During a chance meeting crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Elizabeth, Englishman Donald Healey and Nash-Kelvinator Chief George Mason discussed the prospect of collaborating on a sports car. The duo came to an agreement, and batches of Nash Ambassador six-cylinder engines and three-speed gearboxes with overdrive were shipped to Warwickshire, England. There, they were mated with Healey Silverstone chassis and a Panelcraft body of Healey design. Production began for the 1951 model year in December 1950. Racing versions finished 9th in class in the Mille Miglia and 4th overall at Le Mans, but the steep $4,063 price for Nash’s halo car kept sales to just 104 units that first year.

Mason never cared for the original slab styling of the car, and as he had already contracted Italy’s Battista “Pinin” Farina to style the senior Nashes for 1952, he asked Farina to update the Nash-Healey as well. Steel bodywork replaced aluminum, and the price jumped to $5,858, with a total of just 150 produced. A companion Le Mans Coupe on a six-inch-longer wheelbase was introduced for 1953, yet production remained low, with 162 units built for the model year. Thanks to its high price and the emergence of the Jaguar XK120, production ended in 1954, after a total of 506 units had been built.

The Nash-Healey offered here is believed to have been a New England car since its earliest days, as is evidenced by the 1961 Vermont registration sticker still present on the windshield. It was acquired by Mr. Moir from his long-time friend, renowned car enthusiast, and fellow New Hampshire resident Robert Valpey.

The car has been repainted several times over the years but is otherwise unrestored, as it retains its original interior and many of the original finishes under the hood and underneath. The glass windshield is still in good condition, as are the gauges and dashboard. Importantly, the number on the engine matches the original engine number printed on the firewall tag, and the mileage since new was about 36,000 at the time of cataloguing.

The file accompanying the car includes a service invoice dated on 2002, several photographs of the car taken when Mr. Moir purchased it, and an original Nash-Healey brochure, advertising “The World’s Outstanding Sports Car.”

With the majority of the extant Nash-Healeys having been restored, this solid, original example would present an ideal basis for a quality restoration to the highest levels.