Projects Mish-Mash Nash -'52 Rambler Wagon

Plenty of room for N50s and Gabriel Hi-Jackers now.







I finished tacking in the frame rail patch, enough to feel confident the body would be stable while the quarter panel was removed. I drilled out a dozen or so spot welds hidden behind the rear door edge at the jamb, and cut through four brazed spots, and off with it. Pretty much what I expected underneath, as I could see almost everything with the quarter panel still in place. Still, always nice to see hidden areas are not as bad as you fear they might be. Doorjamb spot welds and two of the brazed spots at the tail light surround:





The rust colored primer under the original blue paint isn't ideal, but it's not difficult to spot the rusty areas. Fortunately the undercoating has become brittle (thanks CA desert climate?), and scraping most of it off was easy. Some areas are still very well bonded to the body, so not going to mess with it if the surrounding metal is clean and solid.


There's still plenty of metalwork to be done, however, so any time saved removing undercoating will be used elsewhere. With the quarter panel removed, I can now easily access the rear 10" of the framerail, as well as clean and prep the wheelwell and backside of the quarter panel itself. Not sure if I will add some type of flexible seam sealer or welting at the top edge of the quarter panel when it comes time to reinstall it or not, but there was nothing but a metal-to-metal butt joint from the factory it appears.

 

Since removing the undercoating on the inside of the rear quarter panel went so well, I figured I should do the same for the right front fender and wheelwell, too, so off with the fender and on with the scraping. Some light scraping with a semi-flexible putty knife was all that was needed. Mostly cleaned up:



There is a slightly mangled lower fender edge yet to deal with, however:



Here's what the RF corner looks like, sans fender, with a donut spare mounted:

 

Bad and not in the good way. The best feature of the car is the lack of wheel wells......... and the funky dash/column/shifter.

 

After scraping and chipping off all of the undercoating last night, I picked up a Bauer (Harbor Freight) surface conditioning tool this afternoon and went at the right rear wheel well. No surprises really, just dirty work. I went over the entire area with a smaller cleanup disc next, wiped it down twice with lacquer thinner, then covered it with primer. Eventually this area will get re-primed and painted, then undercoated, but for now, this'll do.

 

Picked up a cheap pair of Keystone 15x7 wheels, and an even cheaper pair of cheap (quality, Monroe) rear shocks. These'll do for mocking up purposes.

 

I am really enjoying watching the progress you are making on this very cool project!

 

Thanks. I see and view so many interesting projects here on the forum, but there never seems to be enough time to catch everything and continue to make progress on my own. Slowly but surely...

 

I'm thinking you're gonna get some really neat effects.
Mind sharing what the ot parts are, pm if needed?
Thanks, if you will.
Marcus...

 

More inspiration ... Dennis Varni's 1951 Nash Rambler Airflyte Wagon (on Mini Cooper S chassis):

​

 

That's a great car! What's the story on those cool wheels?

 

My folks had a '53 wagon and took us four kids on an vacation to Florida from Ohio.
Their marriage survived.

Every time I see an OT '90s Chevy Caprice station wagon I think they musta copied their styling from '50s era Rambler wagons.

 

Dennis @41 GMC K-18 Hicklin -

I don't want to hi-jack @In_The_Pink's thread about his Nash Wagon build any further ... but the answer to your question can be found in this Blogpost: Your Grandpa's Nash Re-imagined: Nash Cooper Airflyte Wagon ... and more pics of Varni's Nash can be viewed on Timmy @mctim64 McMaster's (yblockguy) Instagram post: HERE​

- Todd @HEMI32 Olson

 

That's a great link, and a great write up!
Thanks from Dennis Hicklin.

 

Thank you;
Marcus...

 

Not sure how well 6" wide wheels will fit up front, but a nine hour round-trip drive to Dike, Iowa seemed worth doing for a set of four 15x6 (Rebel?) Parnelli Jones wheels. They are dirty and need some love, but glad I went.

 

Test mount in the rear with some Clecos and a Vice Grip pliers holding the quarter panel place:



The rear wheels should disappear up into the quarter panel a bit once the full weight is upon the suspension, but I'd be happy if the lower half is still visible. I think I need to add 1/2" longer leaf spring shackles, as I failed to account for the 1/2" flange I added back in on the rear frame rail's lower edge. Not sure the top of the rear spring eye would contact the flange under maximum suspension compression, but kinda difficult to tell now with so much weight removed.

