In 1949, the hottest car you could buy in America was the Jaguar XK120. American GIs were back from Europe, and some who had spent time in England came back with stories about odd little two-passenger cars called "sports cars." First they bought the spindly little MG-TC, then the TD that replaced it in 1950. Those who could afford it put their names on a waiting list for the Jag. The long wait for that car signified room in the marketplace for a competitor. George Mason, chairman of Nash-Kelivinator, thought so. By chance in '49 he met Donald Healey on the Queen Elizabeth, returning from the States after an unsuccessful attempt to buy Cadillac engines to fit into his Healey Silverstone club racer. Healey was also planning a larger, more luxurious machine, and meeting Mason convinced him they could work out a deal with mutual benefits. For Healey, the British government's export drive required that any expanded production must be exported. Mason had an off-the-shelf engine available at Nash, but lacked a compact, lightweight chassis for it. So Healey offered the G-Type roadster he was planning. For the home market the car appeared with an Alvis engine, but for the American market it received a Nash grille with hood scoop over the Ambassador six. With alloy Panelcraft body on a 102 inch wheelbase, the Nash-Healey appeared as a '51 model in summer of 1950. The price of $3,800 was around $400 more than an XK120.
The new car did well in racing from the beginning, with a 4th place finish at Le Mans in 1950, 6th overall in '51, and 3rd overall in '52, ahead of all the Ferraris and bested only by two new Mercedes 300SL coupes. Also in 1952, a heavier but more stylish roadster bodied in steel by Pinin Farina replaced the Panelcraft version after 104 of those had been built. A 4.1 liter engine replaced the 3.8, but the extra weight of the new car meant it wasn't as fast.
It sold a bit better than the '51 model, but not as well as the Jag XK120. At $4,700 it was over $1k more expensive than that car, a cost penalty reflecting shipping costs for a chassis which voyaged from Healey's English workshops to Italy and then back to the Nash factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Customers in the higher price range expected more comfort, and so in 1953 a Le Mans coupe on a 108 inch wheelbase joined the roadster, offering more space along with roll-up windows. Around the same time, Jaguar offered the same features on its XK120 coupe and drop head convertible. At $5,900, the '53 Healey coupe was around $1,400 more than the equivalent XK120 coupe with the "M" (modified) engine option.
By 1954, the coupe was the only offering, and featured wraparound backlight and angled roof pillar resembling the big Nashes as well as the Rambler. Owing to slow sales, the '54 was only produced for three months, and 90 were sold at around $5,100. Over in England, the Healey works was consumed with the new Austin-Healey start-up and preparing A-H race cars, and the production total for the Nash-Healey worked out to 507 cars. When a baker's dozen race cars are added, the tally comes to 520.
Meanwhile in Detroit, Hudson was attempting to generate showroom traffic by offering an Italian-bodied GT based on the compact '53 Jet, a solid but stodgy effort whose tooling costs and slow sales eventually sank the company. The goal was to capture some of the attention that Chrysler had with its Ghia-bodied show cars, and Superleggera Touring of Milan built Hudson stylist Frank Spring's design in aluminum on a 105 inch Jet chassis. The overall look was a collision of Italian sleek with Flash Gordon goofy, including doors which extended into the roof, and odd rocket-tube tail lights...
The car appeared in January 1954, just after Hudson merged with better-funded Nash to form American Motors. The uncertainty about Hudson's future, along with the $4,800 price tag and the foolish decision not to offer the big Hornet engine which was then dominating stock car racing, meant that only 26 of the cars emerged from Touring's workshops in Milan.
AMC management cancelled the program after those 26 cars were sold. With the exception of a prototype Nash sedan from '55, the only other AMC car to appear with Italian bodywork during this era was the Farina-styled and bodied Rambler Palm Beach in 1957. This coupe featured covered headlights and a jet intake-inspired grille design derived from the Farina designed PF200 Lancias from the early 50s.
Footnote: For those interested in exploring other American sports cars bodied in Italy during this era, the following links may be of interest. Ghia-bodied Chrysler products are featured in "What Defines a Production Car" from Aug. 29, 2015. Pinin Farina Cadillacs are profiled in "Jets vs. Sharks" from May 15, 2016. And Italian-bodied Corvettes are chronicled in "The Italian Jobs: Corvettes in Italian Suits" from Feb. 24, 2016, "The Italian Jobs Part 2" from Feb. 27, 2016 and Part 3, "Another Eurovision Corvette" on Mar. 10, 2016 and in Part 4, "Saved from the Crusher" on Mar. 13, 2016.
Photo Credits:
Top: Nash-Kelvinator, wikimedia
2nd: bringatrailer.com
3rd: Nash-Kelvinator
4th: nashhealeyowners.com
5th: hemmings.com
6th: americansportscars.com
7th: uniquecarsandparts.com
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