CC reader Al S. sent me this picture he and his mom found going through old pictures, of him and this car, taken in 1957 or so. He was wondering what kind of car it was. Why, it’s a 1956 Nash Statesman. And it gives me an opportunity to do another “CC Kids” post that was a regular here some years back.
Here’s a shot of another one, in case some of you are wondering what the whole thing looked like. These Nashes from this era were rather odd ducks, what with their narrow-set headlights and bath-tubby styling. As a kid, they were not common, and always got me to take a closer look. It’s possible I saw the one that Al was pushing, as he’s from Iowa.
If you have pictures of yourself as a kid with a car, send them in to me at curbsideclassic(at)gmail.com
Is that an Olds hubcap?
Yes it is.
I’ve only known one (former) Nash owner — my great uncle, who was somewhat of an eccentric person, was evidently a Nash owner in the 1950s. He owned several of them, and then switched to Cadillacs. Unfortunately I’ve never seen a picture of him or his family with their Nashes.
This is a great photo here – thanks.
Being from the blue-collar south Chicago suburbs, these were popular cars among families living in the cookie-cutter 1000′ ranch houses subdivisions not far from the steel mills, chemical factories, paint plants, food processors, Ford stamping plant, Torrence Avenue Ford assembly plant, and Calumet Harbor, International Seaport, Skyway, Dan Ryan region I grew up in. They were good second cars. Many dads had these along with their newer Ramblers and later, AMC vehicles. They were like predecessors to Hyundais.
Many were multi-colored and reminded me of the pill bugs I played with ourside. My beloved name sake was a big Nash fan and they loved their Ambassadors. We had Ramblers and Beetles when I was a kid and being surrounded by immigrants from WWII, our neighborhood had many foreign makes – Volvos, DAFs, SAABs, Renaults and lots of Beetles, a Porsche and a Mercedes.
VanillaDude, this from the Chicago Tribune (1956); I’ll guess the Stony Island dealer would be closest to the scene you set:
Here’s a shot of my son, circa 1968, behind the wheel of our ’60 Continental. He’s now the Director of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA. Time flies!
I eagerly await the opening of that important addition to the LA museum scene – if we are out of shut down by December! Congratulations to your son – I remember reading about his appointment.
Why would a little kid pose like this? Because that was a part of life back then and he wanted to be like Dad. I don’t think that a kid this age today would even believe that a man could push a car. With almost no manual transmissions and extremely reliable cars, you just don’t see people pushing cars anymore.
An older auto writer was remembering life as a young man. He mentioned that it wasn’t unusual for a group of bystanders to push a stalled car, or to automatically help a neighbor pushstart a car that was a known reluctant starter.
I grew up in a hilly town and it wasn’t uncommon to just roll down hills to get started if you couldn’t scrape up the bucks for a new battery, or were waiting for the weekend to replace the starter, or in my case it was just easier than working up a sweat kick-starting my 2 stroke Spanish motorcycle for a minute. But I don’t remember trying to push a car as a little kid. Great picture!
Same experience with me! A hill, and a dead battery, or as my dad would say “bat tree”. A neighbor agreed to tractor -pull my P15 Plymouth to the top of a small hill.It was vaguely viewed as a right of passage to adulthood that I should be the one to steer n start the coupe. I failed my test! I let it roll as instructed, then put it in 2nd gear, let the clutch up and..nothing! The second time and every time after, I turn the ignition key on…boy, was I embarrassed.
My next door neighbor as a kid had ‘52 and ‘56 Nashes, then switched to a Rambler Ambassador in ‘58 when Nash bit the dust. This was followed by a ‘63 Ambassador, which was not up to the task of towing a large Airstream trailer he bought in ‘65. The Ambassador was replaced by a ‘66 Chrysler Town and County wagon with the 440 TNT, which proved a quite capable tow vehicle.