AUTOS: $1,000 Car?

President George W. Mason of Nash-Kelvinator Corp. tried a new way to find the answer to an old question: How many Americans want a small car that will sell for $1,000? He actually made a small car. Last week he showed it to 450 hand-picked guests in Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria, and passed out the first of 250,000 questionnaires to find out what people think of it. Most of those who saw it liked it.

Mason’s “N.X.I.” (Nash-Experimental-International) is a low-slung, two-seater convertible big enough for portly President Mason and a passenger. Built along the lines of a heavier car, the N.X.I, is 12 ft. 1 in. long (the smallest Ford is 16 ft. 4 in.), has an 84-in. wheel base, and is designed to be powered by a low (18 to 36) horsepower foreign engine such as Italy’s Fiat. Depending on the horsepower, the N.X.I, would go 35 to 50 miles on a gallon, have a top speed of 60 to 70 m.p.h., and cost $950 to $1,000. The car has no trunk compartment (baggage is stored behind the seat) and no fancy chrome trimmings; the hood, fender and front bumper are a single unit.

The low cost, Mason explained, would be made possible by the use of many foreign-made parts. After Manhattan, the N.X.I, was shown in Washington and Detroit, will later appear in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Mason thinks that the new car, if produced, would probably find a special market—e.g., as a second car for families who can now afford just one—rather than cut into the market for standard models. Nash itself plans to bring out a cheaper standard model this spring, which it hopes to sell for slightly less than the present lowest-priced Nash. In any case, Mason will not build the N.X.I, unless his survey shows a potential market for at least 100,000 such cars a year.