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WEBMASTER'S PAGE |
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1926 NASH SPECIAL SIX 236 RESTORATION IN PROGRESS |
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HISTORY |
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| This 1926 Nash Special
Six Roadster was
purchased by Eustis Mathews, my father, in early 1927as a "previously owned
car" shortly after he moved to Southern California from Detroit, Michigan.
(I'll leave it to the reader to figure out my dad's motivation for
moving from Detroit to Southern California.) Born in
Minnesota in 1899, his family moved to Zion City, Illinois around 1910.
My mother, Ruth Hess, was born in Zion City, IL in 1905 and lived
there until her family moved in 1920 to Huntington Park (Los Angeles County),
CA . Zion City, IL, located on the western shore of Lake Michigan between Waukegan IL (birthplace of Jack Benny) and Kenosha WI (home of Nash), was founded in 1901 by Dr. John Alexander Dowie as one of many "Christian UTOPIAS" in the Country. Zion City became the home of his world wide Christian Catholic Apostolic Church. For some history on Zion, IL go to http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1399.html My dad's first job while living in Zion City was at the Nash factory in Kenosha, WI. I never learned what his job was at the Nash Factory. At his young age he was probably doing unskilled labor.
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Soon thereafter, Eustis moved to Detroit with an older brother and younger sister. Upon arriving in Detroit he apprenticed as a pipe fitter, installing automatic fire sprinklers, most of the work being in the rapidly expanding automobile factories. On September 11, 1927, nine months after arriving in California, Eustis and Ruth drove in the Nash to Oxnard, CA ( Ventura County) where they were married by the minister of the Oxnard Methodist Church. The Nash Roadster was the Mathews Family auto until 1937 when it was replaced by a 1929 Huppmobile Century Six Four Door Sedan. The Nash sat on flat tires in a garage in Huntington Park, CA until the mid 1960's when my younger brother and my dad got four new "Allstate Universal 21 inch tires", got the engine running again, drove it a bit, and then moved it into a different garage where it rested on blocks until 1985. When I heard my mom was planning to give it to a kid in the neighborhood, I immediately let her know I wanted it and soon thereafter borrowed a trailer and moved it to my garage in Oakland, CA where it rested on blocks another ten years until I began the restoration in 1995, a year after my retirement.
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Just Married in Oxnard, Ventura County California, Eustis and Ruth Mathews and the 1926 Nash Roadster, September 11, 1927 |
Eustis's First "Pink Slip" Issued 4-12-1928 when he paid off the loan. Note this auto was first sold 7-3-26 |
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PHOTOS OF THE RESTORATION ON PAGE TWO ≈ Ben Mathews, N.C.C.A 5068, Webmaster
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