1951-54 Nash-Healey


The early 1950s Nash-Healey was the first post-war sports car from a major American automaker.

Some think that the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette was America’s first genuine post World War II sports car. But, no. That honor goes to the rare, desirable 1951-54 Nash-Healey sports car.

It might be argued that the tiny 1949-52 Crosley Hotshot was the first U.S. sports car. But it was essentially a limited-production 26.5-horsepower convertible version of the low-cost Crosley economy car and came from an outfit  known for radios and refrigerators.

On the other hand, the two-seat Nash-Healey was one of the slickest sports of the early 1950s. It beat much larger Nash rivals such as Ford and General Motors to market with its two-seater by several years. The two-seat Ford Thunderbird, which was more of a cruiser than a sports car, didn’t arrive until the 1955 model year.

While a good cruiser, the Nash-Healey placed high in world-class races. It finished an amazing third overall in 1952 at the famous Le Mans 24-hour race in France behind two factory prototype Mercedes-Benz sports/race cars.

The Nash-Healey averaged 90 mph with only a modified version of the inline six-cylinder engine found in standard family cars from Nash, which was an old, prominent U.S. automaker that folded in 1957.

Nash knew that few Americans paid much attention to the Le Mans race—famous in Europe—so it didn’t promote the Nash-Healey’s Le Mans showing.

The idea for the Nash-Healey was cooked up on the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth  in late 1949. It was there that cigar-chomping Nash president George Mason and innovative British sports car maker Donald Healey connected during a chance meeting. They had a mutual interest in photography, and Mason had a camera than intrigued Healey. As fate had it, they discussed the idea of jointly making a sports car.

Mason wanted to liven up Nash’s image, and Healey was seeking Cadillac’s revolutionary new V-8s for one of his projects, although General Motors turned him down.  By the time Mason and Healey reached shore, Mason had agreed to finance a sports car with the big, strong Nash Ambassador six-cylinder engine, equipped with dual carburetors, a hot camshaft and a special cylinder head.

The prototype Nash-Healey took an impressive fourth place against seasoned rivals at Le Mans in 1950. It had a race car body because Healey was a racing fanatic. But Mason was delighted that the car did so well, and a sleek two-seat production version soon followed.

That first production car had a dashing aluminum convertible body, three-speed manual transmission with optional overdrive and a leather interior. It debuted in late 1950 as a 1951 model at the Paris Auto Show—and at the Chicago Auto Show in early 1951.

Only 104 of the 1951 models were made because the car’s $4,063 price was high and most Americans were unfamiliar with sports cars. They certainly couldn’t understand a sports car called a Nash-Healey that was sold by conservative Nash dealers. The dealers, frankly, didn’t know what the hell to do with the Nash-Healey.

However, veteran road tester Tom McCahill wrote in a national well-read U.S. magazine that he’d “never driven a sports car that handled better or gave the driver so much control in a (deliberately provoked) power slide or spin.”

Donald Healey, who came up with the famous British Austin-Healey sports car in 1953, obviously knew more than a thing or two about sports cars.

Mason wanted the Nash-Healey’s styling jazzed up, so he asked Italy’s Pininfarina, which did Ferrari bodies, to change it for 1952. The result was a steel-body two-seater with a lower windshield, rear fender bulges with small tailfins and a plain oval grille encircling the headlights. Mason  wanted the Nash-Healey to improve the image of  regular Nash family cars, so a regular Nash eventually had a Nash-Healey style grille/headlight arrangement.

Ten more horsepower were added to a larger version of the stout Nash engine, giving the Nash-Healey a total of 135 horsepower, although some sources say the power was upped to 140.

The restyled second-generation model made its debut at the Chicago Auto Show. However, this 1952 convertible cost much more than a 1952 Cadillac convertible, which sold for $4,163.

The Nash-Healey was costly because Nash sent drivetrains and other parts to Healey’s outfit in England, which completed rolling chassis that then were shipped to Italy, where Pininfarina put on the bodies and completed final assembly. The cars then were sent back to Nash in the United States.

Decades later, Cadillac did much the same thing with its Pininfarina-styled Allante sports car.

Despite high shipping bills, 150 Nash-Healeys were sold in 1952, and 162 found buyers in 1953, when a sleek Pininfarina-styled coupe joined the convertible model. But the convertible’s price totaled $5,908, and the coupe cost a staggering $6,399.

Full-page advertisements for the Nash-Healey appeared in popular national magazines such as Life and the Saturday Evening Post. The car was racy, comfortable and reliable, and had no competition from Detroit until the first Corvette arrived in late 1953. The six-cylinder Corvette was pretty, but had only an automatic transmission and flopped when they raced it on tracks.  

However, now-struggling Nash reportedly lost more than $9,000 on each $5,000 Nash-Healey made, largely because of low production numbers. In fact, sales fell to 90 units in 1954, when only the coupe was offered and had the lower price of $5,128. A few leftovers were registered as 1955 models.

A total of 504 Nash-Healeys were produced. More than half are said to survive, although most are usually seen only at classic car shows.

I’ve known two Nash-Healey owners, and both cherished their car. One was a wealthy Ferrari/Maserati dealer who could own any auto he wanted. The other still owns his car after 45 yeas. The Nash-Healey is that kind of car.