Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[jamespowers]

Do any of you gents own or have any experience with late-thirties Nash products? There's a 1938 Ambassador Six that's caught my eye, and before I approach the seller I want to know what I should be looking for. This being New England, I know enough to look underneath for rust, etc., but are there any particular issues for this make that I should know about? Any reason why I should run as far as possible in the other direction? Any advice would be appreciated before I take any further steps.

Is that the car where the front seat folds flat to the rear seat offering an instant bed? The "make out seat" was not at all endearing to parents of the time.
I would say go for it if the body is in good condition, the engine runs and the car drives well. Your drawbacks are parts for cars this old and kind of odd models. I am sure there are clubs that would know more about parts availability and such though.
Price is one thing I would certainly be concerned with. Haggle like a pro.
Let us know how it goes.

 

[David Conwill]

I could be wrong, but I believe the Nash flathead six survived as the standard Rambler engine into the mid-1960s, which would be a point in its favor.

I also believe '38 predates unit construction on the Ambassador, which would make rust and damage repair easier.

 

[jamespowers]

I could be wrong, but I believe the Nash flathead six survived as the standard Rambler engine into the mid-1960s, which would be a point in its favor.

I also believe '38 predates unit construction on the Ambassador, which would make rust and damage repair easier.

I am not sure but I found this link that might help:
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/nash.html

 

[LizzieMaine]

Excellent stuff, gents -- thanx.

The "Nash Bed" is a feature I've always liked -- the car we owned when I was very small had one, and I was fascinated by the idea of being able to live in one's car if everything went south. In this day and age it seems like even more of an advantage.

This particular car looks to be in decent shape, and is listed for $6900, but he had it up for over two months with no takers at that price, which sort of caught my notice. I'm going to make some inquries and find out if there's a reason why nobody snapped it up.

 

[jamespowers]

Excellent stuff, gents -- thanx.

The "Nash Bed" is a feature I've always liked -- the car we owned when I was very small had one, and I was fascinated by the idea of being able to live in one's car if everything went south. In this day and age it seems like even more of an advantage.

This particular car looks to be in decent shape, and is listed for $6900, but he had it up for over two months with no takers at that price, which sort of caught my notice. I'm going to make some inquries and find out if there's a reason why nobody snapped it up.

That price is what they go for here. I think you should be able to get the price down by a grand at least as it isn't a "california car." Just be careful to look at everything. I am pretty sure you will though.

 

[JohnRutherford]

Wow, you guys are lucky to have such great cars and be mechanically inclined. I however, am not, but there is an excellent daily driver at a body shop near my home I am quite interested in. It's a '59 Rambler Rebel with the 327 V-8. I don't know how much it costs as of yet, but it's a real beauty let me tell you.

 

[jamespowers]

Wow, you guys are lucky to have such great cars and be mechanically inclined. I however, am not, but there is an excellent daily driver at a body shop near my home I am quite interested in. It's a '59 Rambler Rebel with the 327 V-8. I don't know how much it costs as of yet, but it's a real beauty let me tell you.

Well, at least engine parts are readily available.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Nash was a quality car in the medium price bracket. They emphasized their comfortable ride, sound proof bodies, and excellent heating and ventilation system. The Nash conditioned air system was the first integrated heating system that brought in fresh air from outside the car, heated it, and distributed it to the windshield defroster and heater outlets. Previous car heaters were a tin box that reheated the stale air already in the cabin.

They were not considered a hot performer, but a reliable comfortable family car. I never heard of any particular weak points.

One drawback might be relative rarity, and the difficulty of finding parts. But this is true of any thirties car, with the exception of Ford and Chev. To offset this there are a couple of Nash owners' clubs with members who are quite dedicated to keeping them on the road.

The Ambassador was top of the line. Earlier models had a straight eight engine but I believe the 38s had an OHV six. (Correction, in 1938 they offered both 6 and 8 cylinder Ambassadors).They had both OHV and flathead sixes, which they made until their V8 debuted in 1955. So, engine parts may not be too hard to get as they were made for many years.

Incidentally the Ambassador had coil spring suspension on all 4 wheels, and torque tube drive. Only Buick and Ambassador offered this type of suspension. It gave a pillowy ride but cost more money than regular leaf springs. Lesser Nashes had the conventional leaf spring suspension at the back, coil springs at the front.

Another unique feature was dual ignition. Some models had 2 spark plugs in each cylinder. This was supposed to improve economy, power and reliability. No one else had done this except for a few ultra luxury cars in the Rolls Royce class and they dropped it by the late 20s. Today, some very sophisticated racing engines have dual ignition.

It would be interesting to know what model you are looking at. If you can give some details about condition, I can look it up in my Old Cars Price Guide.

 

[Stanley Doble]

The 59 Rambler Rebel on the other hand, was a hot performing car. This was Rambler's performance offering, putting the 327 V8 from the bigger Ambassador into the lighter Rambler body. Incidentally the 327 was AMC's own design and owed nothing to the better known Chev 327. In fact the AMC 327 came out several years before the Chev.

The Rebel was a hot car, it could give the Corvette a push and beat just about any car on the road at that time, with the possible exception of the Chrysler 300.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here's the ad -- http://maine.craigslist.org/cto/3050496446.html Hard to tell too much from the pictures, but it looks pretty solid. (And he's dropped the price to $6500)

 

[Rathdown]

Lizzie, the 1938 Nash Ambassador Six is actually a nicer car than any of its "mid-range" competitors from Ford, GM, or Chrysler, in terms of ride. One could argue about style all day long, but in my opinion the Nash is a nice looking car.

