1954 Nash Rambler light re-commissioning

Two doors down from my shop is an old Rambler dealership that has the coolest wooden door with that Rambler parts logo on it, I'd really love to have that. I might get a chance to buy out a bunch of leftover AMC parts out of their attic too. Probably nothing back to the 50's but I'm definitely going to have a look.

Funny you should say that....

 

So yesterday I tore into the replacement bumper. The underside was pretty beat up with bumper jack dents.





But a few hammer whacks against the ol' walnut stump and it straightened out really nicely. I had to cut all the old bolts off which were hopelessly rusted on, then I cleaned the back side of the bumper with a wire cup brush on a drill as good as I could get it, and hosed the back side with silver paint. It's a bit pitted on the back and I figure a cleanup and coating of paint might help preserve it, certainly can't hurt.



Then I polished it up as good as I could get it. Here you can see the old bumper next to the new one and how badly the old bumper was blistering. I already taped down a couple edges that were lifting up, and it was only a matter of time before it started coming off in sheets. Maybe if I was super careful I could have gotten a summer or two out of it before it went completely to **** but even though this replacement is a bit more faded, it's stable and not going to peel off, I feel a lot better about it.





All it takes is a little edge like this to get caught on a wash rag or something and it would just tear right off.

 

I very carefully removed the original oval head bumper bolts from the front bumper. One of the bolt heads popped off, it had a big dent in it. I actually pounded the dent out of the cap and reattached it, then buffed out the bolt heads as good as I could. I also tapped/die cut the threads nice. Probably too much work to save some old bumper bolts but I didn't want to use generic ones and I don't know if you can buy these new? The bumper guard ones are super long.





They turned out decent, and I bolted up the front bumper. Then it was finally time to put the skirts on with the side trim. That's when I noticed that the new replacement front bumper is 2 inches shorter on either side than the original. They must have changed that when they redesigned the front end to have wheel openings. It bolts up in the same place and fits nice but when I designed the front fender skirts, they have a clearance notch in the front that the old bumper would cover, but these do not.



Not the end of the world, I'm still going to run this bumper and use the skirts, but I'll have to fill in that hole and that awkward square and paint it to match. That'll be a job for next year, though. Otherwise, the skirts fit great.

 

Which brings us to this afternoon when I finally got to take the car off of the cribbing and drive it outside, to park it in the big garage.

Seeing it outside, I think I might need a bit of a lowering block in the rear, not much, maybe an inch and a half, and I might paint the wheels satin black instead of green to really seal in the hovercraft look. Imagine with the wheels blacked out, or up against a curb or parked on gr***, it's gonna look wild.

But overall I'm very pleased. My fender skirt design with the lip tucking under the molding really works well, they're solidly in place and it's much cleaner that way. In the overcast light, the paint looks pretty good. In direct sun the mismatch is more noticeable but overall I'm happy with that too. The brakes work, it runs like a sewing machine, I love the mirrors, the front bumper is a big improvement, and I'm happy to be done with it for the year. Next spring I'll start driving it and working the bugs out.

 

Looks Great.....

 

That does look so cool!

 

Quickie photoshop with the wheels blacked out and a slight lowering in the rear. I think I'm going to need to do this, this really sells it.

 

pretty neat little car. definitely needs to lowered and wheels blacked out. the real question is how many cars do you own? lol

 

It looks like one of those electric bumper cars that glide around on the steel floor at the amu*****t park. Just need the pole to reach the wire mesh electrified ceiling.
Neat car!

 

I love the grilles on those old Nashes. They make the car look like it has a "Big ole cheesy grin," as @anthony myrick would say.

 

Dang skippy

sure would

 

a great looking car. Im no bodyman and if I saw all that rot I might of given up. Kudos to you for your persistence and having that parts clip to get the other parts from

 

Jon, I think the car looks awesome! Well done!

 

Turned out absolutely kool.
Dan

 

Your efforts are well rewarded. I've disparaged their power but Nashes, Willys', Studebakers and DeSotos have some interesting differences that shows there was a lot of variety in the car building business. Thanks for the journey and sharing your knowledge.