Nassau Motor Company - 2nd Gen 900 Revealed!

[MAG]

September 3, 1954 - Donald has returned from his month long holiday in Gasmea. After spending just over 30 days in the most prosperous country in the world and driving some of the best cars that Gasmean automakers had to offer, Donald is now disappointed driving his Tiger to the Nassau offices. He now understands why his roadster is struggling so much in the market. It is completely and totally outclassed by the Gasmeans and barely manages to be competitive with what other Fruinian companies offer.

His disappointment turns to anger after a brief meeting with his son Robert. Robert, having just gotten the sales reports for August again pleaded with his father to approve engineering a replacement for the Metropolitan. Sales of all three versions of the chassis are down 3,400 units from the previous year and 4,400 from its best month ever. Donald doesn’t want to hear it and tells Robert that the Tiger will be replaced instead.

Again, Robert argues that replacing the company’s marquee vehicle should be a priority; especially now as sales are falling and the car has been surpassed by the competition. Donald counters that the Metropolitan is still a perfectly acceptable car and will continue to sell well enough, especially with the possibility of the Archanan market opening up in the next year or two. Donald wants a competent sports car to bring some prestige to the brand.

Begrudgingly, Robert leaves his fathers office and gets his team to work on a replacement for the Tiger.

In other news, work continues on our new factories at the North Versailles site. This factory will be used to build our new commercial vehicle, which we expect to hit the market around the end of 1955.

Also, we’ve gotten the tune of our new A24-4C completed. The engine makes 84 horsepower at 3,700rpm and 131 ft lbs of torque at 2,200rpm. Things are shaping up for this to be a very good vehicle.

[MAG]

January 20, 1955 - 1954 has ended and we’ve begun the new year. Nassau is currently engineering two new models.

The first is a commercial van to replace the Metropolitan Delivery. The Metropolitan chassis was never really engineered to be a delivery vehicle. The van version was really an afterthought. Sales from 1954 really show that.

The second vehicle being worked on is a replacement of our Tiger roadster. The Tiger has been a disappointment. It was originally developed under the mindset that sales numbers would be small, but it hasn’t even hit those projections.

But enough about that, here is our yearly report for 1954.

Sales this year dropped massively. Revenue was down nearly $300 million. Thanks to a reduction in costs we only lost $48 million this year, compared to $200 million last year.

We ended the year selling 152,572 cars. This is down 35,000 from last year and 43,000 from our best year in 1952. Overall, it was the second worst full year of sales in the company’s short history, only ahead of 1950.

If a positive can be taken, it’s that sales remained relatively consistent all year long.

Starting next year, the above graph will only go back 5 years. As you can see, we have yet to really recover from the initial sales drop in December 1953.

The markets all dropped slightly over the course of the year.

Budget

Normal

Premium

Luxury

Commercial

In other news, we’ve officially signed off on the engineering of the replacement for the Tiger.

In order to appeal to a broader market this time around, we will have coupe to compliment the roadster. Also, because we’ll be producing this in the Nassau Flats factory (Nassau Heights for the new engine), and because we’re going to be re-using so much engineering from the Tiger, we won’t incur a lot of costs for factory retooling. Also, the car should be done relatively quickly, possibly by 1959.

We’ll be in a holding pattern for most of 1955. We’ll be showing our new vehicle in a few weeks at the Fruinian Auto Show with production beginning at the end of the year.

[MAG]

February 15, 1955 - Sales numbers have come in for January. Sales continue to be consistent, but much lower than a few years ago.

Tiger: 689 units (129 days of inventory)

Metropolitan Sedan: 7,670 (40)
Metropolitan Coupe: 2,485 (105)
Metropolitan Delivery: 1,826 (178)

And with that…

Welcome to the 1955 Fruinian Auto Show! Nassau is proud to announce its newest vehicle, the 1956 Nassau Express!

The 1956 Nassau Express was designed from the ground up to meet the changing transportation needs of Fruinia. Riding on a long 109" wheelbase and utilizing an all new leaf spring suspension, the Nassau Express is well suited for light or heavy delivery use.

Powering the Nassau Express is the all new 84hp A24-4C 4 cylinder heavy duty commercial engine, which is mated to a 4 speed manual transmission.

The 1956 Nassau Express will be available at all Nassau dealers this December. Pricing will be announced later in the year.

