1956 Nash Ambassador Promotional Film for Sportsmen
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- čas přidán 12. 02. 2009
- Remember the 50's when two men could go off for the weekend together in a car where the seats folded down into a bed and nobody thought it was gay?
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Gotta love the tongue-in-cheek humor of the narration...... one of the most entertaining period promo films I've seen..... great scenery too..... THANKS for posting.....
I love it too. Who said that car commercials have to be boring?
Ed Zern, one of the great outdoors humorists (Field and Stream magazine...) founding member of the Madison Avenue Rod, Gun, Bloody Mary, and Labrador Retriever Benevolent Association. Motto was, “keep your powder, flies, and martinis dry.”
its 2020 and this sold me
Rambler & Ambassador were two Nash models, made in the Nash factory in Kenosha Wisconsin. Nash & Hudson merged in 1954 to become AMC.
This is actually pretty funny. "if I understood it I'd explain it to you..."
wish I could order one today for my dad he's 85 years old he would love it!
These Nashes are beautiful cars. I've sat in several, and you feel like you're in a nice living room. Would love to own one.
Refreshing to see a car commercial with a sense of humor.
☮
The only thing missing at the end was, "We'll leave the light on for you."
@@agent-rj6jv That would be "Tom Bodet" I believe.... ;-)
We had a 54. Dad cussed the "Continental Tire Kit" til the day we sold it. Steering column had a DEADLY spike in the middle. Very difficult to park, wheels did not turn far and no power steering. Rear fenders/ skirts made changing a flat a major operation. "Beautiful?" Eye of the beholder. Upside down bathtub
i had a girl who bought a 1959 nash,that thing had the strongest body i've ever seen.
The Nash the girl or both
Heh
My uncle was so enamored of the Nash that everyone in the family knew my uncle as Nash.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think mine is beautiful!
Hi
You have a 1956 Nash? Great cars. I am restoring a 1954 Packard Patrician straight Eight in the UK and boy it's hard to find parts ... especially chrome. I'd have loved a 1952-57 Nash or a Hudson.
Cheers
Nic
wow! the Packard Patrician is gorgeous!
I went for several vacations with my family in a rambler station wagon . I was probably around ten years old. The AAA made things called trip ticks which was like a map and notebook in one. Your route was outlined in magic marker and there were some places of interest marked along the way with motels and camp grounds along the way. There were also books for each state that showed other things like presidents homes museums parks monuments and other touristy things. All the campinggear was in the back or on top, organized in every detail. Everyone had a job to do. Dad put up the tent, mom got the Colman stove set up. The kids like me were in charge of the sleeping bags and air mattresses. I saw most every national park east of the rocky mountains.
Good memories!
The books are TourBooks, which are now digital only format. They have hotel and restaurant listings, as well as state-by-state listings for each state and province.
Those plastic screens for insects would be great for movies at the drive in theater. The fold back seat would be great for that as well.
Lolol.
Whooping cranes!
Plastic!?!?!
This had to be the precursor add for the famous Motel 6, we'll leave the light on for you, ads! Masterpiece!
I always wanted an Nash as a 20 year old in the 1980s when I learned you could make a bed with the seats! I settled for a 1971 Mercury Monterey. The bench seat didn't fold down but was so wide you could fool around on it cross wise!
I have to admit, I've never fooled around in it ... but I've used it for bait, and gone to a Drive-In!
Girls' fathers always worried when a boy showed up in a Rambler, and the date was at the Passion Pit movies. Station wagons worked too.
My friend inherited one from his dad. He never got to finish restoring it. RIP James Dunn. One feature they didn't mention in the ad is that it had double sun visors. The 1st set were made of dark plexiglass. 😎 The 2nd set was the normal blackout visors.
"Nash seats" I wonder how many 60-somethings were conceived on them? There's something, maybe urban myth, that some dads wouldn't let daughters go out with a guy with a Nash.
This car needs to be rebuilt!!!!!!! Would love to have a car like this.
A girl friendf's mother had a Nash. The two things that I remember about the car was that the engine was a huge mass of cast iron and the front seat was as big and comfortable a any sofa available in ther day. TY 4sharing
in the late 60's my Math teacher had one of these, I thought it was funny looking then!
This Nash Ambassador was a great car for form and function. It's a shame that Mitt Romney's father, and others at American Motors, thought that the Nash and Hudson names were not marketable, and did away with them. Trying to sell their vehicles under the "Rambler Motors" moniker was doomed to failure. They should have decided on one name or the other, and ran on with it.
