Dayton Daily News

Clyde Mason always wanted to do a complete rebuild on an old car.

"I've always been fascinated with the real antiques, the cars of the '20s. I've had some Mustangs and others, but I always went back to the real old ones," he said.

Scanning the Dayton Daily News classifieds in 1996, Mason found a 1927 Nash listed. It was sitting in Xenia, languishing for 12 years while the owner considered restoring it. He finally gave up, but Mason made the deal, and now this 2-door coupe has a new lease on life.

"It was rough — real rough — but I bought it anyway. Turned out to be a lot more work than I thought, like seven years' worth, but it's been fun all the way," Mason said.

Mason's car is a Nash Model 325 two-door coupe, which seats two people. It's powered by a flathead inline six-cylinder engine, coupled to a three-speed transmission.

It uses very unique universal joints made of a fabric-type disc.

"Once I started tearing the car apart, I knew I was in for a lot more than I bargained. There is a lot of wood under the body panels: the firewall, and all of the interior pieces, plus the roof. Luckily I have a ShopSmith and a little experience in woodworking," Mason said. "I also realized that you can't pick up a catalog and order parts, so you have to be careful with everything and reuse as much as you can."

Mason, who lives in Eaton and is a retired toolmaker from General Motors Corp.'s Moraine Assembly Plant, did all of the work on the car except the paint.

"When I started tearing the engine down, I thought I was in trouble. But I found Egge, a company that will recast pistons, pour new connecting rods, pretty much anything you need. They aren't cheap, but they're brand new and correct," he added.

Finding other parts required hours on the Internet, using the Nash Car Club of America Web site and members forum to search out original pieces.

"I needed a brake light. The top part says, 'STOP' and it lights up. It took almost two years to find one, and then the guy who had it didn't want to sell it. Stuff like that took a lot of patience," he said.

Mason takes his Nash to various local car shows.

"I don't drive it more than 40 miles away from home, and I try to stay on back roads. It will run about

50 mph, but it's better suited to just cruising around."

Charles Nash founded Nash Motors in 1917. Nash was president of General Motors, but he broke away to build cars under his own name. The 325 and 328 were two of the best-selling models Nash ever built. In 1936 Nash merged with Kelvinator refrigerators to form Nash-Kelvinator, and in 1954 they bought out Hudson to form American Motors. That merger was the last straw for the Nash nameplate as sales plummeted, with 1957 being the last year for the Nash.