[MAG]

August 1, 1955 - Nassau would like to announce that the retail price of the Nassau Express HD will be $9,037.

Also, production of the 1955 Nassau Metropolitan Delivery has ended. 1955 will be its final model year.

We would like to announce a new pricing structure for the Nassau Metropolitan family of cars.

Sedan: $6,991 (-5% change)
Coupe: $7,780 (-5%)
Delivery: $6,826 (no change)

We will also no longer be discounting the Nassau Tiger.

Convertible: $8,471 (+5%)

January 2, 1956 - The calendar ticks over to another new year. Unfortunately for Nassau, it was a 3rd straight year of losses for the company.

Losses totaled $5.8 million. In the past three years we’ve lost approximately $250 million.

Sales actually rose this year to a total of 161,399. Price changes on the Metropolitan helped jumpstart sales in August. Sales of the Tiger fell slightly, but profits increased. After a horrible December, we will be re-instituting a 5% price decrease. Sticker price will once again be $8,152.

We did manage to move nearly 3,000 Express vans as an early 1956 model. This will be our last new vehicle for a while, as our new sports car is not expected to go on sale for at least 2 more years.

The introduction of the Express helped us to our best December ever!

That’s all for 1955. The next update will encompass all of 1956.

[MAG]

January 1, 1957 - Nassau is coming off of its 2nd worst December ever, after selling just 11,230 cars. The economy has been contracting since 1954 and while we’ve managed to avoid most of the problems associated with that, the contraction has finally hit the family car market.

However, prior to December we were actually having a pretty decent year.

We turned our first profit in 4 years, taking in $129 million. The new Express HD van really helped with that.

We sold our remaining 813 1955 Metropolitan Deliveries off in January, completely opening the market for our new vehicle Now would be a good time to look back at the Delivery.

Introduced in July 1949 as a 1950 model, the Metropolitan Delivery was Nassau’s first entry into the commercial market. Based off of our small family car chassis, the vehicle wasn’t specifically engineered for commercial use.

Its best sales year was its first, when 49,923 units were sold. After a brief uptick in sales in 1953, new competition and a slagging economy began to hurt the compromised Metropolitan Delivery. Sales for the final two model years combined for just under 44,000 units. Production ended in August 1955 and the final vehicle sold in January 1956.

Metropolitan Delivery Sales
1950: 49,923
1951: 36,080
1952: 36,850
1953: 37,080
1954: 22,320
1955: 21,611
Total: 203,864

This year, we sold a total of 175,553 cars. The Metropolitan Sedan and Coupe responded well to the price drop instituted at the end of last year.

The Express HD is slowly building marketshare.

The Tiger roadster didn’t turn a profit this year. The company is still trying to figure out the fate of our small convertible. Rumor has it that 1957 will be the last year for the car.

We’ll end this update with a look at our last five years of sales.

[MAG]

January 24, 1958 - 1957 was a tumultuous year for Nassau. Sales dropped yet again, down to 134,049 units. That is our lowest total ever, not including the half year of sales in 1949. Rumors from unnamed sources inside the company say that Donald, the CEO and Robert, his son and the head of product development are no longer on speaking terms.

Robert has been pushing to replace the Metropolitan for years now, but Donald won’t hear of it. He continues to argue that the car is still perfectly acceptable, even though sales numbers seem to disagree. Although in his heart he knows that his son is right, he can’t bring himself to replace the company’s first car.

Production of the Tiger has ended and 1957 will be its final model year. All unsold inventory will be sold throughout 1958 as a 1957 model year car.

Enough of what’s going on behind the scenes. Let’s take a look at some numbers.

The introduction of the Express HD hasn’t really helped our prestige out, but our focus on reliability is really paying off as our reputation continues to increase. Even during a down sales year we did manage to turn a slight profit.

The problem we’re facing is an absolutely terrible depression. I’ll be using the “Luxury” economic graph as the main indicator going forward, as posting each graph is rather tedious.

After a pretty significant rise in the decade following World War II, the economy has tumbled off a cliff.

As you can see, we aren’t the only company facing falling sales numbers. The market is terrible pretty much across the board.