There was a market for affordable, fuel-efficient cars and AMC went after it, after the merger. A recession in 1958 helped them succeed, actually.( Coincidentally, Studebaker-Packard was to be part of the merger-execs . couldn’t agree.) This backlash against the 1950’s land yachts caused GM in 1960 to roll out their own compacts-the Buick Skylark/Pontiac Tempest/ Olds F-85 and Chevy introduced the Corvair. Ford introduced the Falcon, Mercury the Comet. After that the competition eventually did AMC in, in my opinion. They had great innovation in order to survive, but used many GM parts in manufacturing.
WHEN I WAS a teen an old lady had one of these who lived a few houses down. The car would have been at least 17 years old at the time. It was in great shape (considering it was in Massachusetts) except for dull paint. It had a really 1950s color combination....pink, red and grey.
Rambler became its own marque in 1957. A good friend of our family had a 1957 Rambler station wagon. A nice vehicle, but a bit dowdy looking in its styling. After some years the salt on Chicago area winter roads took its toll. He then bought a 1963 Rambler station wagon (including the A/C option and powered rear window) which was another very nice vehicle. That powered rear window was extremely handy when his dog would decide to cut one. He would just open that rear window and, voila, the noxious fumes cleared out quickly.
I know a guy with a '57 Rambler Ambassador. But he also has a brochure for it that says "Nash Ambassador." I guess they had already printed the brochure when they decided to retire the Nash Marque & promote the Rambler name.
@@TheBilby My mother-in-law bought a new Rambler, and she got a year's supply of gas with it. At the Dealership.
They were GREAT CARS, FOR THIRE "bedding" ABILITY! They were LEGENDARY ROVING MOTELS!
I put "Rambler" Seats in my 67 Dodge Dart... it was the "Love Machine".
This short film is amusing, but the comment by TheBilby, the guy who posted it, is PRICELESS!
In a word-brilliant!
My First Car at 16-My Cost was 100.00-Only Had 20,000 Miles on it. Bought it from my uncle. Use To say it was so ugly I went backwards as often as possible. The Back end looked so much better then the front end. Still a Great Car!!!!! 27019-Than You For This Story About My Car.
My favorite uncle had a rambler for many years. DONT think he ever had bad trouble or repairs. He kept it for many yrs.
@327caprice "Room for two men to sleep comfortably." Or for three men to have a party!
That's almost uncanny because I was just looking at old Nash ads earlierr today. My had a '49 Ambassador and a '54 Rambler when I was a kid because my grandfather (Moms' dad) was a Nash salesman in Tamaqua, Pa.
"Plenty of room for two men to sleep comfortably."
Well that's just nice.
Lolol
And not new. It was going on in '56 too.
@@solemandd67yes gay people existed back then but we are still shooketh they put a gay couple in a car ad back then
@@LucasFernandez-fk8se Admittedly, this car commercial is decades ahead of its time. "Very special attractions for outdoor sportsmen"...lol. Clearly they could have used a father-son fishing trip/family vacation perspective, buy chose this unique one instead. I applaud their inclusive approach and acknowledgement. Now we are all woketh to another hallmark of gay history.
Love the safety features of these old cars - built like a battering ram.
Yes, unlike modern cars, they will protect themselves at your expense. 🤣
@@TheBilby
To be fair, at the time, there was legitimate concern and terror about being mangled into a wrecked car, while a congregation of random passersby pry at it with tire tools and bumper jacks, until the paramedics get there and start cutting you away from it, like a snagged scarf.
@@springbloom5940 Yes. We've come a long way, baby.
My uncle tried to sell the Nash in the past 50's in Brazil. He came to Sao Paulo and make business with the revendor shop. He takes 3 cars to interior of the state, 2 ramblers and 1 ambassador, but don't had sucess. At that time the roads were very bad, many were from earth. The cars were considered better to use in the cities. My grandfather bought the ambassador, and other people bought the rambler. Other rambler returned to tevendor in Sao Paulo.
Today my father tell me about the ambassador, very good suspension and silent, very good car.
"Revendor" is a used car dealer, yes?
My Dad had one of these cars. His was Green and White.
Passion pit on wheels!
I'm so old I had a Rambler in high school 😁🤚 seats folded in it too packed em in for drive-in movies paid by the car !
I am getting my license soon. I would love to have a car like this to be my first car.
How did that go?
it's been 13 years
@@decoyoctopus5727 oof
@@jasonstatham483 Shea Weddle failed his license test, he is still determined to pass, maybe someday before he retires?
