In 1950, the year my life began, the Nash Rambler Airflyte was also born into our consumption culture.
When postwar auto production was just beginning its start-up, nearly all of the auto companies retooled from war to peace by simply reintroducing their pre-war cars with minimal updating. Some realized, however, that life in the postwar era was going to be substantially different.
Before the War, designers were concerned with aerodynamics, streamlining, and the effects of wind resistance. Cars of the future would take into account air drag when they were being designed, using the advantages of aerodynamics. Wartime advances in airplane design had a huge influence on the work of postwar automobile designers. It seemed like the right time to establish a new automotive frontier. Nash Motors wasn’t going to be left behind—in sales or technology—and thus the Rambler Airflyte arrived.
Some were not pleased with its minimalist details. Others were ecstatic. This brochure shows the vehicle to be quintessentially modern in its lines—and where it counts under the hood, as well.