Sales for most of our models remained steady until December. Sales of the Metropolitan Sedan fell nearly 30% and sales of the Metropolitan Coupe were more than halved. The Tiger’s numbers are still very low, but at this point we’re simply selling off remaining inventory. Lucky for us, the Express HD continues to slowly gain marketshare.

As you can see from our 5 year chart, 1957 was an abysmal year.

In other news, we’ll be showing our replacement for the Tiger at this year’s auto show.

Work on the engine powering our new car is pretty much complete. This is an entirely new engine design for us. The block and internals are the only carry-overs. We dyno-tested this morning and saw numbers in the 115hp range.

So look for Nassau’s new vehicles at this year’s Fruinian Auto Show!

[MAG]

February 18, 1958 - Welcome to the 1958 Fruinian Auto Show!

We’ll start right off the bat with the biggest news from the show. This will be the last ever Fruinian Auto Show. Starting next year, the show will be known as the Fruinian International Motor Show. After nearly a decade of start and stop negotiations, trade agreements have been reached between Fruinia and Archana. Starting in 1959, Archanan automobiles will be available for purchase in Fruinia. The following year, in 1960, Fruinian automakers will be allowed to sell cars in Archana. For the record, Gasmean cars are available in Fruinia, but the market for them is very small. There is currently no trade agreement allowing Fruinian cars into Gasmea.

Now that all the politics are out of the way, we’ve got something to show this year. Presenting, the 1959 Nassau Pacific roadster!

The 1959 Nassau Pacific improves on the outgoing Tiger in every conceivable way. The wheelbase has been extended 6" to 87", improving road feel and allowing the car to be more planted, whether cruising the southern Fruinian Riviera or motoring up the central Fruinian Alps. A new double wishbone rear suspension gives much more feedback to the driver.

Powering the Pacific is an all new 2.4 liter 4 cylinder engine. The Nassau B24-4T features twin carburetors and a state of the art, single overhead camshaft setup. This smooth new engine hits 116 horsepower and puts out 141 ft lbs of torque and will rev all the way to 4,800rpm.

Continued improvement is the basis of the Pacific. This roadster will accelerate to 60 mph in 12.1 seconds, nearly a second quicker than the Tiger. The quarter mile goes by half a second quicker, in 19.14 seconds at 79 mph. The car will keep going all the way up to 118 mph.

Well, I guess that’s all from the Auto Show this year. Oh, wait, we have one more vehicle to introduce.

Presenting the 1959 Nassau Pacific GT!

The Pacific GT coupe utilizes the same new engine and suspension setup as the roadster. Less weight however, means that the coupe is the real performer of the two.

The Pacific GT is an entire second faster to 60 mph than the roadster, hitting it in 11.1 seconds. The quarter mile goes by in 18.42 and the coupe keeps going all the way to 120 mph.

That’s all the debuts we have for this year. In other news, we will be dropping the price of the Metroplitan Sedan and Metropolitan Coupe. The new prices are below.

Sedan: $6,709 (-5%)
Coupe: $7,147 (-10%)

Pricing for the Pacific will be announced later this year.

[MAG]

July 1, 1958 - The final 1957 Nassau Tiger has been sold. Let’s take a look back at the Tiger.

Introduced in January 1951, the Tiger was intended to be a fun, small roadster that would draw people into our showrooms. While the car did bring in customers, it never sold in large numbers and its effect as a “halo” car was very small. 1954 was the peak year for the roadster, when it sold 8,315 units. From that point onward, sales declined. Production ended in January 1957 and the final Tiger was sold in June 1958.

Tiger Sales
1951: 5,781
1952: 6,955
1953: 7,835
1954: 8,315
1955: 7,496
1956: 4,442
1957: 4,067
Total: 44,891

September 28, 1958 - The price drop on the _Metropolitan_s has been successful. Even though we’re making less per car, we’re getting more out the door. In the current economic climate, every sale counts.

We’ve also announced pricing for the Pacific and Pacific GT.

Pacific: $11,028
Pacific GT: $10,208

In company news, after going the better part of a year without speaking to each other, Donald and Robert Gaul have settled their differences. There was a rather large event that occurred that made both of them come to their senses.

On September 28, 1958, Robert and his wife Karen are pleased to announce the birth of their first son, Charles.

[MAG]

January 1, 1959 - The all new 1959 Nassau Pacific and Nassau Pacific GT have officially gone on sale!

