Remember that soul crushing LeMons K Car that ate engines, caused hospital visits, and almost froze Murliee Martin to death before he remembered he had an AMG wagon? You know, the “Worst Car in LeMons History?”
Well, the crew at NSF Racing is back, and the idea just get worse.
This Wisconsinite Nash Statesman made its race debut at the annual LeMons South Fall wing ding at Carolina Motorsports Park. It did what you would expect a 1949 Nash to do — meaning it looked cool and managed to complete a few laps.
On Sunday, tragedy almost struck when it was hit and nearly went for a tumble.
Fortunately, the Nash survived and is now off to a fate that is becoming all too common with the crew at NSF: They are looking to share their misery creation with the world. The car has already been booked for the upcoming season opener at Barber Motorsports Park. From there, the paterfamilias of the Sputnik team, Sasha, will take possession.
After that, it’ll be on its historical tour of the US. Like fellow cheeseheads Guy Hoffman, Andy Hurley and Steve Miller, the Statesmen is sure to unite people of all ages, break hearts and convince otherwise rational people to start drinking early.
Get in on the reservation sheet, wish them well or just track the anguish here at the Nash It Up Facebook page.
That thing’s original curb weight was given as only 3160 pounds!
Most trims of the Cruze weigh more O_o
It has the structural integrity of a paper bag, combined with crumple zones with roughly the give of a solid block of granite. And the creature comforts of a cave. The good old days kind of sucked.
But you could wear a hat in it, I suppose.
Is it built like a block of granite, or does it have the structural integrity of a paper bag?
The two are not mutually exclusive. On these old cars, the parts that you would want to crumple don’t, and the middle bit where you sit does.
So what is this thing made of???
That’s definitely not a factory rear axle, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the original straight 6 was also gone…
That looks like a Corvette rear end.
I think Jaguars had the same rear end or a very similar one, so it might be one of those too.
Jaguar XJx rearends had factory coilovers, 2 per wheel.
The transverse leaf spring gives it away as a Corvette. Jaguar used twin coil springs per side. They also had more substantial lower control arms while these Corvettes relied heavily on their trailing arms for wheel location.
The Nash was in pieces when they bought it, so they used a rusty C3 Corvette chassis to put the body on. The drivetrain is likewise Chevy bits, with a 327 small block and Turbo 350 trans.
Well that should be fairly quick. Unless the 327 is emissions strangled to hell.
I wouldn’t call if fairly quick. or “quick.” or really fairly. I say this as one of the clowns who has signed onto this debacle
The Corvette had a wheelbase of 98 inches and was 182 inches overall. The Statesman had a 112 inch wheelbase and was over 200 inches long. Couldn’t they find a bigger chassis?
Bathtub Nashes are awesome cars. Just make sure it has the seats that fold into beds and the aftermarket window mounted swamp cooler.
Are those D-Day stripes across the roof? Cool.
Never know when a Mustang or Jug come over the trees!
It needs a visor to be a true late-’40s/early ’50s boat.
There may have been one available, but you wouldn’t want to have it on the track. Windshield visors went out of favor when traffic signals were suspended on wires over the road.
This Nash might not have the best styling nor did it sell that well when new but the inside was very spacious and comfortable. Also the straight 6 had a decent amount of power for its time. Hudson Hornets had straight 6’s and they were raced in stock car races and won. Not really fair to compare a late 40’s and early 50’s car to today’s cars. Nash and Hudson did not have the funds to develop their own V-8 at the time and GM and Ford were not going to sell them their V-8’s at an affordable price. By the time the mid 50’s came with the Chevy small block V-8s Hudson and Nash were on their last legs. American Motors Corporation (AMC) was the result of a merger of Nash and Hudson in 1954 with George Romney as their chairman (Mitt Romney’s father and the future Governor of Michigan). AMC’s first big product was the Rambler American which saved the newly formed company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Motors
Poor old thing .
These actually had a HUGE frontal crumple zone , you have to look under the hood to understand .
ALL old cars are death traps , this Nash isn’t any worse than the rest .
I dasn’t show this to the Nash Faithful , they’d all flip out .
-Nate
This brings back memories…my grandfather had a Nash Ambassador, which he would work on in front of our house when I was a tiny tot. He would let me climb all over it, which my father wouldn’t of let me do with his Olds.
He would keep it meticulously, in spite of his letting me crawl on it. He was a member of the UAW, and one of the first shop stewards at the Nash plant in Kenosha WI.
And a neighbor down the street had both a model train display in his basement and a Hudson Hornet in his driveway. The Nash and the Hudson were both stars of the neighborhood, at least to us young boys. Spaceships couldn’t have held our interest any more.