8 oddball cars to kick off 2021 with a splash of strange | Hagerty Media

[Hagerty]

2020 may be behind us, but that doesn't mean everything is back to normal in 2021. At least as far as car auctions, it's already clear that January 2021 won't be like the last year. Ordinarily we'd be looking forward to the flurry of auctions happening in and around Scottsdale, Arizona as well as Mecum's mega-sale in Kissimmee, Florida.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/auctions/8-oddball-cars-to-kick-off-2021-with-a-splash-of-strange/

[drjim]

Oh, goodness....I sure would like that Nash!

- Jim

[1959Imperial]

Give me my '63 King Midget. The company was around for decades and gets little or no attention.

[TomP]

The "fiberglass truck bed" in that Mustero is quite rusty!
They must not have used enough resin...

[VolvoSleeper]

Can’t believe the price for the Mustero! You could likely build a new Mustero for less and much nicer!

[JGeske]

The Nash and Fiat have so much character and looks. Would give up left and right arms for the pair.

[sclin10]

But then how would you type? LOL

[Steve1957]

...or drive them?

[lelms]

Based on your choice of headline words, I expected to find an Amphicar or another amphibious vehicle in your list.

[cactus]

You apparently overlooked the Mustang, obviously used as an amphibious vehicle for the last 50 years.

[VolvoSleeper]

Love the Fiat. I loved my first car a ‘57 Fiat 1100, 4 door sedan. Highlights: “suicide doors, center third headlight, 4 speed on the column, and rear seat folded forward to access the trunk.

[OCULUSNY]

Did your windshield wipers park or were they another Magneti-Marelli nightmare?
How does one say "Prince of Darkness" in Italian?

[chargeral]

Can't say any of those would appeal to me at all.

[sego]

The Nash is my fave. The styling and colors took me back to the fifties again!

[F360Spider]

That horrible 1966 Ford Mustang Mustero should be compacted into a cube and sent off to be made into washing machines and refrigerators.

[The-Mayor]

I will take that Funky-looking Nash Ambassador over any of these other rides! It was the deemed "Worlds finest traveling car" due to the ability for the seats to fold down into a bed to make sleeping arraignments..

[allliberalsrcra]

Definitely the Cizeta V16T

[Redvette2]

The 1947 Mercury Series 79M Marmon-Herrington 4×4 rings my bell. Put the surfboards on top and head down to Baja!

[OCULUSNY]

Or up to Tahoe to ski!

[sclin10]

$75,000 to $85,000 for this Mustero POS? I wouldn't pay that if it was pristine, never mind this poorly butchered rusty claptrap!

[sclin10]

(Should have been called a 'Rustero'.)

[cactus]

It will require this amount or more, $500 for the "car," and a minimum of $80,000 for the cost of a divorce and psychoanalysis.

[Ragtop69]

Looks like GM stole their inspiration for their entire 1958 Pontiac, Olds and Buick lines from that '56 Nash. Gaudy doesn't quite cover that.

[OCULUSNY]

It looks like the Range Rover has the optional camo package...imagine paying extra for paint swirls!

But that Ambassador takes the mid-century cake with those deep front wheel-wells that were designed to match the below-the-knee ladies hemlines of the moment.

[Bmike]

I'm more of an "Island of Misfit Toys" kind of guy. Give me the Auto Union. Even ugly ducklings need some love.

[Huntz-Hall]

Well out of this list of odd ball cars I would be all over that 1956 Nash Ambassador.
Drove my Dad's 1959 Nash Rambler when I was still living @ home, loved those reclineg front seats!

[2Classics95N72]

I'll admit I didn't know, never seen, never heard of the "Mustang Pickup" and now that I have, well not a fan. As for "oddball" vehicles; I've always been the one in our group to show up with a few, but not the ones, high priced ones noted in this article. My "what - where - why did you buy that" oddballs included a Ford Pinto Wagon with a 289 VW - old local newspaper delivery vehicle, a 4 door Ford Maverick - Police Interceptor (shouldn't got rid of this one, great car), a AMC Pacer that I really should have kept simply for value reason, but it was a little "rusty", and a 1978 mercury zephyr which I had, then gave it to my daughter when she turned 16, then to my nephew, then back to my son, then I fixed it up, cleaned it up and like others sold it; those are my "Oddball" cars; all I enjoyed and loved.

[tahend]

Think I'd rather have a pristine 428 69 Mach 1 for 85k.

[Jost]

I have seen a mustero in perfect shape at a national mustang show about 10 years ago. I didn't like it then and do my like it now, although it is more of a mustang than the mach e. For this compare, I am all in on that mercury. It looks bad to the bone! Imagine pulling I to your local cars and coffee with that? Very c0ool

[brb]

The Nash wins my vote for weirdest in the group. Park it next to an Aztek and let's vote on who gets the weirdo crown.

[bpar73]

To me, the Nash is weird/cool, the Aztec is weird/ugly.

