Tag: Nash

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“Repurposing” Car Parts

I started this post a couple of days ago and was going to begin by saying that, if your experience is anything like mine, you hear one question over and over when out buying car parts: “What are you going to make with that?” Well, it happened again this past weekend.

We attended the 42nd Annual Old Trusty Antique & Collectors Show in Clay Center, Nebraska, which includes a flea market. We were happy to find many desirable hubcaps that required multiple trips to the truck with arms full:

Starting at the top left and moving clockwise: Three Oldsmobile Fiesta-style tri-bar checkerboard aftermarket caps; a 73-87 Chevy 3/4-ton 12-inch dog dish; 1930 Buick wire wheel hubcap; 30-32 Chevy wire wheel hubcap set of four plus one aftermarket version with the dash in place of the bowtie; and three 64-66 Chevy truck hubcaps (one clip and two nub-style.

At one point a woman approached me to ask what I was doing with all those hubcaps. She said she was worried that she was missing out on some great new craft idea and seemed more than a little disappointed when I answered that I was going to sell them to people who needed them. . . for hubcaps. We never want to see car parts sent to the crusher but also aren’t crazy about perfectly good parts being used to make another clock or yard-art gizmo. Vintage and antique car parts have historical value, and we vastly prefer to get them into the hands of the restorers that need them to maintain the authenticity of their projects.

That being said, we do understand the love for old cars and their various sculptural parts, as well as the enjoyment that comes with surrounding yourself with them where you live. The internet is brimming with ideas for repurposing vintage car parts, but many of those ideas involve the partial, or total, destruction of the parts being used. If you are a person who likes to immerse yourself in the classic car aesthetic, here are some ideas for adding car parts to your decor while maintaining the integrity of the parts for future use:

These old Motorola radios have vibrant colors and a great vintage look, and here they were just piled up to make a small table or stand:

This vintage headlight bezel with chrome trim has been made into a mirror for a car-themed bathroom by sticking a round piece of glass into place with silicone. This bezel is from a 1956 Ford and has the original “buckskin tan” paint.

You can’t go wrong with a wall of hubcaps. From top to bottom, this one features Pontiac, Hudson Terraplane, Chevy, Nash Lafayette, Oldsmobile, and Ford dog dishes.

Emblem letters that are the stick-on type, or ones that are missing their mounting posts, can be made into magnets like these that spell “RAT ROD.”

Everyone loves a beautiful hood ornament, and a good way to display them is on chunks of wood with holes drilled into them to accommodate any mounting bolts still on the ornaments. They look so much better on a shelf than another made-in-China-by-slave-labor knick-knack.

Clockwise, from the top: a Brockway husky, a George Petty-designed Nash flying lady, and a Chevrolet golden gazelle accessory hood ornament.

This photo features a small cloche made with a sediment bowl. The glass bowl has only been modified with a wood craft piece stuck to the closed end with silicone. It sits on a base which is also made of wood.

Finally, if you embraced the galvanized metal trend and used it as wall covering or to encase a bar, it makes a great place to display old license plates with magnets. No nail holes required!

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The Easy-On Cap, Part of Eaton History

Eaton has manufactured parts for automobiles since the early days of the American automobile industry. The company was initially founded in 1911 by Joseph Oriel Eaton as Torbensen Gear and Axle Company to manufacture the first gear-driven truck axle. Originally located in New Jersey, the company moved to Cleveland in 1915. In 1916, it was incorporated as the Torbensen Axle Company.

The old cap pictured above is interesting for the inscription on the inside which is a part of Eaton’s history and also helps to pinpoint the date of manufacture. It is difficult to make out in the photos, but it reads, “THE EATON AXLE & SPRING CO. EASY-ON CAP DIV.”

The Torbensen Axle Company had become the Eaton Axle & Spring Company in 1923. Throughout the twenties and thirties, the company acquired other concerns involved in the automotive business, and one of those acquisitions was the Easy-On Cap Company. The Easy-On Cap had been invented by Dr. J. S. Reid of the Cleveland Health Department who had been looking for something more efficient than the threaded cap and came up with the Easy-On which was fastened by a simple half-turn. When Eaton purchased the company in July of 1928, the company was making about one million caps per month including gas, radiator, and oil caps. The Eaton company underwent another name change in 1932 when it became the Eaton Manufacturing Company, so the cap pictured must have originated sometime between the 1928 purchase of Easy-On Cap and the 1932 name change from Eaton Axle and Spring.

