Precious Metal: Nash meets Healey

Sports car a track but not sales success

May 24, 2009

Special to the Star

The 1950s were heady days for carmakers. Post-war demand boomed. Styling went from boxy and upright to low, long and sleek, and excess meant success: more power, more chrome and more options.

Imports were still relatively rare in North America, but the war would change that. Young men who had rarely travelled outside their hometowns had been overseas, and they wanted the fast, small sports cars they'd seen there. Some companies answered the call by building their own, such as Chevrolet's Corvette, but others felt partnerships were the key.

One such man was George Mason, president of Nash. The American automaker would see great success with the compact Rambler. But our story involves a 1949 transatlantic crossing on the Queen Elizabeth, where Mason met Donald Healey.

Healey, a British race driver and engineer, had started his own company after the war, and planned to use Cadillac's V8 engines in his cars. Mason, fascinated with sports cars, offered to help out if Cadillac couldn't. GM had no engines to spare, and so Healey and Mason got together.

Nash didn't have a V8, but its 3.8 L straight-six from the Ambassador sedan did the trick. Healey added a higher-compression aluminum head, twin British SU carburetors and a new camshaft, raising horsepower to 125. The chassis was Healey's, while the aluminum body was made by Panelcraft of Birmingham. It was assembled at Healey's shop in Warwick.

It was a hit at the 1950 London and Paris auto shows. Healey then raced the prototype, finishing fourth in a 66-car field at Le Mans. A Nash-Healey would also finish sixth in that race in 1951, and third in 1952.

America saw it at the 1951 Chicago Auto Show, priced at a hefty $4,063 – almost $2,000 more than the Ambassador sedan that had donated its engine, and on par with the more powerful Jaguar XK120. Auto critics praised its handling, but Nash dealers sold only 104 of them that first year.

For 1952, it was restyled by Pinin Farina. The steel bodies were attractive, but added a costly step: after the engines were shipped from America to England (140-hp, 4.1 L version by mid-year), the chassis then went to Italy for the body before shipping to the U.S. The price rose to $5,868, and 150 were sold.

Two versions appeared in 1953: the original two-seat roadster, and a longer-wheelbase, steel-roofed coupe called the Le Mans, priced at $6,399. The price was their downfall. Only 162 Nash-Healeys were built in 1953, and a final 90 in 1954.

Mason died as well that year, but his vision had not been a failure. Austin had followed the venture, and approached both companies. Austin-Healey became very successful, while Nash and Austin produced a mini-car called the Metropolitan.

Toronto Star