I would much prefer this car to virtually any new car I have seen.
TheBilby--good one--thanks for the post--the color, the script, even those plaid shirts, all scream "cool old car commercial"
And the seat bed thing worked very well at a drive in, many a Rambler at drive in's had fogged up windows
The styling of these mid-50's Nashes never really did anything for me, but then I remembered I had a '53 Buick just a few years ago, and when you look at the stying of the two cars, these Nashes must have seemed like they were from outer space compared to just about anything from the other US manufacturers at the time.
I think that's why I love mine!
@@TheBilby Nash cars had character. It's the kind of car that most people would take a second look at its unusual beauty.
@@TheBilby Many years ago I read an article on them in Collectible Automobile. Absolutely fell in love with them. I appreciate these independents so much. They had their own sense of style.
Its wonderful what the internet and CZcams do for old cars
Nash was noteworthy for having the fewest accidents with teenage drivers. That's because a teenager would literally die of embarrassment going out on a date in a Nash. That was a car for squares.
Nice car. Nice couple
If they still built cars like this, BHO wouldn't have had to bail out the auto industry.
I would love to own one now and drive it everyday.
Ok, the bit with “say hello Charlie” with the cameraman. That was funny!
56 Nash... Wow what a beautiful car, cool looking too
Hey, that other guy in the gray suit forgot to put on his pajamas!
Nash was a car that was way ahead of it's time.
Great and funny film for time.
My Dad bought a used one when I was a little kid around 1960. It was the only car he ever bought that he didn't have for years. My Mother so hated it that it was soon gone.
If that Nash is rockin', don't start knockin'!
I DO Remember the 50's when two men could go off for the weekend together in a car where the seats folded down into a bed and nobody thought it was gay
This is what kept the auto industry in check. After AMC everyone started buying what they didn't see broke down on the side of the road.
Everything in this completely factual.
1:47 love this scene. Great way to show what it holds. And I’m glad it holds my travel outboard Motor. 👍🏼
"Remember the 50's when two men could go off for the weekend together in a car where the seats folded down into a bed and nobody thought it was gay?..."
I remember when you could make a comment like that and nobody would accuse you of gay-bashing.
It's OK (I think) ... I'm gay!
Maybe they were gay, maybe they weren't. Maybe they were just good friends who liked to travel together. :)
Just like the road trip in 'Sideways', I could think of (not a gay film, though).
I'm not convinced that's Stan Freberg's voice, but it sure sounds like it could be his script.
Where are the two other 1956 Nash sports films? I never head of Ed Zern until I saw this film. These cars are a piece of art that have character.
If you can find some old issues of Field & Stream magazine (from the '60s), you'll find an Ed Zern humor column in almost every one. He was well known in the 50s and 60s.
Thanks, there are a fews like collection in our Country.Greetings from Argentina
Quite a few comments about Nash seats and two guys. I owned a 1950 Nash Ambassador and it was the perfect car for the drive in theaters with my girlfriend. Her Dad did not like my car. He did not like me very much either but his daughter sure did. Wish I still had that ugly bathtub looking jalopy.
Started driving in my dads 1953 Nash County Club.
now THAT'S a car!!!!
An absolutely fabulous car, much more comfortable than any of today's cars. Only an SUV would be comparable.
I had a American 400 that the seats did that. Great car
Wow, a true three-tone car. The only other three-tone car I can think of was the Packard Caribbean, also from the mid-1950's
Yes, the Packard Caribbean was a nice-looking car!
Here’s a ’56 convertible:
www.connorsmotorcar.com/vehicles/595/1956-packard-caribbean-convertible
I think a lot of people just didn't realize how much these cars offered at the time. I think that the V8 offered in 1956 was sourced from Packard?
I believe some Ramblers from as late as 1966 still had the seat that could be folded like a bed and even might have came with a sort of air mattress that was supposed to make it possible to sleep in the car.
Correct on all counts! Packard V8, folding seat beds, & mattress (I don't think it was air, I think it was foam & blanket-y.
@@TheBilby Nash design and engineering was far ahead of its time. European size and styling, V8's, HVAC that set the automotive standard, fuel economy, unique features and great handling. ❤️🚗👍🏾
I want a car like this.
Oh my God, my daughter wrote this 9 years ago. Wow time flies. I just noticed this.
