The Nash Sedan—acclaimed in 1938
as a car that everybody likes
Get a Nash and get out of town! Go to a place where sign-posts stop and bass fight for a bare hook. A hideaway where dull care can never trail you. That wonder-spot won’t wait forever. Just park your car beneath a star—your double bed is waiting in your Nash!
Honestly, the copywriter said so, in this advertisement for the 1939 Nash automobile. And he said so much more—and so poetically. Read it all below this advertisement in The American Home, June, 1939
A million miles from nowhere
Somewhere over the blue horizon—beyond the place where the sign-posts stop—there’s a hideaway where dull care can never trail you. A place where bass fight for a bare hook. And the soft air is heavy with pine.
Shut your eyes and you’ll see it.
Or—get in a Nash and head it for the hills…it knows the rest of the way. Then you’ll see a kind of travel that comes straight from the story of the Flying Carpet.
For the first time in your life, you’re going to set a little dial called “Weather Eye”—and drive all day without dust in your face or a draft on your neck.
Carried along on the magic wings of a Fourth Speed Forward, you’ll see distances dwindle at a terrific pace, but never know the engine is running. You’ll never dread a hill, or stop for a bump.
Nothing will stay you—not even those customary stops for gas. One filling usually takes you all the way to sunset in a Nash.
And for the first time…you’re going to end up the day fresh as early morning with not even the problem of where to lay your head. Just park your car beneath a star—your double bed is waiting in your Nash!
Yes — it’s a kind of motoring even a millionaire could ever enjoy before. It can make any “out-of-the-way place an everyday part of your life.
And this proud car can be yours so easily…ten brilliant new models are now priced right next to the lowest.
That wonder-spot won’t wait forever. Get in a Nash and get out of town!
Two features of the Nash Sedan are highlighted in this advertisement — the “Bed-In-A-Car” that Nash introduced in 1936 and the “Weather Eye” introduced in 1939.
The Nash Sedan’s rear seat could be converted into a sleeping compartment. The rear seat back hinged up, allowing the rear seat cushion to be propped up into a level position. This also created an opening between the passenger compartment and the trunk. Two adults could sleep in the car, with their legs and feet in the trunk, and their heads and shoulders on the rear seat cushions!
The copywriter described the Nash Sedan as “A home on the road, with a convertible Bed…with special soundproofing and shock absorbers to give your living room quiet and relaxation.”
The “Weather Eye” was a conditioned air heating/ventilating system—the first hot-water car heater to draw fresh air from outside the car— introduced in 1938 models. It was upgraded the next year with the addition of a thermostat and a dial on the dashboard.
The copywriter exclaimed: “No dust to soil or spoil your trip! Nash’s automatic “Weather Eye” gives you fresh air, free of dust…rain….insects…chilling drafts!
The Weather Eye is the basis of all modern car heaters in use today.
Never heard of the Nash?
Nash Motors was founded in 1916 by Charles W. Nash the former president of General Motors. He became the former president when William Durant—who founded General Motors in 1908 and was forced out of it in 1910—regained control of GM. You can read about William Durant in this post.
Nash acquired the Thomas B. Jeffery Company, lured the chief engineer of GM’s Oakland Division, Finnish-born Nils Eric Wahlberg, to move to Nash’s new company and the first Nash Automobile was produced in 1917. Jeffery’s best-known automobile was the Rambler, first produced in 1902 at a plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
