Editing Nash Motors (section)

== History ==
[[File:Glendale-1917 Nash Fire Truck.jpg|thumb|right|1917 Nash Fire Truck Model 3017]]
[[File:1922-nash-001.jpg|thumb|right|1922 Nash Roadster Model 42]]
[[File:1925 Nash automobile.JPG|thumb|right|1925 Nash]]
[[File:1929 Nash 400, Owner Jørgen Simonsen IMG 9332.JPG|thumb|right|1929 Nash 400]]
[[File:1936 Nash 400 de Luxe, Owner Cees Mijnders IMG 9327.JPG|thumb|1936 Nash 400 de Luxe]]

Nash Motors was founded in 1916 by former [[General Motors]] president [[Charles W. Nash]], who acquired the [[Thomas B. Jeffery Company]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Charles W. Nash and the Nash Motor Company |url= https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS344 |work=Wisconsin Historical Society |date=3 August 2012 |access-date=2 February 2023}}</ref> Jeffery's best-known automobile was the [[Rambler (automobile)|Rambler]] whose [[mass production]] from a plant in [[Kenosha, Wisconsin|Kenosha]] began in 1902.

The 1917 Nash Model 671 was the first vehicle produced to bear the name of the new company's founder.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Albert L. |last2=Musciano |first2=Walter A. |title=Automobiles of the World |year=1977 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=280 |isbn=978-0-671-22485-1}}</ref> Sales for 1918 were 10,283 units. More models were added in 1919, and sales rose to 27,081.

The decades of success enjoyed by Nash were said to be due to its focus on building cars "embodying honest worth [at] a price level which held out possibilities of a very wide market."<ref name=giants>{{cite book |last1=Forbes |first1=B.C. |last2=Foster |first2=O.D. |title=Automotive Giants of America: Men Who Are Making Our Motor Industry |orig-date=1926 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7661-6177-1 |pages=211–224 }}</ref>

The [[four-wheel drive]] [[Jeffery Quad]] truck became an important product for Nash. Approximately 11,500 Quads were built between 1913 and 1919. They served to move material during [[World War I]] under severe conditions. The Quad used Mehul [[Differential (mechanical device)|differentials]]<ref>{{cite book|title=American industries, Volume 14 |year=1903 |publisher=National Association of Manufacturers (U.S.)|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bvvlAAAAMAAJ&q=Meuhl+differential&pg=PA124 |page=124 |via=Google Books |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref> with half-shafts mounted above the load-bearing dead axles to drive the hubs through hub-reduction gearing.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jeffrey Quad |url= http://www.4wdonline.com/ClassicTrucks/Jeffrey.html |website=4wdonline.com |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121022051344/http://www.4wdonline.com/ClassicTrucks/Jeffrey.html |archive-date=22 October 2012 |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref> In addition, it featured four-wheel steering.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eckermann |first=Erik |title=World history of the automobile |year=2001 |publisher=Society of Automotive Engineers |isbn=978-0-7680-0800-5 |page=76}}</ref> The Quad achieved the reputation of being the best four-wheel drive truck produced in the country.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=New York Curb and Industrial Issues |magazine=Copper Curb and Mining Outlook |date=24 January 1917 |volume=14 |issue=18 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=x-koAAAAYAAJ&q=Nash+Quad+truck+history&pg=RA13-PA15 |page=15 |via=Google Books |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref> The newly formed Nash Motors became the largest producer of four-wheel drives.<ref>{{cite book|last=Botti |first=Timothy J. |title=Envy of the world: a history of the U.S. economy & big business |year=2006 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=978-0-87586-432-7 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4UPo0V1qovwC&q=Nash+Quad+truck+history&pg=PA188 |page=188 |via=Google Books |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref> By 1918, capacity constraints at Nash meant the [[Paige automobile|Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company]] began to assemble the Nash Quad under license and Nash patents.<ref>{{cite book|last=Keller |first=Michael E. |title=The Graham Legacy: Graham-Paige to 1932 |year=1998 |publisher=Turner Publishing |isbn=978-1-56311-470-0 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AzEyTU_S8EUC&q=Nash+Quad+truck&pg=PT87 |via=Google Books |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref> Nash became the leading producer of military trucks by the end of World War I.<ref>{{cite book|last=Flink |first=James J. |title=The Automobile Age |year=1990 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-56055-9 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7WtKH-9ha4MC&q=Nash+Quad+truck&pg=PA102 |page=102 |via=Google Books |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref> After the War ended, surplus Quads were used as heavy work trucks in fields such as construction and logging.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fregulia |first=Carolyn |title=Logging in the Central Sierra |year=2008 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing SC |isbn=978-0-7385-5816-5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=k7YeFUikTpMC&q=Nash+Quad+truck&pg=PA86 |page=86 |via=Google Books |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref>

Charles Nash convinced the chief [[engineer]] of GM's [[Oakland (automobile)|Oakland]] Division, Finnish-born Nils Eric Wahlberg, to move to Nash's new company.<ref name="100greatest">{{cite book | last=Norbye |first=Jan P. |title=The 100 greatest American cars |year=1981 |publisher=TAB Books |isbn=978-0-8306-9623-9 |url= https://archive.org/details/100greatestameri0000norb |via=Internet Archive |access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref> The first Nash engine introduced in 1917 by Wahlberg had [[overhead valve]]s,<ref name="100greatest"/> which Nash had learned about while working for Buick. Wahlberg is also credited with helping design the flow-through ventilation used since then in nearly every motor vehicle.

Introduced in 1938, Nash's [[Weather Eye]] directed fresh, outside air into the car's fan-boosted, filtered ventilation system, where it was warmed (or cooled), and then removed through rearward placed vents.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.rsestc.org/hvactimeline.htm |last=Wolfe |first=Steven J. |title=HVAC Time Line |work=Refrigeration Service Engineers Society Twin Cities Chapter |year=2000 |access-date=18 June 2010 | url-status= usurped | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091121041129/http://www.rsestc.org/hvactimeline.htm |archive-date=21 November 2009 }}</ref> The process also helped to reduce humidity and equalize the slight pressure differential between the outside and inside of a moving vehicle.

Another unique feature of Nash cars was the unequal wheel tracks. The front wheels were set slightly narrower than the rear, thus adding stability and improving cornering. Wahlberg was also an early proponent of [[wind tunnel]] testing for vehicles and, during [[World War II]], worked with Theodore (Ted) Ulrich in the development of Nash's radically styled Airflyte models.<ref>{{cite book |title=Automobiles of the '50s |year=1993 |publisher=Publications International |page= [https://archive.org/details/automobilesof50s0000unse_o0u4/page/63 63] |isbn=978-0-7853-2008-1 |url = https://archive.org/details/automobilesof50s0000unse_o0u4/page/63 }}</ref>

Nash's slogan from the late 1920s and 1930s was "Give the customer more than he has paid for," and the cars lived up to it. Innovations included a [[straight-eight engine]] with overhead valves, twin spark plugs, and nine [[Main bearing|crankshaft bearings]] in 1930. The 1932 Ambassador Eight had [[manual transmission|synchromesh transmission]]s and free wheeling, automatic centralized chassis lubrication, a worm-drive rear end, and its suspension was adjustable inside the car. A longtime proponent of automotive safety, Nash was among the early mid- and low-priced cars that offered four-wheel brakes.

The Nash was a success among consumers, which meant for the company, "selling for a long time has been 100% a production problem... month after month, all the cars that could be produced were sold before they left the factory floor."<ref name=giants/>