Story
1951 Nash-Healey
The 1951 Nash-Healey joined Nash power with Donald Healey's chassis and an English Panelcraft aluminum roadster body. It reached American buyers two years before the Corvette and served as Nash's low-volume international sports car. All 104 model-year cars used this first-series body; the Pinin Farina shape belongs to 1952 and later pages.
Nash power, Healey tuning
The 234.8-cubic-inch Ambassador-based overhead-valve six used a Healey aluminum cylinder head, higher compression, a hotter camshaft, and two SU side-draft carburetors. Reviewed records rate it at 125 bhp. A Borg-Warner three-speed manual and overdrive carried power through a Nash torque-tube rear axle.
Chassis and road equipment
The 102-inch-wheelbase chassis used trailing-arm independent front suspension with coil springs and an anti-roll bar. The live rear axle was located by the torque tube and radius links, with coil springs, telescopic dampers, and a Panhard rod. Bendix hydraulic drums handled braking at all four wheels. Exact axle ratio, casting, dates, and brake hardware remain individual-car questions.
A two-color, three-seat roadster
Champagne Ivory and Sunset Maroon were the documented standard finishes. Leather upholstery, foam cushions, an adjustable steering column, directional signals, chrome wheel discs, five whitewall tires, and Plexiglas side curtains were regular equipment. Current paint, trim, wheels, or weather equipment do not prove how a survivor was delivered.
Authentication boundaries
The serial sequence begins at N-2001 and model 25162 identifies the convertible sports-car line in the Nash club record. A credible car should reconcile its serial and title with the Panelcraft body, chassis number, Nash engine, Healey head and induction, Borg-Warner transmission and overdrive, torque-tube axle, brakes, suspension, protected finishes, and ownership history. Later Pinin Farina panels or a 258.6-cid drivetrain cannot be treated as ordinary 1951 variation.
Market context
The value records are deliberately sparse: one dated 2014 condition guide and one reported 2022 auction result. They show market context, not a current appraisal. Restoration accuracy, provenance, original components, and the completeness of the rare first-series body dominate an individual car's value.