Hudson Rambler Second Generation 1953-1955
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1955 Nash Rambler 4-door Cross Country wagon
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The Rambler received its first restyling in 1953, and resembled the "senior" Nash models that had received all-new "Airflyte" styling the year before.
The new styling was again credited to Italian automobile designer Battista "Pinin" Farina. The hood line was lowered and a new hood ornament, designed by George Petty was optional. The "racy" ornament "was a sexy woman leaning into the future, bust down and pointing the way."
The standard engines were increased with manual transmission cars receiving a 184 cu in (3.0 L) I6 producing 85 hp (63 kW; 86 PS), while a 90 hp (67 kW; 91 PS) 195.6 cu in (3.2 L) I6 powered cars with the optional "Hydra-Matic" automatic supplied by General Motors. The Custom models added Nash's "Weather Eye" heating and ventilation system, as well as a radio as standard equipment, with the convertible and hardtop versions all getting a continental tire at no extra cost.
The marketing campaign focused on the Nash Rambler as a second family car. Advertisements also featured the wife of Jimmy Stewart and her Country Club 2-door hardtop she described as "a woman's dream-of-a-car come true!" and promoting buyers to spend "one wonderful hour" test driving to discover how "among two-car families - four out of five prefer to drive their Rambler."
A survey of owners of 1953 Ramblers conducted by Popular Mechanics indicated the majority listed their car's economy as the feature they like best. After they had driven a total of 1,500,000 miles (2,400,000 km), owners' complaints included a lack of rear seat legroom, water leaks, and poor dimmer switch position, but none of the Rambler drivers rated acceleration as unsatisfactory. Fully 29 percent had no complaints and "only four percent of Rambler owners described the car as too small and 67 percent rated their Ramblers as excellent over-all."
Production for the model year was 31,788 and included 9 Deliveryman models in the station wagon body, 15,255 Country Club hardtops, 10,598 Convertible Landaus, 10,600 Custom station wagons (of which 3,536 were in the Greenbrier trim and 7,035 with 3M's DI-NOC simulated wood-grain trim), and 1,114 standard wagons.
1954
After offering only two-door-only models, Nash introduced a four-door sedan and a four-door station wagon in the Nash Rambler line starting with the 1954 model year. This was the automaker's response to demands of larger families for more roomy Ramblers. The four-door body styles rode on a longer, 108 in (2,743 mm) wheelbase. Following the industry practice at the time, the heater and radio were now made optional. Added to the option list was Nash's exclusive integrated automobile air conditioning system, a "very sophisticated setup" for the time incorporated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in one system that was "priced lower than any other competing system; at $345, it was a remarkable advance."
The four-door Rambler sedan was at first only available in "Custom" trim. The "Country Club" hardtop became available in the lower-priced "Super" trim and without the "Custom" model's standard Continental tire (external spare tire carrier). The 4-door station wagons were designated Cross Country and featured an unusual roofline that followed the slope of the sedan's roof and then dipped down before leveling and continuing rearward. The design by Bill Reddig allowed the use of the same dies to produce door framing for sedans and station wagons, while the dip in the rear portion of the roof included a roof rack as standard equipment to reduce the visual effect of the wagon's lowered roofline.
There was turmoil in the U.S. automobile market as the Ford-Chevy sales war broke out and the two largest domestic automakers cut prices to gain sales volume. This battle decimated the remaining independent automakers in their search for customers. This marketing war put a squeeze on the much smaller independent automakers so even though the Nash Rambler economy cars proved popular, they were not particularly profitable.
On May 1, 1954, Nash and Hudson Motor Car Company announced a merger, and the successor corporation was named American Motors Corporation (AMC). Following the merger, Hudson dealers began receiving Ramblers that were badged as Hudson brand cars. The Hudson Ramblers and Nash Ramblers were identical, save for the brand name and minor badging.
1955
The Nash Rambler's most significant change for the 1955 model year was opening the front wheel wells resulting in a 6-foot (2 m) decrease in the turn-circle diameter from previous year's versions, with the two-door models having the smallest in the industry at 36 ft (11 m). The "traditional" Nash fixed fender skirts were removed and the front track (the distance between the center points of the wheels on the axle as they come in contact with the road) was increased to be even greater than was the Rambler's rear tread. Designers Edmund Anderson, Pinin Farina, and Meade Moore did not like the design element that was insisted by George Mason, so soon as Mason died, "Anderson hastily redesigned the front fenders." Tongue-in-cheek, Popular Science magazine described the altered design for 1955: the "little Rambler loses its pants."
As part of the facelift for 1955, the Rambler's grille was also redesigned with only the center emblem differentiating the cars now sold by both Nash and Hudson dealers. The Rambler was a new model for Hudson dealers and it replaced the compact Hudson Jet.
The interiors of the economical Nash Rambler were designed by Helene Rother to also appeal to the feminine eye. American Motors featured "Created to Your Discriminating Taste" in the car's marketing knowing what women looked for in a car and Rother's designs featured elegant, stylish, and expensive fabrics that coordinated in colors and trim.
