I picked up this sales book the other day while I was out antiquing and figured it’d be a good Christmas present for myself. Man, was I right. I absolutely love this book. While I wouldn’t say I’ve seen a ton of vintage sales material in my time, I’ve seen enough to get a pretty good idea with what’s in them and man oh man, Nash went all out. I honestly wish I could show you guys more, but I’m pretty wary of copyright laws and even though this is vintage, it’s nowhere near close to the public domain. If my car knowledge is right, Nash and Hudson formed AMC, which got bought out by Chrysler (Renault was somewhere in that mess too), who is now part of Fiat-Chrysler Automotive and I’d probably die of a heart attack if mk sent me a PM saying he got a DMCA Takedown Notice in Italian. So I’ll just share two more lovely images that are in here and maybe sprinkle some personal anecdotes to make this shit interesting but man, for a car company that’s not technically dead but is dead, Nash had some cool stuff going for them.

One of the really amazing thing about this salesbook is that it’s able to cover so many features partly because it’s so densely written. On this page alone, they are so proud of this engine comparing it to a fine tuned watch, talking about how it’s powerful yet efficient letting you get 28-32 miles per gallon, part of this was due to the engine, but also being a lighter car due to its compact size and unibody construction. The driving experience they describe is near poetry.

Do you know what flying feels like . . . swift skimming over the earth?

You can find out now any time you try the Fourth Speed Forward.

Thrilling? Yes. It practically puts wings on this Nash. And it’s automatic, so you don’t have to lift a finger. At 35 you hear it “click.” The engine seems to fade away but you go faster . . . faster, without the slightest effort, as other cars labor along relucantly behind you.

Suddenly, around a curve hill looms ahead – a car is in your way. You press the throttle quickly – and presto, your automatic overtake goes to work. Takes you out, around and safely away as quick as a wink.

Once you try it – this Fourth Speed Forward will be your way to travel.

Know what that is? That’s the written word equivalent of this . . .

In just a few short sentences, they not only got you into the mindset of driving this car, but they’ve made it sound exciting and worth your money. That’s good advertising right there.

This page is focused on something we all take for granted, but back then would have been considered a big deal and a huge selling point. Air conditioning. Now a days we take a lot of car features for granted and sometimes car manufacturers put some dumb stuff in their car to try and differentiate themselves from the competition (looking at you GM and some of your questionable car commercials) but back then? Something like this could make or break a buyer’s decision and when you have something new and innovative that not everyone else necessarily has yet? You let people know. If yours were one of the first mass produced cars with uni-body construction that made your car safer, lighter, and cheaper? You let people know. If yours was a car that came in so many various trims and additional features, you let people know. Then you’d give them a solid sell, like this kind of book, because brand recognition and customer loyalty wasn’t exactly on your side, so you needed every bit of convincing you could get.

Damn this book is cool.

As an aside, I was once the listener of the coolest and dumbest debate ever. Some people were throwing a Dead Brands Car show shortly after GM and Chrysler started restructuring and there was a lot to do about drawing the lines as to which cars could participate. On the one side, you had people who said Pontiacs and Saturns weren’t allowed to show because they had just recently died and that Oldsmobiles and Plymouths were pushing it. Then you had a guy, this one fucking guy, that said that if any car was a brand that was still in some way connected to a still surviving company, they couldn’t participate. Once someone pointed out that such a policy would mean no Nashs, Imperials, AMCs, De Sotos, and like two dozen other car companies couldn’t participate, they walked that back real quick. I don’t know what the final decision was, cause I didn’t stay long enough to hear the consensus and I never went to the show, but still.

Nash. Nash. Nash.