The Metal Polisher’s Union was apparently peeved at Easy-On for some reason in 1929, but Easy-On was in good company with Stant, Louisville Slugger and Winchester Repeating Arms also appearing on the Union’s plaintive “We Do Not Patronize” list:

The 1926 Nash came equipped with Easy-On oil and gas caps, and one automobile that featured a stock Easy-On radiator cap was the Silver Anniversary 1929 Buick.

By 1934, it was reported that one-third of American automobile manufacturers used Eaton bumpers, springs, and valves. A 1961 story about the company’s 50th anniversary said there was at least one Eaton-made part in every American-made truck and car on the road. The Eaton company underwent additional name changes before becoming the Eaton Corporation in 1971, but whatever it calls itself, it has played an important role in the history of the American automobile.

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A Trio of Nash Twin-Ignition Advertisements

The Nash Twin-Ignition motor was first introduced in June of 1928 for the company’s OHV engines, and I really like this 1929 Nash advertisement for its drawing and description of that particular innovation:

For 1930, Nash introduced its first eight, an OHV straight-eight with Twin-Ignition. With engine displacement of 298.6ci, it developed 100 bhp at 3200 rpm and was advertised as making 80 miles an hour in just three blocks:

The final one is from 1928, and it makes an airplane comparison by invoking the historic flights of Lindbergh, Goebel, and Byrd:

1930 Nash

Photo credit:
Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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The Liberty Lens, Manufactured by the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company

It never ceases to amaze me how many glass headlight lenses have managed to survive the rough-and-tumble of the last one hundred years or so. We purchased a large box of such lenses the other day, and two of them were marked “Liberty Lens” with patent dates of 1914 and 1920.

They were manufactured by Macbeth-Evans, a glass company that formed in 1899 when three separate companies combined. That move gave the new entity control of the five largest “lamp chimney” factories in the United States. Like all manufacturers, Macbeth-Evans had to adjust with the changing times, and that included the manufacturing of lenses for automobiles.

States were enacting laws in the teens and twenties regarding headlight glare and acceptable lenses, and Macbeth-Evans wasn’t afraid to use fear of law enforcement as a marketing tool. The advertisement below declares, “State Highway patrols will accost all motorists whose lights do not comply with the new law. Everybody violating the new law will be subject to arrest, a $25 fine, or 5 days’ imprisonment.”

The Liberty lenses were flat with “seven horizontal and six vertical prisms” that controlled and distributed the light, free from glare.

These lenses were available for any motorist to purchase, but, according to these advertisements, they also came as standard equipment on some makes. This ad from 1923 specifically mentions Studebaker:

This advertisement from 1920 enumerates the many different makes that utilized Liberty lenses as standard equipment, including Packard and Nash, so you might keep an eye out for a pair if you own one of the automobiles on this list:

1918 Case Six with a Liberty Lens on the passenger side. This car is located at Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska.
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A Baby Nash, Featuring The “Foreign Look”

This adorable turquoise and white Metropolitan was sold at a recent auction in our area:

This is a 1958 model, but the Metropolitan was first introduced by Nash in 1954 after 11 years of research in the small-car field.  It was not intended to replace the family car but to “provide a discriminating answer for the suburban housewife” as a second car.  The diminutive Metropolitan had a wheelbase of only 85 inches, an overall length of 149.5”, width of 61.5” and height of 54.5”. 

In order to keep production costs down, Nash farmed out the manufacture of the Metropolitan to Austin in Birmingham, England.  It was initially powered by the A-40, a 4-cylinder OHV 42-hp Austin engine, had a top speed of around 80 mph and achieved 40 mpg at “normal highway speeds”. The A-40 was replaced by the larger 52-hp A-50 in 1956.

In 1954, the hardtop sold for $1445 and the convertible for $1469.  The Metropolitan incorporated many of the styling details of the full-size Nash automobiles, but was said to feature “the foreign look” (as if that were a good thing) while still being built to American standards.

The Metropolitan survived Nash’s merger with Hudson and the creation of the American Motors Corporation, but it’s styling was dated by the time the 1960s rolled around and the last Metropolitans were sold in 1962.