Let’s take a quick look back at 1958.

Sales of Nassau automobiles dropped for the third consecutive year, as the late 50’s depression continues. Thanks to price adjustments and production optimization, we managed a profit of nearly $80 million.

After the worst month in company history in January, where we sold just 8,700 cars, sales rebounded in February. Sales remained relatively consistent for the remainder of the year. We sold our final 1957 Tiger in June.

Overall, we sold 129,128 cars. This is down nearly 6,000 from 1957 and 66,000 from our best year in 1952. It was our worst sales year ever.

Sales of the Metropolitan Coupe increased slightly this year, up 8% over 1957. The Metropolitan Sedan didn’t fare as well and totaled just 73,333 units. Overall, we sold 87,544 _Metropolitan_s, a far cry from its best year in 1950, when it sold 215,175 units.

Another big announcement has rocked the Nassau Motor Company. Donald Gaul has announced that as of December 31, 1959 he will be stepping down as CEO. He has named his son Robert as his replacement. He and his wife Eleanor plan to retire to the west coast of Gasmea.

[MAG]

January 4, 1960 - At 9:00am, Robert Gaul sat down in his office. He is now officially the head of the Nassau Motor Company. At 9:01 Robert stood up, walked down to his engineering team, and told them to get started on a replacement for the Metropolitan. He has finally gotten his wish. And it may be just in time. Sales of the Metropolitan Sedan are beginning to tank. As of now, the car has been on the market for over 10 years and the competition passed it by long ago.

Another year and another profit. Even in the face of a worldwide depression, we managed to turn a profit of just over $100 million.

A big part of our profit is the fact that all of the tooling for the Metropolitan was paid for long ago. Even though sales are down, pretty much all revenues coming from sales of our Sedan and Coupe are pure profit.

As you can see above, the depression may finally be bottoming out. Sales increased in all markets in December.

Per the economic graph above, the economy today is only half the size it was in 1953. Hopefully the hard times are over.

Now for the sales numbers. This year we sold a total of 133,844 cars. This is up 4,000 over last year. Both _Metropolitan_s continue to sell less and less each month. The company is currently being propped up by the Express HD, which continues to gain market share.

The Pacific and Pacific GT have already seen price cuts as the car launched at the worst possible time. New prices are as follows.

Roadster: $10,570 (-5%)
GT: $9,786 (-5%)

This year we will be working on our new chassis.

Also, we are now able to sell vehicles in Archana. The economy in Archana is in even worse shape than ours in Fruinia, so we’re not sure how much that’ll help.

Bring on the swingin’ 60s!

[MAG]

January 1, 1961 - 1960 was a rough year for Nassau. Robert has completed his first year as head of the company and unfortunately for him, things did not go well.

The company lost $75 million. The replacement for the Metropolitan is still at least 2 years away so the company will have to make due selling our current car until 1963.

The Express HD is what’s keeping the company afloat at the moment. Sales continue to rise.

The Pacific has been a disaster in more ways than one. It’s currently selling fewer units than the car it replaced.

Because of the awful sales, Robert has ordered an emergency redesign of the car. Fast-tracking the engineering, we expect to have the replacement on sale by 1963. Also, mine subsidence has caused part of the Nassau Flats factory to shift, rendering the whole building unstable. Production of the current Pacific and Pacific GT have been cancelled, though we have so much stock that it shouldn’t be an issue. The redesign will have to be built in a new factory. The company is currently exploring options in the nearby city of Hialeah.

(Just a note here, I’m not sure what happened, but when I engineered the new car, the factories for the Pacific would not show up in the factory select screen.)

It seems as though we may have been right about the current depression bottoming out. The markets rose quite a bit this year.

We began sales in Archana this year and to say they were disappointing was an understatement. Over the year, we sold just 1,686 cars in the new market. Add that to the 117,991 cars sold in Fruinia and we sold a total of 119,677. Fruinian sales are shown below in blue, Archanan in green, and total sales in black. Overall, it was our worst year to date.

Notably in 1960, we sold our 1 millionth Metropolitan Sedan. All together, we’ve sold 1.5 million units of the Metropolitan chassis. The Pacific managed just 2,600 sales, just over half of what the Tiger sold in its final year.

