery, originally from Great Britain, came to the United States at age 17. Among other things, he built the second best-selling bicycle in the country and called it the “Rambler.” He also invented the “clincher” tire and sold the rights to Dunlop, which called it the “pneumatic tire,” which is what we all are driving on today.
Jeffery was the second person to use an assembly line to produce his car, also called the Rambler. Ransom Eli Olds (Oldsmobile) was first, not Henry Ford. Rambler developed an excellent reputation and became the second best-selling vehicle at the time. Even in those early days, one Rambler had a hybrid system not unlike the Honda Insight. Jeffery died in 1910, and his son took over the company and sold it six years later to Nash.
Nash gave us some other interesting features. In 1936, they started selling “Bed-In-A-Car” in which people could lower the rear seat and create a level surface with their feet in the trunk. After Nash merged with Kelvinator, maker of refrigerators and kitchen appliances, the heating and cooling systems of Nash cars led the industry. They created the first car heater that used hot water with fresh air and then added a thermostat and called it the Nash Weather Eye heater.
In 1954, Nash Kelvinator and the Hudson Motor Co. merged to form American Motors Corp. Chrysler Corp. bought American Motors in 1987.
After World War II, Nash produced some interesting vehicles. There was the Nash “Airflyte,” an aerodynamic car but sometimes called an upside-down bathtub by critics. They built the Metropolitan in England, smaller than compact-size car, and the sporty Nash Healey as well as some medium-duty trucks. Fremont resident Dennis McAllister is the owner of one of those rare trucks.
“Nash made about 5,000 trucks between 1947 and 1954,” he said. “Mine is a 1948 ‘Thrift-Haul.’ There was a long 157-inch-wheelbase and a short 133-inch-wheelbase model. Mine is the short-wheelbase model. This truck spent most of its life in Grass Valley as a tow truck.
“I’m not sure what year, but they finally took off the tow bed and put on a flat bed. All the trucks were sold with nothing on the back, (just the cab and chassis). The reason why so many were tow trucks was because Nash had the dealers buy the trucks and use them for their service business, but most of the 5,000 built went overseas.”
McAllister found this truck on eBay about six years ago and paid $2,000 for it.
“I took it all apart and redid everything. The motor, transmission, cab, upholstery, paint, everything. It was well cared for, and the body was in fairly good condition.”
He believes he is the fourth owner. The 104-horsepower, 234.8-cubic inch Nash Ambassador six-cylinder engine is original.
In comparing this Nash truck to competitive trucks of that era, Nash is clearly a more elegant-looking truck. The cab styling is based on the 1946-1948 Nash four-door sedan, chopped off behind the front seat with a back panel added. The interior was not fancy but less austere than competition. One interior luxury feature was the engine-turned metal dash.
The truck has a four-speed manual transmission, which the Nash factory recommended double-clutching, not an easy skill to master.
“I did put in a ‘brownie box,’ which gives me a higher gear and a lower gear. So, I have two gear shifts now, one for the four-speed and one for the brownie box.”
McAllister estimates his total investment is about $9,000 and believes the market value to be about $20,000. But a sale is not imminent. McAllister is a Nash collector. In addition to this truck, he also owns a Nash-Healey roadster and a Nash Healey coupe.
Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this issue’s vehicle, visit mercurynews.com and search for “David Krumboltz.”
