Re: MOL: More on George Mason's life

[Jerry R Christensen - <jrc@mninter.net>]

"Jim Bracewell (Nash Car Club of America)" wrote:
> 
> At 10:43 AM 3/25/00 -0500, you wrote:
> 
> > Jim, a few days ago you received a request from Armand
> > LaPotin regarding info
> > on Mr Mason. I can't be of any help, but this brings up a
> > valid question: after Mr
> > Mason passed away, were his papers donated to a library or
> > university? If so,
> > do any of our members know where this is? What about the
> > papers of other Nash
> > VIPs? O'Halloran, 1526 - - (O'Halloran NCCA 1526)
> > HETLIBR@AOL.COM
> 
> ----------------------------------
> Armand,
> 
> Information on George Mason is difficult to obtain in depth.
> The best source of info would be from John Conde, a former
> Nash/AMC employee.  John worked with Mr. Mason and remembers
> him quite fondly.  John also has great publicity photos of
> Mason from his early years right on up to the time of his
> death.
> 
> The Bentley Historical Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has
> audiotapes of press conferences that George Romney conducted,
> up to and after the time that Mason died, and it provides great
> perspective on the immediate transition from Mason to Romney.
> 
> On a personal note, both John and I have attempted to contact
> any of Mason's survivors without any luck whatsoever.
> Apparently, Mason was married twice, and he had two
> stepdaughters by his second wife Florence.  I contacted the
> Romney family about a year-and-a-half ago, and they gave me the
> last known address of one of the daughters - Barbara.  I wrote
> her a letter, but it came back to me a year later - returned to
> sender/no known address.
> 
> Perhaps the automotive branch of the Detroit Public Library has
> some more in-depth information.  John told me that he's been
> consigned by Collectible Automobile to write an article about
> Mason, so stay tuned.
> 
> It's curious that little about Mason is known other than the
> "progressive, ahead-of-his-time" moniker that his reputation
> now enjoys.  However, maybe it's not that surprising
> considering that he often avoided the limelight and preferred
> to work behind the scenes.  He let Romney act as the
> mouthpiece.  Designer Rhys Miller says as much in an interview
> in the current issue of Collectible Automobile (which, by the
> way, also contains an article about the 53-55 Nash Ramblers by
> Patrick Foster).
> 
> Hope this helps!  ----Todd Ruel - (Ruel #7588)
> NashMetGuy@aol.com
> 
> ------------------------------------
> Hi Jim,                3/21/00
> Many thanks for both your prompt and thorough reply.I am in
> contact with Mr. Harold. Also appreciate your willingness to
> circulate my request to your Nash people. I'm sure that Fortune
> Magazine did a story on this in the l930's, and I may trace
> that down as well.Seems that I read somewhere that Mason was
> involved in environmental projects in Michigan.
> Will keep you posted of my progress.
> Armand S. la Potin
> lapotias@oneonta.edu
> -------------------------------------
> Hi John,
> 
> Your message reminded me that the MOL group might like to
> see the very informative reply from Todd Ruel on this subject,
> and the nice reply from Armand. Todd also mentions the latest
> issue of Collectible Automobile and its coverage of the 53 - 55
> Nash Rambler. At yesterdays Gathering of the Upper Mississippi
> River Region, a copy of this new issue was passed around. It
> has some beautiful photos of cars of our members.
> 
> It sounds like Todd Ruel has put many hours into working
> towards
> locating and recording and the preservation of much of this
> type of
> data.
> 
> Jim B.