We now look forward to 1961. We’ve cut the price of the Metropolitan Sedan another 5% to $6,427. Presently we’ll need to soldier on until our new cars hit the market.

[MAG]

January 3, 1962 - Nassau is becoming a minor player in the Fruinian auto market. After years of strong sales, failure to reinvest in new products has the company reeling.

We did manage to turn a profit of nearly $17 million this year and sales increased, but they have fallen heavily since our heyday in the early 1950s.

The world continues to pull out of the late 50s depression and markets are expanding at a rapid rate.

Nassau isn’t currently getting a piece of that pie. Sales in Archana doubled this year, to 3,623 units. This was helped by a brief 5% price cut for the Express HD from August through October. After that, our accounting team felt that profits took too much of a hit and prices were restored to their original MSRP.

All told we sold 129,641 cars, up 10,000 from the previous year. Our new products can’t get here soon enough.

[MAG]

January 1, 1963 - We’re holding on for dear life at this point.

As of today, production of the Metropolitan Coupe and Metropolitan Sedan has ended. 1963 will be its last year.

We lost nearly $40 million this year and had our worst sales year ever. Our engineers have been hard at work developing our replacements for the Metropolitan and Pacific, but we’re still in a holding pattern until they’re ready for market.

The economic growth shown over the last 2 years has stalled yet again. Though we don’t think this downturn will last very long.

This year we hit a new low of 117,171 cars sold. Our Express HD, which has been our main profit center, saw a sales drop this year. It’s looking as though we may need to think about a replacment, but with falling sales and two vehicles currently in engineering, that’s just not possible right now.

We did cut prices this year on three of our vehicles. New prices are as follows.

Express HD: $8,681
Metropolitan Sedan: $6,258
Metropolitan Coupe: $6,957

We’ve been very secretive about our new cars as we want their debuts to be a complete surprise to not only the public, but to the automotive journalists as well.

Our next update will be in February from the floor of the 1963 Fruinian International Auto Show. It will be a big show for us, as we’ll be debuting the replacements for the Metropolitan and the Pacific.

[MAG]

February 18, 1963 - Welcome to the floor of the 1963 Fruinian International Auto Show!

Today is the day that the hardworking engineers of Nassau have been waiting for. Today you finally get to see the future of the Nassau Motor Company.

But to get to the future, you have to reach into the past. Fruinia is a country renowned for its roadsters. For years, Nassau has worked to perfect the sporty small car. First came the Tiger, then the Pacific. And now, the evolution continues with the 1964 Nassau Grand Pacific Convertible!

With a wheelbase stretching 103", the Grand Pacific is both longer and wider than its predecessor. That means its more planted to the road. Finally you can whip this convertible into twisty mountain corners with certainty. It’s the same Pacific as before, but sized up to better meet your needs.

Able to approach a top speed of 143mph, this is the fastest car Nassau has ever built.

The popularity of the Pacific GT means that it returns as well, as the Nassau Grand Pacific GT!

Reaching 60mph in just 8.7 seconds and the quarter mile in 16.5, this is the quickest car Nassau has ever built.

Both versions of the 1964 Nassau Grand Pacific are powered by a first for Nassau. Underneath the hood is our brand new, A50-8M five liter V8 engine!

Featuring a four barrel carb and dual exhausts, the A50-8M produces 219 mountain carving horsepower.

The 1964 Nassau Grand Pacific Convertible and Grand Pacific GT will go on sale this September! Prices will be announced soon.

[MAG]

(continued)

Now it is time to see the future of the Nassau Motor Company. The Metropolitan is a Fruinian icon, giving our new model a lot to live up to. We’ve taken the time to make sure it’s perfect. That time is finally here. Presenting, the 1964 Nassau Arabia S sedan!

For the first time in the history of Nassau, customers will have options when choosing one of our cars. We expect most to opt for the 1964 Nassau Arabia S. This comfortable and economical family sedan

The Arabia S rides a 105" wheelbase, giving passengers 1.5 feet more space than the Metropolitan Sedan. This new model features a wonderfully appointed standard interior.

The Arabia S accelerates smoothly up to 60mph in a reasonable 11.5 seconds and will go all the way up to 100mph.

The standard version of the car is powered by Nassau’s all new A25-6M inline 6 engine!

The A25-6M puts out 101 horsepower and returns an economical 17.5mpg.