Model and trim combinations were again reshuffled with a two-door Suburban and Club two-door sedans available in "Deluxe" or "Super" versions. Four-door sedans and wagons came as Super or Custom models, while a new Deluxe four-door sedan was introduced. The pillarless Country Club hardtop was reduced to only the "Custom" trim, while the convertible model was no longer available.
Fleet sales only versions included a Deliveryman wagon that was not shown in the regular catalog, as well as another new model, a three-passenger business coupe: a two-door sedan with no rear seat.
The automaker's marketing efforts included sponsorship of the Disneyland television show on the ABC network. The inaugural broadcast was on 25 October 1955; just five days after the new Ramblers debuted in both Nash and Hudson dealerships, and the Disney show quickly become one of the top watched programs in the U.S., thus helping AMC sell more cars.
The focus continued on economy and a Rambler four-door set an all-time record for cars with automatic transmissions of 27.47 mpg‑US (8.56 L/100 km; 32.99 mpg‑imp) in the 1955 the Mobil Economy Run.
The U.S. domestic market was turning to bigger and bigger cars; therefore, prospects for the compact Nash Rambler line was limited and production was discontinued after the 1955 model year.
Motorsports
The smallest car in the July 13, 1951, 400-lap NASCAR sanctioned Short Track Late Model Division race in Lanham, Maryland, was a Nash Rambler Country Club (two-door hardtop). Owned by Williams Nash Motors of Bethesda, Maryland, the car was driven to victory by Tony Bonadies. He stayed in the back of the 25-car field on the quarter-mile track until making a steady move up to the lead position. The Nash Rambler was also the only car to run the entire 100-mile (161 km) race without making a pit stop.
On July 18, 1952, the NASCAR Short Track race at the Lanham Speedway, was 400 laps on 0.2-mile paved oval for a total of 80 miles (129 km). Tony Bonadies finished the race in 4th place in a 1952 Nash.
Replacement
The sales war between Ford and Chevrolet that took place during 1953 and 1954 reduced the market share for the remaining automakers trying to compete against the standard-sized models offered by the domestic Big Three (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler). American Motors responded to the changing market by focusing development on the 108 in (2,743 mm) wheelbase four-door versions that it had introduced in 1954. Production of the original compact Nash Rambler ended in 1955 as AMC introduced an all-new Rambler for the 1956 model year. These used the 108 in (2,743 mm) wheelbase and became larger cars, but were "compact" compared to ones made by the Big Three. The bigger Rambler models were sold by both Nash and Hudson dealers and they carried respective Nash and Hudson brand logos.
The new for 1956 Rambler was arguably "the most important car American Motors ever built" in that it not only created and defined a new market segment, emphasized the virtues of compact design, but also enabled the automaker to prosper in the post-World War II marketplace that shifted from a seller's to a buyer's market. The new Ramblers came only as four-door models. Along with the usual four-door sedan and station wagon was a new four-door hardtop sedan, as well as an industry first, a four-door hardtop station wagon. An OHV version of the 195.6 cu in (3.2 L) engine was also introduced for 1956 to replace the L-head version that was used in previous models. The OHV I6 was the only engine available in the 1956 Ramblers as the new AMC V8s did not appear until the 1957 model year.
Revival
With AMC's focus on economical automobiles, management saw an opportunity with the economic recession of 1958 to revive the small 100 in (2,540 mm) wheelbase Nash Rambler. The automaker had retained the old tooling and the old model would fit between the bigger 108 in (2,743 mm) wheelbase family-sized Ramblers and the imported two-seat 85 in (2,159 mm) wheelbase Nash Metropolitan. This would be a smaller and more efficient alternative to the standard-sized cars that were marketed by the domestic Big Three at that time. The old Nash design was slightly modified and used for AMC's "new" 1958 Rambler American.
Epilogue
The book listing the 75 noteworthy American automobiles that made news from 1895 to 1970, documents "the 1950 Nash Rambler was a historic car on two counts: its ancestry and its small size." While other compact-sized cars were introduced by the small independent automakers, such as the Henry J, Hudson Jet, and Willys Aero, only the Rambler survived long enough to establish a real place in automotive history.
Moreover, the compact-sized Nash Rambler automobile evolved into a business strategy for American Motors as the company firmly associated itself with small cars in the U.S. marketplace. In the 1960s, the automaker "prospered on the back of the Nash Rambler, the compact that recalled the name of the vehicle Thomas B. Jeffrey built in 1902 at the Kenosha, Wisconsin factory that continued to be AMC's main production plant."
The Nash Rambler succeeded where others "tried to entice US consumers looking for practical, economical automobiles" during an era "when all Detroit had to offer were pricey, ostentatious behemoths." The Big Three domestic automakers exited the entry-level car market to foreign makes starting in the early 1950s. Nash was the only American manufacturer to get the compact formula right by offering Rambler "well equipped and priced sensibly"; "styling that was fresh, distinctive, and attractive"; and for "the original Rambler’s run in 1950–55 was that there was a full line of Ramblers in many body styles, including a jaunty convertible."
According to automotive historian Bill Vance, the Nash Ramblers "are not much remembered, but they did provide reliable, economical and sturdy service." "Nash's reputation for building eminently sensible vehicles means that their products are often overlooked by the modern-day enthusiast."