[pistolpete]

Pay me $75.00 and I would haul that Mustero back to the creek that it came from.

[Maestro1]

It's the Range Rover and the over priced Mustang this time. And I'm thrilled that Runge has a waiting list. We need specialty car makers in America, as opposed to the empty techno product being produced now. I wish someone would do something with Gullickson and his Packard rights and design an attractive sedan, also the Atlanta should be bought from its owner in Florida and made as well.
I know that there is a limited market for this sort of thing but I think their contributions are vital because they give blood to a bloodless product mix.

[bpar73]

'56 Nash, hands down. So weird it's cool.

[Rick2]

I used to be the guy with weird stuff. You just never knew what I would drive up your driveway in next. But the weirdest I ever had was a Pinto Ranchero. made from two station wagons. That one got a lot of looks. The one I always wanted to build and have not done yet....a PT Cruiser convertible turned into a 1930's style five window coupe.

[drhino]

The Fiat; hands down. Italian, cool as hell and very original.

[Dan-S]

As far as I know, Marmon-Herrington is still around offering their 4WD conversions. A few years ago, I had a customer with a special-order medium duty Freightliner truck that had a Marmon-Harrington conversion. It was kind of difficult getting parts for it. The local Freightliner dealer had to look into it before admitting that the conversion truck was built on their assembly line. Then everything was cool, as was the truck.

[chrisbye]

https://www.marmon-herrington.com
Since 1931.

[chrisbye]

It's a Warren Buffet Berkshire Hathaway company.
https://berkshirehathaway.com/

[Dan-S]

Also, of note, besides the standard OHV inline 6 cyl. in The Nash Ambassadors, they were also available in 1955-6 with a Packard-sourced V-8. These also included the exclusive Packard UltraMatic 2-speed automatic with a lock-up torque converter. This transmission evolved into one made by Detroit Gear, the forerunner of the 3-speed Borg-Warner automatics.

[chrisbye]

Based on the rear fender medallion, I think the V-8 was what the Nash was originally fitted with.

[roadio55]

I love the Nash and it takes the weird crown for me. Just a few years ago I saw a derelict one sitting under a tree around here, but it has since disappeared. The Fiat is simply beautiful, only weird compared to other Fiats. The Mustero does absolutely nothing for me. I've seen many homebuilt Ranchero conversions of other cars - Studebaker Wagonaire, Pacer etc. so it's nothing special, even if it was built by a dealer. The Runge and the Cizeta are just two more low production supercars, like Koenigsegg. Nothing weird there, although I am intrigued by the V-16.

[Zephyr]

In 1962 a brand new Ford Ranchero was selling for not much over $2,000, so paying twice that much to convert a Mustang into a pick-up does seem excessive. The conversion I've always wanted is a Cadillac pick-up; these were known as "flower cars" and were used by mortuaries to transport flowers from the service to the graveside.

[chrisbye]

The rear fender medallion shown on the Mecum site reads "V EIGHT", the Nash's engine is obviously a straight six.
Notice how the dual rearview fender mirrors have a different setback.
I'm surprised the dent at the bottom of the left-rear door wasn't removed from such a pristine car.

[MikeZodiac]

Auto union is my favourite, I found a lovely blue/white one in a scrap yard in England in 1975, everything was so different to our cars often regret not rescuing it, but I was just a kid. Nice to see I could buy one today and much cheaper than the mustang pick up!

[Adam12]

Absolutely agree. So much two stroke goodness. Beautiful example and would love to have one, but I do want to stay married.

[Jimincalif]

The Nash brings back a lot of memories. When I was a teen ager I spent a week in the summer at my grandmothers place in Los Angeles. There was a Nash dealership about a block away. I passed it often and would go in and look at the cars. Yes it was not one of the hippest designed cars but it sure was good looking. The three tone paint was well done and the interior was very luxurious compared to the other comparable priced cars of the time.

[-Nate]

I'm odd so in spite of all the other nice oldies in this article, I like the 'Mustero' best although it re defines 'project' .

I see almost the entire car has a skim coat of bondo and some of it is 1/2" thick .

-Nate

[OMPguy]

Grew up in a Nash/AMC family. We had a chartreuse Ambassador, among a dozen or so other company cars. As for the pickup, there’s a turquoise bullet Bird out there somewhere that looks a lot better. cid:BB2EB03B-CB40-4C35-8164-91D1CA6CDCD7

[JoBar]

I lived in Tulsa in the late '50's and on my way home from grade school one day there was a similar Nash tri-tone (pink/black/gray) parked on my street. To me it looked like something from outer space.
I may have seen another one in my life but that one has stuck with me all those years. This was of the era where pink and black clothing was all the rage, a narrow window of time in the fashion world for sure.
In the '90's I was an instructor for a community college auto tech program and we took in cars from the general public. A client brought in his Bill Blas designer Matador and while the solid color blue was no match for the tri tone Ambassadors of years past that "touch of weird" was still there.
J