For the businessman with a family who decides he wants something a little more upscale, a little more powerful, and only wants to pay a little more, we bring you the 1964 Nassau Arabia SE sedan!

The Arabia SE features a beautiful leather interior and includes a premium AM radio for the driver’s listening pleasure. The SE seats 4 rather than 5 to give each passenger more room. And for the convenience of the driver and for the first time in a Nassau vehicle, the Arabia SE features a Glide-O-Matic 3 speed automatic transmission. Upgrading to the SE also adds chrome trim features.

With the new transmission, the SE can reach speeds of over 100mph and accelerates through the quarter mile in less than 18 seconds.

Providing power to the Glide-O-Matic is Nassau’s brand new A25-6P inline 6 engine.

In addition to the cutting edge overhead camshaft design, the A25-6P breathes much more easily with a performance intake feeding a 4 barrel carb. Air also flows out more smoothly through tubular headers.

These improvements bring power up to 141hp, 40 more than the standard S model.

This brings us to the end of the 1964 Nassau Arabia model line. But wait, we still have more models to introduce.

Now, for the family that needs more space than a simple sedan can provide we present the 1964 Nassau Regent station wagon.

The Nassau Regent is over 15 feet long and seats 5, providing you with the space and versatility that you need.

The Regent is powered by the A25-6M, the same engine found in the Arabia S. However, in the Regent it is connected to a 3 speed Glide-O-Matic automatic transmission.

Well, that’s three new models, and when you include the Grand Pacific Convertible and Grand Pacific GT, we’ve given you five new Nassau cars.

Oh, and one more thing.

The 1964 Nassau Bahama coupe! This is for the single, go-getting businessman who’s starting to shape the world. Adding the same chrome features as the Arabia SE, the Bahama projects the image you want to project. The coupe seats 4 and comes finely upholstered with an AM radio.

The Nassau Bahama is a performer as well. You’ll hit 60mph in under 9 seconds and pass through the quarter mile in under 17. Top speed is 114mph. Under the hood is Nassau’s A25-6P inline 6 connected to a 4 speed manual transmission.

The Arabia S, Arabia SE, Regent, and Bahama will arrive in showrooms in January. Pricing will be announced soon.

That brings us to the end. Six new models for you all to check out. Welcome to the new Nassau!

[abg7]

The whole Arabia line is shaping up to be an excellent range of family cars. I reckon I could even fit one of my early Albury V8s into it! The standard overhead-cam straight-sixes still offer plenty of grunt for the class, though.

[MAG]

A V8 would have been great, but given the current economic situation in Fruinia we didn’t feel that a family could afford the fuel for one. We feel that the A25-6P found in the Arabia SE and the Bahama can offer the performance of a small V8 but with better reliability and economy.

Also, as a struggling automaker at this point, it’s cheaper for us to engineer and mass produce 2 straight sixes (one as a “performance” variant), than to mass produce our A50-8M, which is a costly engine to build.

[MAG]

A year worth of updates follows.

May 28, 1963 - The final 1963 Nassau Metropolitan Coupe has been sold. Let’s take a look back at the Metropolitan Coupe.

Introduced in July 1949 as a 1950 model, the Metropolitan Coupe was an upscale alternative to the Metropolitan Sedan. This 2 seater was ideal for the young businessman traveling to and from the large cities of Fruinia.

Sales of the Coupe peaked in 1952 when 36,279 rolled off of dealer lots. Sales began to decline after 1955 and by 1961, fewer than 10,000 cars were being sold. The end of production was announced in 1963 and the final 2,500 were sold this year. All sales of the Coupe were made in Fruinia, with the exception of 185 cars sold between 1960 and 1963 in Archana. In its 14 year run, 287,688 cars were sold.

Metropolitan Coupe Sales
1950: 26,258
1951: 31,936
1952: 36,279
1953: 33,407
1954: 30,397
1955: 30,882
1956: 27,680
1957: 13,122
1958: 14,211
1959: 13,745
1960: 10,553
1961: 8,640
1962: 8,078
1963: 2,500
Total: 287,688

July 7, 1963 - Nassau has officially announced pricing of the 1964 Grand Pacific Convertible and Grand Pacific GT.

Convertible: $14,227
GT: $12,973

September 28, 1963 - A lot happened at Nassau this month.

