re: Blurred lines, Italian, etc

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

Karl Doll, writing of the Nash-Healey, says "Interesting, (but not "stunning"
IMHO), Pininfarina body and really simple American V8 mechanicals."

V8? It is quite possible (even likely) that some Nash-Healeys were bastardized
into Cad-Healeys or Olds-Healeys but as far as I can tell they were built with
a modified Nash Ambassador I-6 engine, fitted (by Healey) with a new camshaft,
8-1 compression ratio, and SU carbs, developing 140 hp (versus the stock 115)
and renamed the Nash Le Mans engine. Thompson & Taylor (of Brooklands, the
builders of John Cobb's Railton LSR car) developed an alloy head with
hemispherical combustion chamber and inclined valves operated by the side cam
and pushrods (like the Ardun Ford, etc) but as far as I know it never went
into production.

The car was initiated by Healey, not by Nash, when he was looking for an
appropriate replacement for the Riley engine.

I don't know how many were built, but Healey's next car was the Healey 100
(later renamed the Austin-Healey 100) with a British body, more spartan
amenities, and less than half the price ($3000 vs $6500) which probably killed
the sales of the Nash-Healey.

The other "Interesting" Italian-American and English-Italian-American sports
cars of the period included the Arnolt, with a Bertone body on an MG chassis,
and the Hudson Italia, with a Touring body on a Hudson Super Jet platform. If
"interesting" is a polite euphemism the Hudson was the most interesting of the
three, but only twenty-five were built. I don't know if any survive, but I
wouldn't want one. The stock Super Jet was a much better looking car, to my
conservative tastes.

While looking for a road test of the Nash Healey (didn't find it) I ran across
an engine-swap report on a neat RWD Citroen. A Californian named Bill Binney
had been looking for a Rootes blower, and when he found one it came with a 6C
1750 Alfa engine attached. He spent six months rebuilding it, including
replacing all the metric studs, nuts and bolts with SAE sizes, and then
dropped it into a '39 fwd Citroen cabriolet which he converted to rwd, using a
Studebaker Champion transmission and rear-end and MG wheels. Lesovsky (a noted
Indy-car builder) did the dashboard and floors, George Barris did the paint,
and the whole project took three years and cost $3,200; the finished car
weighed 2000 pounds, about the same as the Alfa.

Karl's note on the Nash Healey ended "I imagine driving one of these, with the
optional Pininfarina hubcaps, to an I-car show some day, and answering all of
the "What's it?" questions!" I would have much the same musings about the 6C
1750 Gran Sport Citroen. I wonder if the car survives?

John H.
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