One of America’s most fascinating sports cars can trace its roots back to a chance encounter in 1949 between Donald Healey and president of the Nash Kelvinator Corporation George Mason while the pair crossed the Atlantic on a New York-bound voyage aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth. Following a failed attempt to secure supply of V-8 engines from Cadillac, Healey turned to Mason, striking a deal for the Warwick outfit to design and build a new sports car for the US firm: the Nash-Healey.

The trans-Atlantic partnership brought with it access to Nash’s 3.8-liter Dual Jetfire straight-six and three-speed overdrive transmission, which were duly shoehorned into a modified chassis based on that of the Healey Silverstone. The body, meanwhile, was penned in-house, with construction of the first 104 examples, in aluminum, outsourced to Panelcraft. Mason is said to have never cared for the original slab styling of the car, and as he had already contracted Italy’s Pinin Farina to style the upcoming generation of Nash saloons, he asked Farina to update the Nash-Healey as well. Production then moved to Turin, where the coachbuilder restyled the Nash-Healey with a longer tail, sculpted hips, and an altogether more pleasing shape. Italian-built examples were constructed predominantly in steel, with aluminum doors, hood, and trunk.

Chassis number 2363 is one of approximately 150 examples bodied by Pinin Farina and began its journey from Healey’s The Cape Works as a rolling chassis, likely fitted with a more powerful 135-horsepower version of Nash’s straight-six. Once in Turin, it would have been bodied and trimmed, before beginning its long journey to the United States. Please note that there is no engine currently in the car; its numbers-matching engine block and other engine components are included in the sale.

Ranking as an impressive and historically noteworthy combination of British, Italian, and American flair, this exceedingly rare Nash-Healey creates an intriguing opportunity for collectors of all tastes.