1952 Nash Rambler Station Wagon

Nash Motors, a division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, manufactured the distinctive Nash Rambler, often described as the ‘first modern American compact,’ from 1950 to 1954. In May 1954 American Motors Corporation (AMC) was formed by a merger between Nash-Kelvinator and the Hudson Motor Car Company and production continued for only another year.

While the 1950 Rambler was available only as a 2-door convertible, Nash-Kelvinator expanded designs and sizes for later models. 1952 marked the introduction of the Rambler Deliveryman 2-door utility wagon.

The Greenbrier station wagon could be had with 2 or 4-doors and Super or Custom trim levels including two-tone paint. For 1952 only a 173 cubic-inch, flat head, inline 6 motor was installed offering some 82 horsepower.

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.

In the 1960s, American Motors “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.”