Battista Pinin Farina and Nash - a view

[JDaly]

I recently reached back into our family's Nash car history to delve into how Pinin Farina played in.

I captured it here in this Substack Post

 

and here's a summary in the message:

My Families' Cars and Key Industry Pivots: Pinin Farina Style - Stateside

Pivotal moments in automotive history - What Nash "coulda" been.

John Daly

13 min ago

 

 

In 1953 my father joined the Kelvinator Appliance division of Nash-Kelvinator. He would rise to become manager of northeast sales for Kelvinator.

Much to the joy of us car-focused children, the company fitted him out with a new Nash “company” car every 6 months. In the Summer of 1953 he and my mother were driving this 1953 Nash Ambassador Custom Sedan

 

1953 Nash Ambassador Custom Sedan – Mecum Lot F104

A nicely styled car for its day I would say.

We all fit comfortably:

How did a car company tie itself to a refrigerator and appliance company?

Mr. Charles W. Nash founder of Nash Motors was looking for a successor. His friend Walter Chrysler told him that the best available was a George W. Mason, who had worked for Chrysler for a time but since then had been advancing a struggling refrigerator company into Kelvinator Corporation a now profitable appliance company second only to GM’s Frigidaire in market share. Mr. Mason held a reputation as the best executive in the [auto] business. Nash wanted him and Mason could dictate terms, which were that for him to take over Nash, Nash must incorporate Kelvinator and the new company formed in 1937 and run by Mason became….

 

 

Mr. Mason saw industry trends with a clarity and vision that few others in the U.S. had. For one thing he understood, soon after taking on Nash, that the small auto makers, which in 1950 numbered 7, did not command the manufacturing scale and development resources to compete with the big three who by then dominated the market with 90% share. He understood that to survive Nash must either pick a market niche to dominate or somehow gain scale. He worked diligently to convince all the other leading independents to join forces, pool research and manufacturing and thus compete with the big three.

“…General Motors and Ford Motor Company were locked in a battle for market supremacy that started in 1945 when Ford's new president, Henry Ford II, had a burning desire to make his company number one again. By 1953, all of the independent automobile manufacturers were also feeling the after effects of Henry Ford’s plan to dump tens of thousands of vehicles into the market at discounted prices to try and wrestle the top automotive manufacturing title from GM. General Motors responded by doing the same. With the market flooded by inexpensive cars, Studebaker, Packard, Willys, Hudson, Kaiser Motors, and Nash were all unable to sell their vehicles at loss leader prices to keep up with Ford and GM. The "frantic 1953–54 Ford/GM price war" devastated the remaining "independent" automakers.”1

Unless Mason could get them to unite they would dissolve. He started with Hudson and was well on his way to corral Packard, Willys and Studebaker before sudden illness cut his life short at 63.

George Romney took over but without Mason’s system-wide wisdom and ability, he scuttled the consolidation plans!

Even as he was making these macro industry consolidating efforts Mason was at the same time constantly looking for ways to allow Nashes to stand out and capture a niche. An international man, he regularly toured the major European Auto Shows. He appreciated the European sense of art and style. He worked with British engineer Donald Healey to create the Nash Healey. Mason negotiated with several European companies before selecting the UK’s Austin Motor Company to develop the Nash Metropolitan.

And more to our current focus he greatly appreciated the work of Battista “Pinin” Farina, of Turin, Italy, particularly his Lancia Aurelia:

 

 

 

Lancia Aurelia B20 GT 1951 (First Series) - Mr. Chopper’s own work

Mr. Farina by 1949 had developed a reputation as a leading car designer. Ferrari’s would follow. At the end of 1945 he had designed the Cisitalia 202 Coupé - an elegantly proportioned design with a low hood, it is the car that usually is given credit for establishing Pininfarina (the firm)'s reputation. The Pininfarina design was honored in the Museum of Modern Art's landmark presentation "Eight Automobiles" in 1951.

