automobiles to be equipped with GM's Hydramatic automatic transmissions (cars with the automatic transmission have Selecto-lift starting, where the driver pulled the transmission lever on the column toward themselves to engage the starter). 1949 was the first year for a one-piece curved windshield, and front door wing windows featured curved glas2 as well. Mason also believed that once the seller's market following World War II ended, that Nash's best hope for survival lay in a product range not addressed by other automakers in the United States at that time – the compact car. With sales of the large Nashes surging ahead of prewar production numbers, Mason began a small car program that would eventually emerge as the compact Nash Rambler reviving the traditional Rambler marque. 1952-1957 1952 The Nash Ambassador received a complete restyle for 1952 and celebrated the company's 50th anniversary as the predecessor firm, the Thomas B. Jeffery Company, marketed its first cars in 1902. The Golden Anniversary Nash Airflyte featured styling that was publicly credited to Pinin Farina, yet the design was actually a combination of the Italian coachbuilder with ideas from Edmund E. Anderson, the lead designer at Nash. The new cars had more conventional lines than the previous 1949 through 1951 Ambassadors and they received several design awards. The large "envelope-bodied" sedans followed the pattern of Nash's enclosed wheels along with now larger die cast "toothy" grille bars. Several European touches were incorporated into production such as the reverse-slanted C-pillars and an interior fishnet "parcel holder" mounted above the windshield for keeping maps and sunglasses. Nash claimed that the Ambassador comfort and luxury features were so advanced "that other new cars seem outdated in comparison" and advertised the Ambassadors as having the widest and most comfortable seating. The 1952 unit-body design "were good-looking notchbacks" that "looked like nothing on the road" and the cars continued into 1954 almost unchanged. The 1955 models received a revised front grille with integral headlamps. The rear end was redesigned with more pronounced tailfins for 1956 while the final year saw a new front end with "quad" headlamps or two stacked headlamps per side. 1952 The 1952 Ambassador was available in "Super" and "Custom" series as a two- or four-door sedan and a two-door "Country Club" hardtop. The Super included Nash's basic features with the Custom adding two-tone upholstery with foam topped seat cushions designed by Helene Rother, electric clock,