Looking at the photos of the car car on CL, I note what appears to be staining on the seats; this would tend to suggest that the car will need a new interior at some point in the future. From what I can see of the paint it appears to be in good shape and would probably respond to a good cleaning with a clay bar and a wax and polish, something I'd recommend be done twice a year (beginning of summer and again in late fall/early winter). The chrome looks good and everything looks okay under the hood. You will need new tires, even if the ones on the car are showing lots of tread. Tires deteriorate even when cars are parked and really only have a safe life span of about 5 years, regardless of mileage.

If you are seriously thinking about buying the car you should do three things:

(1) go look at the car and decide if the over-all condition meets your standards (can you live with the interior or is it a "replace immediately" item?);

(2) drive the car for at least 20-30 minutes, both in town and out on the interstate, and ask yourself if you'd be happy using this car to run to the grocery store on a daily basis;

(3) have a mechanic who is familiar with old cars check out the mechanical condition of the car (with shop rates between $50 and $60 per hour any major work that may be required could possibly cost as much to carry out as you paid for the car).

The best advice I can give you is to remember that you by an old car as much with your heart as you do your head; those who rely on the former often come financially unstuck. Those who rely on the later often miss some of life's greatest pleasures. If you really like the car, and you are prepared to spend what it takes to make it a nice daily driver, then I suggest you go for it.

 

[GoldenEraFan]

Anybody recognize this. I'm friends with the owner of the local antique shop and she has no idea about it. She thinks it might be an old windshield. I'm not sure; it has me stumped.

I remember seeing that type of window on a Baker Electric.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Old Cars Report Price Guide says #3 condition, $6800 #4 condition, $3020. It looks like a #4 right now but some elbow grease and some attention from a good mechanic could make it a #.

It is impossible to say for sure without seeing the car but that should give you an idea.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, I've gotten a bit more information on the Nash -- turns out it's an Arkansas car this guy has owned for the past eight years or so with the idea of doing a full restoration, but hasn't had the time and is now thinning out the herd. So it hasn't been exposed to seventy years of New England road salt, and rust is minimal. The interior is not flawless but it's complete and in reasonable shape.

However, there are problems with the brakes -- he says the hydraulics work, but the brakes pull to the right, and would Need Work to be made roadworthy. So, I dunno -- I don't see paying $6500 for something I can't immediately drive home, but depending on how much work it needs that might not be insurmountable. I'm the type to change my own oil and such, but I've never touched a set of brakes, and wouldn't really want to start now -- so anyone got any idea how much work something like this might be?

 

[jamespowers]

Well, I've gotten a bit more information on the Nash -- turns out it's an Arkansas car this guy has owned for the past eight years or so with the idea of doing a full restoration, but hasn't had the time and is now thinning out the herd. So it hasn't been exposed to seventy years of New England road salt, and rust is minimal. The interior is not flawless but it's complete and in reasonable shape.

However, there are problems with the brakes -- he says the hydraulics work, but the brakes pull to the right, and would Need Work to be made roadworthy. So, I dunno -- I don't see paying $6500 for something I can't immediately drive home, but depending on how much work it needs that might not be insurmountable. I'm the type to change my own oil and such, but I've never touched a set of brakes, and wouldn't really want to start now -- so anyone got any idea how much work something like this might be?

Brakes pulling one way or the other is usually due to an adjustment problem. You have to pull the wheels and hubs to check and adjust the brakes properly. What is involved goes something like this:
Pull both front wheels,both brake drums..spray clean all of the brake components with brake cleaner and a stiff plastic bristled brush. Adjust both wheel cylinders out evenly until the shoes are touching the drum evenly on both sides. After you reassemble the drums and bolt them on,bleed the brakes using new brake fluid. Pay attention to what comes out of which side as you may have a collapsed brake line or trash in one side even if adjusting and cleaning and bleeding doesn't fix it. If you're unable to get anything out of one side remove the bleeder screw and check for blockage. If it isn't clogged then remove that sides soft brake line from the t fitting and the backing plate see if you can get air to blow through it using compressed air.
It could also be due to sitting too long and a wheel cylinder could be seized. You would have to replace the seized cylinder at the worst or just clean and rebuild it at best.
The last thing I could see that would cause such pulling would be a suspension problem. A worn lower ball joint would cause the suspension to roll when braking and cause pulling to the worn side.
Now all of this is what I know from 50s cars so some of the parts and nomenclature might be a bit different. None of these problems is a big job it just takes time. If you can't do it then it also takes money. About $250 would be minimum if it is something fairly simple---like adjustment. The suspension thing is a tougher fix and finding the parts harder.
I hope that helps.

 

[Rathdown]

With drum brakes you can generally allow $125 per wheel, plus labour. All in, I'd suspect you are looking at about $800, max, to get the car to safely stop. Just remember this: driving an old car anywhere is optional. Getting it to stop, once you arrive, is mandatory.

All things being equal, I'd ask the seller to split the cost of the brake job with you if you decide to buy the car.

 

[jamespowers]

With drum brakes you can generally allow $125 per wheel, plus labour. All in, I'd suspect you are looking at about $800, max, to get the car to safely stop. Just remember this: driving an old car anywhere is optional. Getting it to stop, once you arrive, is mandatory.

All things being equal, I'd ask the seller to split the cost of the brake job with you if you decide to buy the car.

Wow! I thought my mechanic was expensive.:eusa_doh:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yeah, I'm beginning to think this one's going to be out of my range. Pity, too, because it's the sort of car I could definitely live with. Ah well, all I can do is keep looking...

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Who on earth charges that much for brake work?!

 

[jamespowers]

Who on earth charges that much for brake work?!

We are both in the wrong business my friend.