
Vintage Nash Ambassador Hunting Scene
Shot by Eliot Porter using an Argus C3 with 50mm lens and Kodachrome film. Atmospheric landscape with foreground interest. Distance: 50 feet from subject. A forest-green Nash Ambassador with wood panel trim sits loaded with hunting gear outside a rustic log lodge just before sunrise. Morning mist clings to the surrounding pines as early November frost coats the windshield. The car's unique "Weather Eye" heating system has already cleared patches of glass as exhaust vapor rises in the cold air. Hunters in flannel shirts and Woolrich jackets load shotguns and thermoses into the spacious trunk, their breath visible in the chill. The Nash's headlights illuminate a dirt drive where fallen leaves form a multicolored carpet. A hunting dog, eager to begin the day's expedition, watches from the folded-down rear seat that converts to the car's famous bed configuration. A guide in deerskin gloves studies a topographical map spread across the Ambassador's wide hood while distant loons call across the still lake. The lodge owner's wife, wrapped in a shawl, delivers paper-wrapped egg sandwiches to the departing party as the first golden light touches the peaks above.