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1933 Nash Ambassador Twin 8 Convertible Sedan

  • Chassis Number: 1350SP
Many early 1930's Nash's were sumptuous, beautifully styled automobiles with extensive special features. But the firm also sold low-priced cars with an ordinary side-valve six engine. For 1930-32, this was a 201.3 cubic-inch engine with 60-70 horsepower; for 1933, it grew to 217.7 cubic-inches and 75 horsepower. Series were variously titled 'Single Six' (1930), '660' (1931), '960' (1932), and 'Big Six' (1932-33).

Prices started at around $1,000 in 1930 but were later lowered to the $800-$900 range to spur sales in the Depression-crushed market. In 1932-33 came a bored-out 247.4-cid engine with 85 horsepower for Standard and Special Eights (Series 1070/1080), listing at $1,000-$1,500. The smaller eights generally sold for just below $1,000.

Nash persisted with classically upright styling through 1934 even though other makes were shifting to a rounder, more streamlined look. Body styles in all early 1930s seires encompassed the most popular period types: closed sedans, touring car, victoria, rumble-seat coupe, roadster, and convertible cabriolet. Seven-passenger sedans and limousines on wheelbases of 133 and 1942 inches were cataloged for the six- and eight-cylinder Twin Ignition lines.

Nash: A Brief History

Charles J. Nash's life story would have made a wonderful Horatio Alger novel, except that it was true. Born in 1864, he was abandoned by his parents at age six. He became indentured to a Michigan farmer where he was legally bound to stay until he turned 21. But Charlie ran away at age twelve, learned to be a carpenter, worked in a grocery store and, in the early 1890s, was hired by the Flint Road Cart Company, a firm owned by William C. Durant.

In 1895 Nash was appointed manger of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, in 1910 he was running Buick, and two years later became president of General Motors! After a disagreement with Durant in 1916 he resigned from GM, went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, with a business partner and bought the venerable Thomas J. Jeffery Company, producers of the Rambler and the Jeffery, for $9 million.

In that same year the first Nash automobile appeared. By 1919 Nash was selling 27,000 cars a year, and in 1920 Nash expanded into the luxury class with the $5,000 LeFayette V-8, which would ultimately prove to be a big money loser. But Nash was highly profitable and productive; in 1923 more than 50,000 cars were built for a net profit of $9.3 million, and the company recovered from the LaFayette failure without missing a beat.

Nash's next new car was the 1925 Ajax, a $995 car whose name was changed to Nash Light Six in 1926. However, the most fabulous Nash of all debuted in 1930, the dual-ignition overhead-valve inline eight, initially rated at 100 bhp.

Nash went through the Depression in relatively good financial shape and by 1937 enjoyed its best year of the decade with 85,949 cars sold. Besides its innovative heating and defrosting system, the big news was its introduction of unit body construction in 1941. After building Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines during WWII, Nash emerged into postwar production healthier than ever. But Charlie Nash's health was failing and on June 6, 1948, he died, having traveled an amazing and uniquely American journey from abject poverty to being a titan of the 20th century's most dynamic industry.

The 1933 Nash Ambassador
Ambassadors were offered in two wheelbases: 133 inch and 142 inch. The overhead-valve engines in these cars were equipped with nine main bearings and carried dual ignition as standard equipment while a 3-speed gearbox and worm drive completed the drivetrain. The convertible sedan was offered only on the 123 inch wheelbase and carried a factory price of $1,875. These big cars tipped the scales at nearly 2.25 tons and, as might be imagined, production was minuscule. Indeed, the entire Nash production in all series for 1933 was just 14,973 cars.

This Car
The subject of a bolt-by-bolt restoration by the Ohio-based shop of Dale Adams on behalf of then-owner Thomas J. Lester, this car has won - and continues to win - important club and concours competitions. It holds an AACA National Senior and Grand National award; won the first President's Cup at Pebble Beach, including a first prize at the 1994 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance; and garnered awards at Amelia Island, The Eastern United States Concours and the Greenwich Concours.

This car carried a host of features found only on the finest cars of 1933, including a Bijur chassis-lubrication system. There are dual side-mounts, of course, along with chrome wire wheels, lap roles and accessory Pilot-Ray driving lights.

It is one of only three Ambassador convertible sedans built in 1933 and is believed to be the only one in existence today.

This is one of the few Nash-built cars recognized as a Full Classic by the CCCA.

Source - Gooding & Company

No auction information available for this vehicle at this time.

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(Data based on Model Year 1933 sales)

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