1930 NASH A LABOUR OF LOVE
‘Our adventures are just beginning’
This tired 1930 Nash didn’t benefit from much care and attention over the past several decades, but now it has a new home in Marthinus Goosen’s garage. And that’s a happy spot for it to have landed.
Originally from South Africa, Goosen and his brothers took pride in keeping family vehicles and tractors running for as long as possible. That led to a history with air-cooled Volkswagens, and then his own 1935 Ford fivewindow coupe.
“We started building hotrods,” Goosen says. “I was into the mechanical side of things, and slowly got more involved in bodywork.”
Goosen spent plenty of time building the ’35 Ford, but when he immigrated to Canada in 2000, he wasn’t able to import the car. At that point, he decided to sell the Ford, leaving it behind in South Africa.
That meant Goosen, with an acreage and a three-car garage near Calgary for a workshop, was looking for his next project. It was several years ago when Goosen spotted a 1937 Nash coupe under a tarp on a farm near Bentley. He bought it and built it, doing all of the work himself with the exception of the upholstery on the front seats.
With that Nash completed, Goosen continued to keep an ear to the ground for other older vehicles that might be suitable hotrod material, and several cars and trucks have since come and gone.
And while he wasn’t necessarily looking for another Nash, he got an email alert earlier this summer that a 1930 Nash Model 450 Single Six was for sale in Langley, B.C.
The previous history of the car is something of a mystery. It’s only known that it most recently came out of an estate sale and was bought for resale.
Goosen spoke to the seller over the phone, and based on a few emailed photos and a verbal description, bought the Nash. He picked up the car and brought it home in mid-August.
That’s when he started doing some research and found my story about Scruffy, the unrestored Nash that’s on display at Heritage Park’s Gasoline Alley transportation museum.
That particular Nash was preserved by Brian McKay and has been driven across America as much as possible on historic Route 66.
It struck a chord with Goosen. “I’m going to diverge from my hotrodding background,” Goosen says. “Just looking at that 88-year old car, I’ve decided it would be a sin to take that car apart and modify it.”
Instead, he plans to leave the Nash wearing its time-worn patina and will perform a mechanical restoration, just like McKay did with Scruffy.
“When we got it home, the tires were all flat and it wouldn’t roll off the trailer,” Goosen says. “But we got it down and onto the hoist in the garage.”
Since then, Goosen hasn’t been able to leave the Nash alone. He’s been all over the car, getting the doors and windows to open and close and the front tires and tubes to hold air. The rears were too far gone, so he picked up new ones from George Moir Antique Auto Parts in Stony Plain.
He removed the oil pan from the seized engine to see if the cylinder bores were rusted. There’s some oxidization in them and Goosen hasn’t yet been able to free up the 201.3-cubic-inch, 60-horsepower straight six-cylinder engine. He’s holding out hope that, with some patience and diesel fuel poured into the cylinders, the engine will turn.
“Overall, the Nash has a lot of surface rust, but only one small rust hole in the body in front of the rear wheel,” he says. “The upholstery is in amazing condition. The rear window is gone, and it will need new wooden floors, fabric-covered roof and running boards.”
As purchased, inside the Nash was a box of parts that included both massive headlights and the glass lenses for the two small cowl lights, and new kingpins. Some parts, such as wheel bearings and a few suspension components, can still be found new.
The only two major pieces Goosen’s Nash is missing are the rumble-seat backrest and the gas tank. While the wiring loom is intact and appears to be in good condition, Goosen says he would re-wire the car for his own peace of mind.
“I would love to do a crosscountry journey in that Nash,” Goosen says.
“Can you imagine driving that car down the road the way it looks — but completely mechanically sound? Our adventures with that car are just beginning.”