I also picked up a heavy duty office file cabinet, as it had some interesting slotted drawer bottoms and was very clean...and cheap. I might use some of the pieces to create storage compartments on either side of the spare tire area, as currently they are completely closed off. After changing the contour of the trunk floor from convex to flat, I need to modify the lower ends of the side panels anyway, and storage space will always be of use for something. Left and right existing panels, and the file cabinet drawer bottom:

 

Joe Martin in Texas did a '59 (IIRC) wagon a while ago. That one came out nice, the episode may shed some light on a thing or two. I am subscribed.

 

My buddy Richard built Dennis' car.

 

Back on the trunk area, working on adding access panels to the compartments to both sides of the spare tire. I cut off the factory skirt/extension panel from the piece which covers the axle hump, as it was crudely hammered it place, then brazed, so I will start there, essentially re-lining the spare tire well. The bottoms of the left and right extensions no longer match the floor contour, so they needed to be modified anyway.







I won't have much space to either side of the spare tire, so I am more or less committed to hinged, top opening panels... time to figure something out. There's also the fuel filler neck and it's cover panel to consider on the left side, so, with that in mind, I placed the fuel tank in position again:



Plenty of clearance on the front side for the fuel line:



The shocks I picked up a few weeks ago went in too, at least the top ends were attached-- I still need to drill holes and weld studs onto the shock plates for the lower ends. Probably need some longer shocks, too, as there is only 2" of extension left as it sits.



I measured the rear leaf spring eye-to-frame flange clearance and gound I only have 3/4" on both sides. Not great, so I will probably play it safe and change to the longer shackles I have.





I suspect once the glass, interior, spare tire, and full tank of fuel are added in, there will be 1/2" or less clearance, which seems like too little.

 

Gotta love a little Nash. My wife has owned this one for about 30 years...

 

I got after the right quarter panel this weekend, removing any remaining bits of undercoating from the backside, removing rust, and getting down to bare metal in the areas which need repair. The lower rear extension panel aft of the wheel opening needs to come off so I can remove and replace the piece between it and the quarter panel, but the spotwelds holding all three pieces are not easily accessed, unfortunately. I'll get the finger belt sander out and grind each one away another day.

I also had a few dents to attend to, and got the largest one mostly out, and the smaller dents are in better shape than when I started, so I am satisfied for now. Still some work to be done on a sharp crease just above the lower bodyline, though. Banging out dents is hardly my strong suit nor favorite thing to do, so I stopped for today.

I gave whatever remained on the outside a light coat of primer-- much easier to spot areas needing further attention now:



I also drilled the filler neck pass-through hole in the trunk floor, and started test fitting the filler neck while the tank is in position. I need to buy a '56 Chevy filler neck as the tank end has a groove/recess and matching rubber o-ring seal, both of which are matched to the tank. There's nothing supporting the filler neck at the quarter panel/upper end, save for the rubber gasket, so I will add a bracket of some sort somewhere along its length. I mocked things up with a piece of exhaust tubing, so I should be able to make things work once I get the proper filler neck:





Underside view, looking up:

 

Very nice. I do like the '53 nose update, especially the eggcrate style grille, but those mis-matched wheel openings...

 

Pontiac engine should move the little guy along ok or you could do what I did and add a sneaky Pete nitrous setup to the original forklift engine. Nah, better to go with the "cammer".

 

Lots of good work! I'm kinda the resident Rambler guy, but don't get over here that much, missed this!! You can cut the "hump" over the upper front suspension mount out and flatten that area. Will give you a little more room. That's what guys who stuff a V-8 in do (exhaust manifolds are still tight!!). If yours has the front shock mounts that have a rod from the top outer edge of the upper mount to the inner fenderwell (right in the peak of that hump) you can use 55 Nash or 58-63 American front upper shock mounts. They have a brace on each side that goes down to the rail.