One of several reasons Nash began their slide into obscurity was the Penin-Farina styling. Having the headlights inboard of the outer edges made them appear, like a neighbor said when I was a kid, “like someone with set-in eyes”. Just kinda odd. Along with facilities that couldn’t keep up with Ford, GM and Chrysler in manufacturing in volume and the cost of shutting down factories for a time while they needed to re-tool for different styles was prohibitive. The independent automaker had to forge ahead no matter what :Nash, Hudson, Packard, Studebaker, Kaiser and Crosley.
Nash owned Kelvinator who manufactured refrigerators. Nash designers used the refrigerator motor, designed it to fit under the hood instead of being the behemoth that took up trunk space, set in some air vents and ta-daaa, A/C in a smaller car 🚗. They had to do something to stay competitive.
I think Mr. Bodet was inspired for the Motel 6 commercials from this commercial...Homesy type voice over...
Terrific film.
Was Ed Zurn a cartoonist whose drawings were featured in Nash magazine ads?
No. He was a humorist, wrote a monthly column “Exit Laughing” in Field & Stream for over 35 years. He occasionally over imbibed in his passion for sour mash soup.
Ed Zern wrote a monthly humor column for Field & Stream magazine for many years. I'm pretty sure I remember the Nash being the subject of one of his columns.
Two sportsmen on their way to Brokeback Mountain.
Schitts Creek today.
Yep; Charlie came back from that fishing trip a 'changed' man
There are no gay cowboys. That director just had sick fantasies.
"BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN" ! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Enough room for two men to sleep comfortably ! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣Yeah........sleep !
Charlie's a bottom.
If only cars today were built like this.
Mine still runs!
I like the trick photography at 1:48.
Plenty of room in the trunk but awkward to load with that continental tire carrier to work around. Overall lots of advanced design and features on these Nash vehicles.
I want a Nash, I don't care how unspeakably ugly it is.
Yes every good rod & gun sportsman can pack alot together in a Nash.
For sportsmen you say, I'm a bit of sportsmen myself 😉👌 just not openly while my granddad's around
Me too 👍🏾
The narrator sounded a lot like that Tom Bodett fellow from the Motel 6 ads. Wonder if they're related.
I have that exact same Pendleton blanket. I love the seat idea I always take turns sleeping in the car with the wife that would be awesome. I’m buying a Nash damn.
I never saw a Nash (or any other car) with a self-loading trunk!
Are you sure that wasn't Tom Bowdett...?
Magic trunk you can put a whole sporting goods store inside.
Funny film. Nash's were not the prettiest cars, but they had lots of cool features1
".... to keep out boll weevils, whooping cranes... that sort of thing...."
We'll leave the lights on for ya,, sound familiar the voice ?
That's pretty impressive; how many other cars had reclining seats in 1956? I always suspected that GM avoided them out of fear that a driver would pull the lever while accelerating and loose control of the car. Nash and AMC were committed to putting roomy cars in smaller packages and this car looks far more maneuverable than many of its competitors. But, I do sense that it's wandering down the road; you can even see the driver correcting the wheel every second or so. Maybe the tires or alignment are off, or maybe all cars did that in 1956.
Mine has that problem, and every couple of years, I get the steering tightened. It helps a bit.
As for maneuverability, mine does not have power steering. So it's maneuverable when it's moving, but oy! how rough it is to turn the wheels when stationary. It may be worsened by the fact that in 1956, it didn't have radial tires, but The Butterscotch Beast does.
No daughter of mine is going out on a date with somebody who drives a Nash!
Late 60's Ramblers (AMC) could be ordered with a Travel Bed.
Ed Zern - there's a name I miss...especially in the Fall.
Here's an article in Hemming's about the print ads he did for Nash:
"Ed Zern Lands a Nash" www.hemmings.com/stories/article/ed-zern-lands-a-nash/amp
I'm sold! Where do I buy one?
I am sure the first thing most men are thinking when they see the fold down bed, is not overnight camping with their buddies
we always thought they were ugly, now i kinda like them. what a difference 60 years makes.
This is back when cars were truly fun to drive!
I still have fun driving MY '56 Nash Ambassador! (Sometimes she & I get to be background extras in TV & movies.)
@@TheBilby Do you have the Packard V8 engine?
Yup! All 352cc of it!
@@TheBilby Most likely you need Premium gasoline. Which brand do you use? I heard that iut in California Union 76 stations are selling 100 octane unleaded premium gas. In Illinois some Speedway stations are also selling 100 octane unleaded premium and I think some Shell stations are alsi doing so in the southern part of Illinois.
@@TheBilby Fantastic!! Packard's 352 canme before Fords 352.
I'd love to have the rambler
when cars were rooomy and comfortable..