This car is a six-cylinder 1923 Nash Touring on Facebook Marketplace, located in Rogers, Arkansas, and it’s basically in tatters—especially the roof. The owner says it’s “not bad for a 103-year-old car,” and while that’s correct, it’s in very challenging condition. Thanks for the tip, Terry. The photos are rather odd, taken at strange angles and not really showing the full interior or the engine. The car has “been sitting in a barn for years,” but apparently the motor was running a year ago. The factory wood-spoke wheels aren’t bad, and the body panels look straight, but the complicated top needs a full rework. The owner claims a good title, but adds that the car was a trade-in that he’s too busy to restore.
Nash was a pretty healthy company in 1923, producing 56,569 cars. Charles Nash’s slogan in this period was “Give the customer more than he has paid for,” and that took the form of technical innovation, such as a straight-eight with overhead valves, twin spark plugs, and, by 1930, nine main bearings. In 1932 the Ambassador Eight boasted synchro transmission, free-wheeling, automatic chassis lubrication, and suspension adjustable from within the car. Nash was an early proponent of four-wheel brakes.
But this car is from before all that. The Six Touring was upscale from the Four Touring in 1923, and sold for $1,240, a not inconsiderable sum at the time. It came in five- and seven-passenger versions—this looks like the latter. These bread-and-butter cars aren’t worth much, even considering they’re more than 100 years old. Hagerty values a 1923 Nash collector vehicle between $16,000 and $28,000, depending on body style and condition. A convertible would be the most sought-after, not this big sedan.
The sad truth is that a restorer of this car will quickly go underwater. But they’d have a nice, technically advanced car when it’s done. Are you up for the task?
like the rest of us oldies, wrinkles and parts missing.
That’s right up my alley!
If it runs and drives and you can do the work yourself $5500 is plenty. Be a fun project, Sunday cruise, Friday night cruise-in. Unfortunately, cars like this don’t draw much interest anymore.
if it was a touring body style, it would have been picked up along time ago
It looks like a touring car with a California top so that you get glass side windows instead of mica. There is a nice original Cole at the Gilmore Museum with one of these tops.
One of these in a roadster body would be pretty cool, but otherwise meh.
I wonder how many of this year and model are left in the world. So many marques and models are not just rare, they’re extinct with absolutely none left. Point being that market value and nostalgia have little in common.
Google says that fewer than 10 surviving 1923 Nash Touring Cars are officially documented today, making them exceptionally rare. Unregistered “barn find” exceptions occasionally surface in the wild, but the total global pool of intact or restorable 1923 Nash Touring cars is widely estimated to be well under two dozen.
Unfortunately, interested parties with the means to restore a vehicle like this are also under two dozen.
That’s actually more than I thought. Thanks for the follow up.
I would gladly take on the task but coming up with 5 Grand for such a purchase would present a challenge financially.
At least no one has wanted to drop a V8 in it!
Thank goodness!!!
https://youtu.be/5Fp3Jax5Gdc?feature=shared
Appears to be in better overall condition than many of the 60’s- 80’s era barn finds, and a little spiffy with the red-painted inner fender and wheel accents.
What model year is your car?
It’s a 23.
So it must have driver assist and a back up camera right?
No, it’s a NINETEEN- 23!
😂
I’d take it on but it’s going to cost me three time the price to get it back to Australia.
I just don’t know. I sell the classic car hobby short, mostly because of my inability to participate, but realistically, there are plenty that would take this on. I mean, this isn’t an ’83 Fairmont, it has some real history, and all is not lost. Nash will go down in US history as one of the premier car makers of all time, and that is still worth recognizing. A great find.
Has anyone else noticed the odd shape of the windshield frame? To my eyes and by itself that windshield frame looks very much like what you would find on a phaeton/touring car body. The more I look at the rest of the car I am wondering if this car was born as an open car and then somehow converted to closed. If so, converted by whom? I have seen old advertisements for kits that would allow you to make that kind of conversion on Fords, but would the Nash have been sold in sufficient quantities to justify some company to invest in that kind of operation. Another possibility is a very talented individual made the conversion. Unfortunately the pictures are very limited and it is hard to answer the question with certainty.
Your thoughts?