Front to back space is scarce! I don't know if you'll have room for a radiator without dumping the heater and recessing the engine back a little. the Ford 140/170/200/250 six just fits -- about the same length as the Rambler flat-head or 195.6 OHV six. The later model Rambler/AMC sixes are too long, as are most I-6 engines. We don't usually consider the Chevy (or Pontiac) I-6 as a swap candidate for these (well, the 58-63 models... but mechanically they are the same as the 50-55 Nash Rambler) due to the length. It can be done, a fellow stuffed a 300 Ford in one. He ditched the heater and set the engine back several inches in the heater area though (center of firewall).

My understanding is that the Pontiac OHC shares a lot with the Chevy 250 I6. Supposedly the same block, but there may be some casting mods made to the front for the OHC. If your block is bad I'd take a look at a Chevy block and see how much difference there is. I know it shares the bottom end and many other parts.

 

Cooler and less humid lately, so, back to the trunk area. I used the K. I. S. S. method for the storage areas to either side of the spare tire, and will make a simple drop in place access door for both sides. These storage areas will be out of sight and used infrequently, so simple and straightforward is the idea. I added some 90* channel to support the lower edge of the access doors and to give me something to eventually weld the existing left and right trunk panels to. They also double as floor stiffeners, which seems to have worked out, as the oil canning on the left side is no more . Really not a ton of progress to show, but progress nonetheless.



90* channel plug welded to the floor, right side done exactly the same way:



Left and right storage cubbies roughed out, awaiting access panels/doors:





Next up, fuel filler neck cover.

 

No fuel filler neck yet, so continuing on with the spare tire well walls. I dug through my metal stash and re-discovered a pair of 15" x 24" shelving organizer pieces I purchased a month ago, decided they'd work well, and got to work making them fit. I trimmed one piece into two, then butt welded them together to form one long piece, which will serve as the forward wall. It extends between both inner wheel houses, preventing anything in the cubbies from sliding or rolling forward, and there's a small gap at both ends in case I need to pass some wiring though eventually. The area behind this panel will be painted black before it's permanently installed, while the visible area of the well will be white:





I added two vertical pieces of 90* channel where the side panels meet the forward wall (hidden from view in the above images), so that I can add a few plug welds to hold everything in place once all of the panels are fitted together.

Next, I cut the two side panels from the secord larger piece I had, and started working out how they'd both fit and function:



I have enough space between the spare well lid and the step in both side panels to allow the access panels to rest as shown above, but I don't love how that looks.

Reversed, with the 90* lip facing inward:



Donut spare tire resting in place:



I have a few inches of space all around the tire, but not really enough to have sufficient access to the cubbies if I hinge the doors at the bottom:



I think I will add a stepped flange along the bottom length of both access panel doors, which would allow both doors to slide down over the 90* channel I welded to the floor previously, keeping both panels in place. I can add some type of latch near the top to provide secure closing, and hopefully a (mostly) rattle-free fit, too.

 

Well, that was resolved quickly. Adhesive backed neodymium magnets proved to be a great solution, offering dual positioning options, strength, and ease of installation. Not cheap at $12/5, but rattle-free and no hassle removal is worth it IMHO.

 

I finally got the filler neck shield finished up, but it isn't the prettiest thing. Not a big concern, as most of it is hidden from sight after everything is re-assembled. I added three pieces to more or less extend and flare out the original shield, so a few templates and more of cutting, fitting, and grinding later, and it's finished. I'm going to hold off welding it to the floor and inner fender for now, just in case I need to adjust it, but the fit is acceptable, and should weld up without issue.

 

That looks good!

 

Thanks. It looks better on the upper area which was painted from the factory, and fortunately for me, that is the area which will be partially visible once the interior is complete.

I ordered a '56 Chevy fuel filler neck from Van's Auto (local-ish to me), which arrived yesterday, so tonight knocked out a modified filler neck. I cut off the last three inches or so of the '56 neck, where the rubber gasket seats, and used an exhaust adapter to join it with the Rambler's filler neck, then tacked, test fit, and welded it all together as one. The fit is good, but I need to buy a filler neck grommet as the original Rambler grommet is dried and distorted after 70 years.
Multiple test fits confirm the new filler neck and '56 Chevy fuel tank fit well together, but the rubber o-ring/gasket is a very snug fit inside the tank's neck... as it should be.