There was a time when economy cars had no upscale ambitions whatsoever. They were considered admirable for their low running costs, they were nimble for trundling about suburban neighborhoods and supermarket parking lots, and they were cheap in most senses of the word, pejorative or otherwise. They were rarely touted for their high style or engineering prowess—that stuff cost money, money that would be more easily recouped in something a little further up the divisional food chain.
What do we make of this 1952 Nash Rambler Country Club? It’s absolutely a compact; it rides a 100-inch wheelbase. But it fails to suffer from the dowdy fate that the handful of other period compacts did. Pillarless hardtop construction was just coming on board in the 1950s—a deft blend of protection while still letting the outside in as much as possible. Up to
