Into the Woods

This sad 1952 Nash won’t be going anywhere soon – it was bisected by a fallen tree at some point, leaving both ends of the sedan in tact but pointing skyward. Still, it has amazing details, and it looks as hopeful and evocative of its era from this angle as it did when it was new. The light poured into the empty engine bay from the smashed cabin, which mirrored the mottled light on the trees in the distance. Both Forest and car seem on the road to becoming one with eachtoher.

Nash, once a large independent manufacturer, was in its waning years in 1952, when it debuted all new models that continued the theme of faired-in wheels and long enveloping bodies. They were a little less similar to an “inverted bathtub” – an epithet which had been used to describe the previous generation of large Nash cars (1949-1951), but were still very distinctively Nashes. Just a couple of years later, Nash-Kelvinator would merge with Hudson to form what became the American Motors Corporation. The 1952 cars were the last all-new large cars Nash would ever launch. The company’s successful Rambler small car became its most popular product, and all the larger Nashes and Hudsons were dropped in favor of Rambler derivatives (under the Rambler name) for 1958.

This photo was part of a large series done at Trust Salvage. Special thanks to Matt C. for the opportunity!