Highly advanced for 1941, the Nash 600 laid the foundation for Nash and American Motors products for decades to come.

Two men led the development of the innovative Nash 600, which made its debut in 1941. George Mason, the Kelvinator executive who was hand-picked by Charles W. Nash in 1936 to take over the reins at Nash-Kelvinator, was an engineer by training, and he envisioned a mid-sized, low-priced car with unitized body/frame construction to cut weight and reduce costs. For technical direction, Mason sought out Ted Ulrich of the Budd Company, leading industry experts in steel stamping and body manufacturing. (Ulrich soon went to Nash Motors full time.) With an investment of $7.5 million in design and tooling, a staggering fortune for an independent automaker at the time, the Nash 600 went into production.

The Nash 600 is often described as the first low-priced, volume-production U.S. car with unitized body/frame construction (above). There were earlier efforts at unit construction in the USA, including the 1934 Chrysler Airflow (see our feature here) and the 1936 Lincoln Zephyr (read about it here). However, the Nash design was more similar to the unit bodies we know today, and Nash and its successor American Motors would use this same basic style of construction for decades to come.

The 600’s engine also turned out to be an evergreen for Nash. A tidy L-head six, it displaced 172.6 cubic inches and initially developed 75 hp. To reduce weight and cost, the intake and exhaust manifolds were integrated into the cylinder block casting. Years later, this same engine would be chosen to power the 1950 Nash Rambler, the first modern compact from the domestic automakers, and it would remain in production through 1965 as the last flathead marketed in the USA.

With a wheelbase of 112 inches, the 600 (initially branded as the Ambassador 600) was slightly shorter than Ford, Chevy, and Plymouth, the low-priced three. But with its unitized construction, it was up to 500 lbs lighter than the competition, boasted greater interior volume, and was priced in the same $800 neighborhood. Meanwhile, the name 600 was based on the premise that with a 20-gallon fuel capacity and fuel consumption in the 25-30 mpg range, the car could travel up to 600 miles on a single tank of fuel—an appealing pitch to thrift-minded car shoppers. While the 600 was never a real threat to the low-priced three in total volume, it was a winner for Nash Motors, and it guided the company’s direction for years to come.