Sources:

“Nash Motors Unveils New Small Car.”  The Chattanooga Times, 18 March 1954, p. 45.

“Nash Motors Unveils the Metropolitan.”  The Selma Times-Journal, 21 March 1954, p. 25.

“Nash Offers Newest Small Car.”  The Miami News, 19 March 1954, p. 20-A.

“Nash Unveils 40 Miles Per Gallon Model.” Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph, 18 March 1954, p. 8.

“New Nash Metropolitan Features Economy, Ruggedness, Fine Styling.” The Knoxville Journal, 18 March 1954, p. 12.

“New U.S. Cars Combine Beauty, Style, Economy.” The Iola Register, 11 March 1954, p. 12.

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LaFayette

Some of the more intriguing radiator badges are the ones that feature portraits such as the one of Teddy Roosevelt found on the Marmon Roosevelt and this one, found on the LaFayette:

In October of 1919, it was announced that a motor company was being formed to start manufacturing a new automobile in Indianapolis. It was called LaFayette Motors Co. and Charles Nash was the president.

1919 LaFayette Advertisement

The new automobile was named for the Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat who fought with American colonists against the British during the American Revolutionary War. Lafayette was a tremendous asset during the fight for American independence, providing tactical leadership and securing vital aid from France including troops and supplies. Lafayette spent that terrible winter at Valley Forge with George Washington, and they formed a lasting friendship. The Marquis even named his only son Georges Washington de Lafayette and famously said, “I gave my heart to the Americans and thought of nothing else but raising my banner and adding my colors to theirs.”

1921 LaFayette Advertisment

In light of the Marquis’ relationship with America, it is no surprise that someone in the automobile industry saw fit to honor his memory. One 1920 story states that the engineers and designers of the new automobile studied the memoirs of the “liberty-loving marquis” and that several refinements and appointments of the new V8-powered luxury car had a historic conception. The choice of materials such as silver and walnut woodwork were influenced by French art of the period. The radiator badge, like the one seen above, was a cameo of Lafayette. It featured onyx framed in silver and was said to resemble something made by 18th century craftsmen. The gracefully scrolled monogram used by Lafayette on his private stationary was used on the hub caps and hood ornament.

1936 LaFayette

The company moved to Wisconsin to cut costs but still struggled to make a profit and stopped production altogether in 1924. The name was revived by Nash during the ’30s, but no longer as a luxury car. It is a shame that the automobile didn’t experience greater success, because Lafayette certainly deserved the tribute.

When the government violates the people’s rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties.

– Marquis de Lafayette

1924 LaFayette Advertisement

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The Least Expensive Date You Ever Had

A few years ago my husband brought home a box of hood ornaments for my anniversary present (he knows me so well)!   Among them was this streamlined beauty:

This gorgeous gal originally flew on the hood of a Nash, and she is autographed by George Petty, the artist that designed her:

George Petty was the original American pin-up girl artist.  Petty’s career shifted into high gear after he went to work for a brand-new magazine called Esquire in 1933.  The Petty Girl became the standard in advertising and was also overwhelmingly popular with American servicemen during WWII.   Hundreds of American bombers featured a Petty Girl on the fuselage including the renowned Memphis Belle, the first bomber to return to the United States after completing 25 missions over Europe.   Ernie Pyle, famed war correspondent, wrote from Tunisia in 1943 that “Petty’s drawing of his famous girl stretched out on her stomach musing about something is tacked up in hundreds of soldier billets in North Africa.”

My hood ornament was designed for the 1950 Airflyte according to this piece from the Late Fall 1949 issue of Nash Airflyte Magazine:

It reads:  “This new Nash Flying Lady was created especially for the 1950 Airflyte (both Ambassador and Statesman models) by the famous George Petty of Petty Girl renown.  Her wide wings and soft contours, finished in heavy chrome, will add a distinctive note to your car.  You can get this stunning ornament (for any Nash Airflyte model) from your Nash dealer – she’ll be the least expensive date you ever had!”

This hood ornament was used again in 1951.  This excerpt appeared in the 1951 Nash Accessories brochure:

Petty went on to design another hood ornament for Nash, and his designs stand out even among the other beautiful and aerodynamic hood ornaments of the 1950s.   What a glorious time period it was in American automobile history, one filled with style, class and individuality.

 

1950 Nash

1951 Nash