 

 

Museum of Modern Art MOMA

Mr. Mason, aware of Nash’s limited and narrow design capabilities --the company had a small styling section attached to Engineering, but no real design office-- sought to contract with Farina to redesign Nash’s top of the line Aeroflyte car bodies and more. Mason deputized V.P. George Romney to “make it happen.” And it did. “In late 1949, Nash-Kelvinator vice president Romney signed an agreement with Pinin Farina to design cars for Nash. The Pinin Farina contract specified that the Italian firm would build a certain number of full-size prototypes of various Nash cars. The first two were for the 1952 Nash senior cars—the Golden Airflte models—and the 1952 Nash-Healey..Farina's proposal for the 1952 Ambassador was rejected as too ‘European' for American tastes.”2

Farina delivered. He redesigned the Nash Healey in 1953 masterfully. The Pinin Farina-bodied Nash-Healeys featured “curvaceous bodies, and a distinctive a new grille with inset headlamps (a styling motif that would eventually show up on the 1955 Ambassador), a one piece windshield and flared rear fenders that kicked up into proto-tailfins.”3

 

 

Two 1953 Nash Healeys By CZmarlin — Christopher Ziemnowicz Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99299717

 

 

Closeup - PininFarina Badge on 1953 Nash-Healey (by Dill Pixels)

… and he got to work building the prototype Nash that would lift Nashes into the lead. Shortly after the May 1954 merging of Nash and Hudson that created the American Motors Company, Romney tasked Pinin Farina with designing and building a proposal for a 1955 or 1956 "senior" Nash—and the result is the Pinin Farina Speciale. It seems AMC never displayed the Farina 1955 Nash prototype in the U.S. It looks like a much more modern car with classic lines and beauty.

 

 

1955 Nash Ambassador Pinin Farina Speciale - Hemmings

But alas, the designer team in Kenosha - headed by Ed Anderson, no doubt with a high dose of “not invented here” mentality rejected Farina’s body designs as “too European”! They went ahead with their own designs for the Nash Ambassador and Statesman keeping just a few of Farina’s design elements. e.g. the car's distinctive 1954 Airflyte-style instrument cluster and steering wheel…

 

 

1953 Nash Ambassador Custom Sedan – Mecum Lot F104

That did not stop them from leveraging the Farina connection when marketing these cars though.

 

 

As Though It Were Built For You Alone Magazine ad from August 4, 1952 10.25″x14″

 

And so it played out. Nash’s could have become beautiful but they pushed aside Farina. Nash could have been part of a much larger auto company if Mason had succeeded in consolidating the independents before he died.

Mr. Romney valiantly and diligently pushed American Motors up the Sisyphean Hill of attaining some market share against the big three. But it could never get enough.

But … for one short moment of glory, Nashes ruled the aesthetic heights of the automotive industry.

 

 

 

A special shout out to my cousin Tom Dempsey who introduced all of us to this story of Pinin Farina and Nash Motor Cars. Thanks Tom.

Morals of the Story

 

1. CEO’s have only so many levers to move; the management team and workers must share the mission and culture or it does not fly. (Farina styling stymied)

2. Managers and owners will resist giving up control (i.e. independents consolidating under Mason) even if it means the death of their firms. (It did)

3. Style… cannot be measured .. but it counts. Big time.

___________________________________

Notes:

 

1952 Nash archives. (n.d.). Chuck's Toyland. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://www.chuckstoyland.com/category/automotive/nash-rambler/nash/nash-1952/
Magazine ad mentioning Pinin Farina

1953 Nash ambassador custom Sedan | F104 | Monterey 2010 | Mecum auctions. (2010, August 12). Mecum Auctions. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.mecum.com/lots/CA0810-96634/1953-nash-ambassador-custom-sedan/
The Nash " In 1952, Nash completely redesigned its Statesman and Ambassador model lines in recognition of its 50th anniversary. Advertised as “Golden Airflytes”, these innovative and well-engineered cars featured more conservative, squared-off styling that retained the fully skirted wheel housings of the earlier models. In addition, the legendary Italian designer Pinin Farina contributed the attractive chrome grille and fashionable three-element rear window treatment, as well as a beautiful instrument panel."

