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OREGON – As the skies cleared Saturday, 50 Nash cars were ready to race at Stronghold Camp & Retreat Center.

The 2024 Grand Nashional, hosted by the Upper Mississippi River Region of the Nash Car Club of America, featured models from six decades of the legendary independent car line.

Known for the “Little Nash Rambler,” Saturday’s event showed Nash newbies that the vehicles have much, much more to offer.

Take, for example, “Rambler Rebel” by James Beymer from 1957.

“I had one when I was in college,” Beymer said, pointing to his snazzy two-tone Rebel. “It was the second fastest production car from 0-60 seconds, only the fuel-injected Corvette was half a second faster. It was a hot rod. I outran every Ford and Chevy that came my way. I loved it.”

Beymer, of Henryella, Oklahoma, bought another Rebel in 2008 and took four years to restore it. “I did everything except the upholstery,” Beymer said. “There were 1,500 made and they were all the same color.”

Only three options were offered, Beymer said, but his Rebel was equipped with all three, including air conditioning, which is identified by a small metal badge on the driver’s door.

He brought his Rebel to the show in Illinois in a trailer. “I don’t drive it very far,” Beymer said. “My car is the 610th of 1,500 built, and there are only 25 left and only 12 have been restored.”

Parked right next to Beymer was Charlie and Maggie Wilson’s nearly identical 1957 Rebel – same color, but no air conditioning. But they drove their Rebel all the way from their home in Canton, Ohio, to the National.

“This is our vacation car,” Charlie said. “Most years we drive the Rebel when we go somewhere. We’ve been to New York City and Boston.”

Charlie bought the restored Rebel in 1993 in Spokane, Washington. “We put it in the back of a Ryder rental truck and drove it home,” Charlie said. “The previous owner said we couldn’t drive it home, but I think we could have.”

The Rebel is powered by a V8 engine and averages 11 to 12 miles on the road, Charlie said.

An artistic flashback to 1952 featured Tom and Lisa VandeWettering’s Nash Healey Roadster – a pearl-colored beauty with sleek, cool lines and large, round headlights.

“There are only two of these in Wisconsin,” said Tom, a sixth-generation dairy farmer from Greenleaf, Wisconsin. “Only 500 of them were made. They were built for the LeMans race.”

LeMans is a 24-hour endurance race for sports cars held every year near the French city of Le Mans. VandeWettering’s Healey has three gears and overdrive and is powered by an inline six-cylinder engine with twin carburettors.

The Nash Healey was designed by Donald Healey, a British sports car manufacturer, and George Mason, president of Nash-Kelvinator.

Tom and Lisa bought their car two years ago in California. “We bought it from a family that had owned it since 1958,” Lisa said. “When we drove it away, they said, ‘You’re like one of our kids now.'”

Tom said the previous elderly owner, also named Tom, sold the car because he no longer felt comfortable driving it. He had named the car “Dollybelle,” a name the VandeWetterings have kept.

“He named it that and we kept the name,” Lisa said. “That’s definitely how it was.”

A Healey recently sold for $149,000. “It’s really art,” Tom said.

A contrast in design and price to the Healey was the 1961 Nash Metropolitan Coupé by Bill and Pam Sturgeon – the small Nash “Met”, known for its frugality and elegance.

“Here we have the most expensive (Healey) and the most economical (Metropolitan),” said Tom.

The Healey sold new for $6,200, while the Met’s MSRP was $1,673.

This diversity of design and functionality was clearly visible at the trade fair.

Nash vehicles were built in Kenosha, Wisconsin, beginning in 1916, and bear the name of Charles Williams Nash, who was born in Cortland, Illinois, in 1864. Nash was the fifth president of General Motors before founding Nash Motors in 1916.

Nash Motors existed from 1917 until 1954, when the company merged with American Motors Co.

The oldest Nash at the show was a 1918 Cloverleaf 683 owned by Reggie and Cindi Nash (yes, Nash) of Richmond, Virginia.

“I bought the car 50 years ago in Philadelphia,” Reggie said. “It was originally sold by Conrad Brothers in Scranton, Pennsylvania.”

Saturday’s show also included grand touring cars, coupes, large Ambassador models and, representing a newer AMC lineup, a mighty green 1972 Gremlin owned by Matt Woodstrup of Sycamore.

The organizers also welcomed other makes and models to the show, and Jim and Dawn Somers of Lindenwood, Illinois, obliged, bringing their 1911 Austin 45HP. The great touring car beauty was purchased by WM. R. Somers at the Chicago Auto Show on May 29, 1911, and remained in the family for 113 years.

Jim Dworschack of Soldiers, Wisconsin, founder of the Nash Car Club of America, drove his 1926 Nash the 265 miles to Saturday’s event. “It was a very nice drive,” he said.

He praised the Oregon region’s efforts in organizing this year’s event. “We had so much support from the city, the park district and of course Stronghold,” he said. “The Oregon Chamber helped us find the attractions in the area. Everyone seemed to like the area.”

On Friday, some club members drove to the Nash family farm on Route 38 before visiting the Ellwood House Museum in DeKalb, built for barbed wire entrepreneur Isaac Ellwood, and the Reagan Home in Dixon before heading to the lodge at White Pines State Park.

Dworschack said the Nashional is held in a different location each year, but may return to Oregon. “We’ve been moving for a while, but it’s certainly possible,” he said.