The 1964 Grand Pacific Convertible and Grand Pacific GT have officially gone on sale!

Pricing for our new 1964 models has been announced.

Arabia S: $8,798
Arabia SE: $10,270

Regent: $8,847

Bahama: $9,207

Today, September 28, 1963, the final Nassau Metropolitan Sedan was sold. Let’s take a look back at the company’s first car.

Introduced in July 1949 as a 1950 model, the Metropolitan Sedan was Nassau’s first car sold. Powered by a respectable 1.8 liter 4 cylinder engine making 53hp, the Sedan was the right car for Fruinia in the early 1950s.

Its best sales year was its first, with the car selling 138,994 units. Sales remained at or around 100,000 until 1956. Starting in 1957 sales began to drop, all the way down to the 42,371 units sold this year. Management was reluctant to replace the car and most experts agree that the 14 year model run was way too long. Production ended in January of 1963 and the final car sold in September. Over its 14 years, 1,219,038 _Metropolitan Sedan_s were sold. When added to sales of the Coupe and Delivery, total sales of the Metropolitan chassis reached 1,710,590.

Metropolitan Sedan Sales
1950: 138,994
1951: 104,870
1952: 115,360
1953: 109,938
1954: 91,450
1955: 99,259
1956: 104,894
1957: 81,673
1958: 73,333
1959: 72,324
1960: 55,984
1961: 64,952
1962: 63,636
1963: 42,371
Total: 1,219,038

October 20, 1963 - The final 1963 Nassau Pacific GT has been sold. Let’s take a look back at our first sports coupe.

The Nassau Pacific GT was introduced in 1959 along with the Pacific Roadster as a replacement for the Nassau Tiger. Based on a modified version of the Tiger chassis, the new model was slightly longer and improved on the outgoing model in every conceivable way. The Pacific GT added a solid roof and replaced the 68hp 1.8 liter found in the Tiger with a 116hp 2.4 liter. This was the first Nassau model to use an overhead camshaft design.

Unfortunately, the Pacific GT launched in the depression of the late 1950s and the car sold far below expectations. The Pacific GT lasted just 5 model years before being replaced by the larger, more powerful Grand Pacific GT. The first car sold in January 1959 and the final one sold in October 1963.

Pacific GT Sales
1959: 1,361
1960: 1,614
1961: 1,694
1962: 1,528
1963: 643
Total: 6,840

[MAG]

January 6, 1964 - It is now make or break for the Nassau Motor Company. After another year of struggling, we’ve completed the launch of our 1964 Nassau Grand Pacific Convertible and 1964 Nassau Grand Pacific GT. The larger, more refined version of the Pacific went on sale in September.

Now, the second half of our revitalization plan has begun. Sales of our new product line consisting of the Arabia S, Arabia SE, Regent, and Bahama have begun. Unfortunately, the car couldn’t be release soon enough to save our year in 1963.

With the end of production of four of our models was combined with the release of two new models and the engineering of four more, we ended up losing over $50 million.

The markets have cooled off quite a bit as the recovery from this depression has stalled for the time being. Hopefully this will help with sales of our lower cost Arabia S sedan and Regent wagon.

As you can see below, the depression of the late 1950s has continued. The rapidly increasing markets of last year have dried up.

Sales of Nassau vehicles totaled 93,141 in 1963. This was our lowest sales number ever, though it was partially planned as we’re finally discontinuing our old models and ramping up production on new ones.

The new _Grand Pacific_s have been a bright spot so far. They’ve managed to sell in 4 months what the Pacific averaged in an entire year.

We have quite a hole to pull our selves out of and Robert Gaul knows it. While it was a reliable car and led to a pretty good reputation for our company, keeping the Metropolitan around for so long has destroyed the public’s perception of our brand.

When the car launched in 1949, it wasn’t state of the art, but it also wasn’t archaic. It was a well built, well optioned, and cheap family car to get Fruinia going again after World War II. By the time production ended this year, this still “new” car didn’t have the features of its competition and became seen as the automobile of the poor man who couldn’t afford anything better. We hope that in time, the Metropolitan can be remembered fondly, but right now that’s not the case.

The launch of the new Nassau “B-body” unibody chassis which underpins the Arabia, Regent, and Bahama is just the first step in Robert’s plan for the new Nassau. Hopefully with in improving political climate and new product with more on the way, we can turn the company around.

