Nash-Healey – A Grand Alliance examines in exquisite and exacting detail the story behind America’s first postwar sports car and the unique Anglo-American partnership between Nash and Healey that gave it life, which became an international triumvirate with the later involvement of famed Italian coachbuilder Pinin Farina.
Focusing on the lives and careers of the men behind these fantastic machines, this book dives into their prior accomplishments, before reviewing the design and development of the Nash-Healey roadsters and coupes. It also explores the marque’s incredible competition record at iconic races like the Mille Miglia, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Alpine and Monte Carlo rallies. Lavishly illustrated with almost 1,200 images, most never before published, including several from Donald Healey’s own personal photographic collection, this book is essential for all Nash-Healey enthusiasts and fans of sports cars from the breed’s golden era.
- 2-volume set in slipcase
- 800 pages
- 1,192 illustrations
- Foreword by Donald Osborne
Graham Robson is the doyen of writers on rallying. His new book, Works Healeys in Detail, joins his respected Works Triumphs and Works Escorts in our list. Here he tells of the story of Donald Healey’s introduction of the cars of his own make into the world of rallying and racing, from the Healey Elliott and Westland of the late 1940s through to the last racing Austin-Healey Sprite in 1967. In between he produced competition versions of the Austin-Healey 100 and 100S, the 100-6 and the gloriously successful 3000, a brutal and wayward machine that won countless international rallies in the 1960s in the hands of great drivers like Pat Moss, Timo Makinen, Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk, to name but a few.
The book covers the career of each of the works cars individually: entries, drivers and results, with nearly all cars illustrated. In addition there is detailed colour photography of important surviving examples.
In May 1958, one of the world’s largest motor manufacturers unveiled a diminutive two-seater that would take the world by storm. Small in stature yet able to punch well above its weight, the Austin-Healey Sprite rapidly gained an enthusiastic following among keen drivers, as well as an impressive record in competition. Being neither expensive nor exotic, for many motorists the Sprite opened the door to sports car ownership and, in so doing, its commercial success was almost guaranteed. With over 250 photographs, this book includes: the genesis of the Sprite, from the Austin Seven and pre-war MG Midget, via Donald Healey’s Riley- and Nash-engined models, to the Austin A30, A90 Atlantic and Healey Hundred. The development, launch and market reception is covered along with details of the evolution from Mk I to Mk IV, including the Frogeye and restyled ADO 41. Rallies, racing and record breaking details are given as well as information on modifications, special-bodied variants, replicas and finally, buying and restoring a Sprite today.
Written in collaboration with Gerry Coker, the designer responsible for the iconic Austin-Healey 100 and Sprite, this extraordinary volume represents the most accurate and complete account of the sports cars built at Warwick, Longbridge, Abingdon and West Bromwich. The author had unprecedented access to Donald and Geoffrey Healey’s private papers, diaries, scrapbooks and photo albums, corporate and financial records from BMC, Donald Healey Motor Company and Healey Automobile Consultants, the files of Jensen Motors and Nash-Kelvinator, dozens of personal interviews and exhaustive research into previously unavailable primary source material. As a result, Healey: The Men and the Machines offers a compelling examination of the true story behind these incredible automobiles and the individuals who created them.
From his early childhood and heroic service as an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, this book provides a comprehensive account of Donald Healey’s motoring career, including competition outings and his involvement with Invicta, Riley and Triumph. The story of the Healey marque’s birth during the darkest days of the Second World War is told through the words of the men involved, revealing the myriad obstacles that faced the small team during a period of strict rationing, limited resources and government meddling.
Fast, elegant and endowed with excellent handling, the early Healey sports cars were among the fastest in the world, acquitting themselves admirably at events such as the Alpine Rally, Mille Miglia and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but Warwick’s survival was constantly in doubt until the landmark agreement that resulted in the Nash-Healey erased many of small firm’s financial struggles. With access to Nash-Kelvinator’s internal correspondence for the first time, the authors are able to set the record straight about this crucial period in the marque’s history, including the controversial machinations behind the development of the Healey Hundred that made a smash debut at the 1952 London Motor Show.
Lavishly illustrated with previously unpublished photographs, Austin-Healey competition and record-breaking efforts are covered in exquisite fashion, seen through the eyes of legendary names like Rauno Aaltonen, Clive Baker, Paddy Hopkirk, Count Johnny Lurani, Lance Macklin, Timo Mäkinen, Roger Menadue, Don and Erle Morley, Pat and Stirling Moss, Carroll Shelby, John Sprinzel, and Ann and Tommy Wisdom. Equally fascinating are the stories behind the troubled Jensen-Healey and Donald Healey’s attempts to continue building sports cars well into the 1980s, refusing to enter a sedate retirement that would have been so richly deserved.
Destined to become the definitive reference on the subject, Healey: The Men and the Machines includes over 200,000 words, more than 700 detailed footnotes, and eight appendices that cover the competition and record breaking activities of the various models, specifications for every model produced, including the limited production variants, and Donald Healey’s personal musings on racing and sports car design. An instant classic, this is a work certain to inform and entertain enthusiasts of the men and machines that brought the world to its feet at a time when Britain was down on its knees.
A portfolio of automotive articles drawn from contemporary magazines covering road and comparison tests, new model introductions and updates, driving impressions and performance data on Nash vehicles between 1949 & 1957. Models covered are the Ambassador, Statesman, Rambler, Airflyte, 600, and the Anglo-American Nash-Healey sportscar.
Celebrating the rich, deep partnership between the British car industry and Italian design, this book is packed with coachbuilt cars, design classics and concept cars from the 1920s to the current day. The story starts with the early days of coachbuilt cars on separate chassis from illustrious marques like Bentley, Frazer Nash and Rolls-Royce, which were bodied by such Italian coachbuilders as Pinin Farina, Viotti and Zagato. After World War Two came the golden era of coachbuilt cars, with Italian companies creating some of the world’s most beautiful shapes of all time on chassis from the likes of Aston Martin, Austin-Healey, Bristol, Jaguar, Jowett, MG, Riley and Rover.
Then came the era when Italian carrozzerie morphed into design houses, penning shapes for mass-produced cars like the BMC 1100/1300 and Triumph Herald, and crafting what are widely recognised to be some of the world’s most beautiful cars, such as the Aston Martin DB4, AC 428 and Lotus Esprit.
Finally came the era of the ‘concept car’, with incredible show designs based on British marques such as Jaguars by Bertone, the BMC 1800 Berlina Aerodinamica by Pininfarina and Lotus by Italdesign.
This book reveals the full stories behind the intense, diverse, sometimes surprising and always fascinating links between British cars and Italian design: the characters, the deals, the designs and above all the cars themselves.
Over 40 British marques are included, from AC to Wolseley, and from major names like Jaguar down to smaller operations such as Jensen, TVR, Elva and Gordon-Keeble. These are matched by more than 40 Italian carrozzerie, from Allemano to Zagato. As well as major collaborations – such as Pininfarina and BMC, Michelotti and Triumph, Touring and Aston Martin – myriad never-before-told stories of small operators really make this book special: the likes of Frua, Boano, Fissore, Monviso, Sibona-Basano and Schiaretti.
Richly illustrated with hundreds of period images, high-quality modern photography and dozens of sketches by the designers themselves – many never seen in print before – this is a book to relish for both lovers of design and enthusiasts of British and Italian cars.
