1953 Nash Healey Pininfarina

Nash-Kelvinator president George Mason was returning from Europe in 1949 on the Queen Elizabeth. During the journey, he met Donald Healey, a British sports car designer, and builder, whose cars used Riley drivetrains. Mr. Healey was bound for Detroit where he was intending to buy Cadillac engines for a new series of cars. Mr. Mason told Mr. Healey that if a deal with Cadillac did not work out, he would supply Nash Ambassador engines instead. The Cadillac discussions proved to be unproductive, so a shipment of Nash drivetrains was soon dispatched to England.

British metalsmiths Panelcraft of Birmingham clothed the first Nash-Haley roadsters in Aluminum, and prototype examples were shown in the fall of 1950 and production commenced in December. A Nash-engined car was entered by Healey in the 1950 Le Mans race in June, finishing fourth among 29 remaining cars and beating Briggs Cunningham's two Cadillacs.

A prototype example was shown in September of 1950 at the Paris Motor Show, and a production model debuted at the February 1951 Chicago Auto Show. Donald Healey gave the first example to Petula Clark, a British singer, actress, and composer. When it arrived in Nash showrooms it had a price of $3,767, which was very expensive and few were sold. Available colors included 'Sunset Maroon' and 'Champagne Ivory.' Mason hoped that it would attract buyers into the showroom, either to buy the Nash-Healey or a Nash automobile. After two years and just 250 sold, Mason and Healey tried a different approach. Believing the problem may be the British styling, coachbuilder Pinin Farina of Turin, Italy was contracted to perform a makeover on the American Nashes. The running chassis was then sent from England to Italy where they received Farina steel bodies and re-shipped to the United States. The design featured closely-spaced headlamps on the edge of the grille that was later used on the domestic 1955 and 1956 Nashes. Aluminum was used for the hood, trunk lid, and dashboard, while the remained were formed from steel.

The restyled car was introduced in 1952 at the Chicago Auto Show. The 1953 examples had a base price of $5,908 which was considerably more than other sport car options including the Chevy Corvette which sold for $3,513.

Demonstrating the car's performance, Nash-Healeys returned to Le Mans again in 1952 and 1953. The team placed third overall in 1952, behind two Mercedes-Benz, and took a class title for cars of three to five liters. A single entry contested the 1953 event and finished eleventh. The Nash-Healey team had a respectable showing in the 1952 Mille Miglia.

The engine was a Dual Jetfire 252 cubic-inch overhead valve inline 6-cylinder unit that it used since the 1951 introduction. Over the years, several upgrades were added including a lightweight aluminum head, larger displacement, and enhanced twin carburetors.

Despite the performance, the addition of a Le Mans coupe in 1953, and the attractive Pinin Farina styling of the second-generation cars, production came to a close in August of 1954 with only 252 examples built. A total of 506 examples were built between 1951 and 1954 with approximately 50 examples built in 1953.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2020