[MAG]

January 28, 1964 - The final 1963 Nassau Pacific Roadster has been sold. Let’s take a look back at our 2nd generation roadster.

The Nassau Pacific roadster was introduced in January 1959. Essentially a 2nd generation Tiger, the Pacific featured revised styling that gave the car a much smoother and cleaner appearance. The improvements weren’t all cosmetic though. The Pacific featured a revised chassis that was stretched for better handling. Under the hood was the Nassau B24-4T powerplant. This all new engine featured a single overhead camshaft design and twin carburetors. The new 2.4 liter produced 116 horsepower, 48 more than the Tiger it replaced.

Unfortunately for the Pacific, it launched right as the depression of the late 1950s really began to take hold. Sales of the new roadster didn’t even hit 1/5 of the total of the outgoing model. The best year for the Pacific was 1960, when 1,026 were sold. It failed to crack the 1,000 unit mark in any other year. After 5 model years, the Pacific roadster was discontinued and replaced with the much larger and more powerful Grand Pacific Convertible. In its 5 years, the roadster sold 4,216 units. When combined with sales of the Pacific GT, which ended last year, the 2nd generation sports car sold just 11,056 units.

Pacific Roadster Sales
1959: 848
1960: 1,026
1961: 875
1962: 836
1963: 631
Total: 4,216

March 1, 1964 - Nassau has put out a press release regarding the Bahama.

“We at Nassau are proud to announce that Nassau is going racing! When the Fruinian Touring Car Championship begins its 1964 season on May 10th, the field will feature 4 Nassau Bahama race cars prepared by 2 teams. The first team will be directly supported by Nassau itself and will feature drivers Kevin Anderson and Claudio Castagnoli. The second team will feature cars prepared by Segelson Motorsports, driven by racers Austin Myers and Tom Mazzoco. Good luck to our 4 drivers in the 1964 Fruinian Touring Car Championship!”

October 18, 1964 - The Fruinian Touring Car Championship for 1964 has ended. Congratulations to the champion, Dean Sampson, who won handily with his 1964 McNamara Swift Sport! Out of 30 racers, Nassau drivers placed as follows.

9th - Austin Myers (Segelson Motorsports)
11th - Claudio Castagnoli (Nassau Performance)
18th - Tom Mazzoco (Segelson Motorsports)
26th - Kevin Anderson (Nassau Performance)

Not a bad go for our first ever racing series. We will be looking at making improvements to our 1965 Nassau Bahama for next season.

January 5, 1965 - Another year has passed and the introduction of our new B-body family cars have been a huge success!

The costs of launching our new cars, as well as supporting a racing team ate into our bottom line quite a bit, but we still managed a profit of $8 million.

We had this success even though the marketplace has stagnated yet again.

As the depression continues on, we’re not sure to plan for a recovery or for business as usual. Our sales skyrocketed this year, but even with the huge increase, our factories are no where near capacity. The public just doesn’t have the buying power they did ten years ago.

The launch of our new models has had a much quicker impact on the perception of Nassau than anyone expected. While we still have a long way to go, the “prestige” of our brand has improved quite a bit.

Finally, let’s get to those sales numbers!

This year, we sold 161,782 cars, which is our highest total since 1956!

This number includes the final 7 sales of the 1963 Nassau Pacific, which occurred in January.

The 1964 Grand Pacific Convertible and Grand Pacific GT sold very well, totaling just over 8,000 units. That’s nearly 75% of what the Pacific sold in its entire 5 year model run.

Sales of the 1964 Nassau Express HD were just over 43,000. We’ve sold a consistent amount for the past 3 model years. Sales in Fruinia have begun to drop slightly, while sales in Archana have risen. The Express HD will enter its 10th model year in 1965 and may be due for a replacement.

Sales of our new 1964 Nassau Arabia totaled 87,615 cars; 62,833 S models and 24,782 SE models.

The 1964 Nassau Regent wagon sold respectably well, coming in at just under 19,000 units.

The 1964 Nassau Bahama sport coupe sold under expectations, coming in with just over 6,000 sales.

Finally, here’s a look at our year over year sales for the past 5 years.

Our next update will be from the floor of the 1965 Fruinian International Auto Show where we will have a surprise introduction!