Bonhams : 1952 Lancia Aurelia B10 saloon chassis no. B10 6177. (n.d.). Bonhams. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/15487/lot/143/?category=list

Coles, S. (2012, May 29). Chromeography. Tumblr. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://chromeography.com/post/23992486853/last-friday-we-preached-the-gospel-of
From Tom Dempsey - Stephen Coles is Editorial Director & Associate Curator at Letterform Archive in San Francisco. He also co-publishes Fonts In Use and Typographica. Previously, Stephen wrote the book The Anatomy of Type and was a creative director at FontShop. He talks about Kelvinator and Nash He shares his life with Laura Serra.

Foster, P. (2022, March 14). A Nash that never was. Hemmings. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/car-culture/classics/a-nash-that-never-was

George W. Mason. (2022, February 2). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Mason

Just a moment... (n.d.). Just a moment... https://www.moma.org/collection/works/3498

Kelvinator Corporation. (n.d.). Detroit Historical Society | Where the past is present. https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/kelvinator-corporation#:~:text=In%201937%2C%20the%20Kelvinator%20Corporation,companies%20before%20coming%20to%20Kelvinator

Ligo, J. (2022, July 26). How mitt Romney's dad convinced America to give compact cars a chance. The Drive. https://www.thedrive.com/news/how-mitt-romneys-dad-convinced-america-to-give-compact-cars-a-chance

Magneto | Adobe fonts. (n.d.). Adobe Fonts | Explore unlimited fonts. https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/magneto

McCourt, M. (2018, September 23). 1955 Nash ambassador Pinin farina Speciale. Hemmings. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/1955-nash-ambassador-pinin-farina-speciale
great picture of car that never went beyond prototype

Schreiber, R. (2014, August 2). Stereo realists: Donald Healey, George Mason and how the 3D craze led to the Nash-Healey. thetruthaboutcars.com. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/08/stereo-realists-donald-healey-george-mason-and-how-the-3d-craze-led-to-the-nash-healey/
most comprehensive review

Schreiber, R. (2014, August 2). Stereo realists: Donald Healey, George Mason and how the 3D craze led to the Nash-Healey. thetruthaboutcars.com. https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/08/stereo-realists-donald-healey-george-mason-and-how-the-3d-craze-led-to-the-nash-healey/

Straight-line style - 1955 ambassador custom. (2022, September 11). Hemmings. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/straight-line-style-1955-ambassador-custom

Tate, R. (2016, September 19). MotorCities - Remembering the great George Walter Mason | 2016 | Story of the week. MotorCities National Heritage Area. https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2016/remembering-the-great-george-walter-mason

1

George W. Mason. (2022, February 2). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Mason

 

2

McCourt, M. (2018, September 23). 1955 Nash ambassador Pinin farina Speciale. Hemmings. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/1955-nash-ambassador-pinin-farina-speciale

 

3

Schreiber, R. (2014, August 2). Stereo realists: Donald Healey, George Mason and how the 3D craze led to the Nash-Healey. thetruthaboutcars.com. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/08/stereo-realists-donald-healey-george-mason-and-how-the-3d-craze-led-to-the-nash-healey/

[alsancle]

Might just be me, but the photos are not coming through

[JDaly]

Alsancle, 

Right, these pictures did not come through.

Probably the best way to read this with pictures and video is right on Substack here

i.e. click the link above and it will bring you there.

Thanks fore your interest,

John Daly

 

[alsancle]

The subject of the article.

 

[JDaly]

Yes. Thanks. And if the Nash team had gone all in with Pinin Farina's design sense. The line might have eventually looked like this.

 

 

McCourt, M. (2018, September 23). 1955 Nash ambassador Pinin farina Speciale. Hemmings. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/1955-nash-ambassador-pinin-farina-speciale
great picture of car that never went beyond prototype