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San Francisco, 1925. "Nash touring car at Nash-Ajax agency." Latest entry in the Shorpy Catalogue of Forgotten Phaetons. 5x7 glass negative. View full size.
The Nash is equipped with a Clymer spotlight. They were invented by Floyd Clymer, a lifelong automobile enthusiast, motorcycle manufacturer and publisher. The lamp required that a hole be drilled through the windshield. They were very popular and he sold thousands.
Now that's an automobile! With seven lights (including the parking lights) forward it has a chance against the San Fransico fogs --- if the six volt battery can stand the drain.
That bracket on the running board holds a folding luggage rack. When I had a 1928 Studebaker Commander Victoria Coupe I was looking for one of those racks. By chance, I found one in a storage area under my very old house. Although I no longer own the car, the luggage rack is still on it.
Beginning in 1925 Nash offered an entry level car called the Ajax. They were built in Racine, Wisconsin, a few miles north of the Nash plant in Kenosha, and sold through the network of Nash agencies. Sales were less than anticipated, so for 1926 it was rebranded as the “Nash Light Six.” Nash, in an effort to protect their Ajax customers, offered them a free conversion kit including “Nash” hubcaps, “Nash” radiator badge, etc., all of which made an old Ajax a Nash in a matter of a hour or so. Attached a picture of Charles W. Nash and his 1925 Ajax.
I believe this is the same building.
Okay, so if I've got this straight, the cars in Frisco are beautiful, but they're really obscure brands and are old-style.
The cars in Oakland are more modern, and some are nice and some are just so-so, and more often than not they are smashed up, especially if they're Oldsmobiles.
Can you guys show me what the cars in, say, San Jose or Mountain View are like?
Half of this guy's pay must have gone to JC Whitney's.
Instead of calling this collection the "Catalog of Forgotten Phaetons", how about calling it the "Phalanx of Phorgotten Phaetons???"
Or perhaps the "Phalanx of Photogenic Phaetons" ?
If only there could only be a car which combined all the good features of the old classic and antique cars with the good features of the new cars, like life-saving air bags and crumple zones!
Looks like it still houses old cars; I wonder what the deal is.
[They're classic cars in the Academy of Art University's Automobile Museum. -tterrace]
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