With another look at the pics I noticed something else that makes me think it was originally an open car. It appears the side windows slide fore and aft rather than down into the doors. By 1923 even Model T’s had windows that lowered into the doors, not with regulators as we know them but using straps that allowed one to pull them up. This also makes me think of another possibility, This was Nash’s first attempt at making an enclosed car. Almost like a prototype.
The stationary window raise handles are classical ‘Stanley’ style handles for wood sash windows (non-automotive) from early times to now .
Another great find for the man with some expertise and a good sized checkbook. I sincerely hope it goes to a good buyer who will try to restore it to its original condition. This a big bit of automotive history that should NOT be lost.
I would love this car; unfortunately, my wallet would not. Lots of cars of this vintage driving around when I was a child: now it’s a museum-piece.
“Hagerty values a 1923 Nash collector vehicle between $16,000 and $28,000, depending on body style and condition. A convertible would be the most sought-after, not this big sedan.”
A convertible isn’t for sale. This sedan is.
“The sad truth is that a restorer of this car will quickly go underwater. But they’d have a nice, technically advanced car when it’s done.” FFS. It doesn’t have to be Concours level every single time.
Is that really what it’s all about?
Oh well. To the crusher then.
The old “two many doors” type argument. Stop it.
Quick Nash story my dad always told. When he was a boy, say mid 30s, my grandfather actually had a good job, at a company called “Standard Overall” in Milwaukee. My dad was one of the few kids that had nice pants, as grandpa had sticky hands, and brought them home in his lunch pail. The story went, he was one of the few with a car, and while details were sketchy, he had a Nash like this, only with the tall disc wheels. One day, a woman walked in front of the car, my grandfather couldn’t stop, and ran her over. He was sure he killed her, but she got up from under the car, apparently unharmed, brushed herself off, and went on her way. Dad said it was probably the tall wheels that saved her.
this is barn finds,where will you find a unrestored car over 100 years old,if want better one go to b/j
If I had this I’d do a Goth, Munsters, Halloween makeover on it. Take one of those 12 foot skeletons torso sitting on the roof with a tall shifter and big steering wheel. The thing would go viral!
😞
That is an open car. These are called ‘Carson tops’. The whole top comes off. Many open cars only had a plastic type window that rolled up into the fabric top and held by snaps.
So, the top is not original to the car?
According to Wikipedia the first Carson top was made in 1935 for a Model A. Not likely they made tops for a 12 year old car that was nowhere near as common as Fords. Also, as you said, Carson tops are removable. The photo of the rear of the car shows the top material where it meets the body. It looks like it is tacked to the body wood just like the top of a phaeton.
Well, believe what you like but they made Carson tops for cars built in the teens and twenties. Easy way to convert an open car to closed.
Look up ‘all weather tops for 1920s cars’ and you will get a list of makers of that time. This is definitely one of those tops as you can see how it poorly matches to the rear door width. At this time a Nash closed car would have a vertical front windshield, this slanted and two-piece. The hard part on this car is finding or reconstructing the top bows for the fabric roof. Can be done but is it worth it?
I must have lost touch with the antique car market somewhere along the way because I recall that in the sixties and seventies old stuff like this brought pretty crazy prices.
Also, this old gal doesn’t look all that rough to me, particularily compared to some of the complet garbage Mopar stuff I see on Barn Finds. This appears to be completely restorable, but I guess that the market just isn’t there for something like this, damn shame too because as they say, they ain’t makin’ em’ anymore.
I wish I had $5,500 to spend. I would definitely try my hardest to resurrect this old gal.
12 hours 9 minutes (805 miles) away!
Hi Jim, here’s a little education for you: this is an open touring car, not a sedan. It’s equipped with a “California top” which was an after-market removable lightweight wood and canvas (and in this case maybe aluminum) assembly that could be changed out with the folding top and used in the colder months, or even year round. California tops often had sliding or removable windows. So for those opining that this would be worth more if it was an open car – it is an open car. A new owner could remove the rotted top and throw it away and have a nice open tourer. Look in the barn and see if the original folding top and bows are lying around there somewhere!
Darn, now I really want it.
A century old and now will die under a tarp in Arkansas. At least if someone dropped a LS into it would live under a new larger Oklahoma tarp.
Arkansas
What is an LS?
LS1, LS2, LS6 GM Engine
THANKS! Now, if only I can REMEMBER that!