1932 Nash Ambassador Eight Victoria

Charles Nash took over the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in 1916 and renamed the cars after himself. In 1930, he introduced a straight eight that was unlike any other eight. It had a displacement of 298.6 cubic-inches and offered 100 horsepower. By 1932, it was enlarged to 322 cubic-inches and produced an additional 25 horsepower. A second series of cars, introduced in March of 1932, offered a top-of-the-line Ambassador series with coachwork by the Seaman Body Corporation, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Seaman had roots in the furniture business, which began in 1847, when Alonzo Seaman migrated to Milwaukee.

Around 1909, Seaman got into the automobile coach-building business, and in the decades that followed, the W.S. Seaman Co. counted nearly 30 automakers as customers, prominent among them being Case, Chalmers, Locomobile, Packard, and the Thomas B. Jeffrey Company of Kenosha. Seaman built the preponderance of Nash bodies through the period.

This Victoria Coupe was once part of the Bill Harrah Collection. In 1985, it was purchased by John E. Morang at the Harrah's dispersal auction in Reno. A full restoration commenced the following year, and the car was finished in two shades of metallic silver with medium-grey fenders and moldings. The interior was done in medium grey cloth. The car rides on artillery wheels with wood spokes and wide whitewall tires.

The car wears a CCCA Premier medallion, number 2567, which was earned after progressing through First and Senior judging. It also completed the CCCA's Blue Bonnet CARavan in Texas.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2014