Page 8 - Nash-Healey A Grand Alliance by John Nikas

restricted and wanted to go ahead with different designs, suspensions and engines to make a car that was completely different. [During the war] Donald was living on Kenilworth Road about two miles away from where I was living on a farm and we used to go down to the pub and talk about [our automotive] plans for the future.”
Within a few weeks, Ben Bowden, Humber’s chief body engineer, also expressed interest in the project, offering to design the bodywork as soon as possible. Still in his thirties, Bowden was an incredibly talented engineer and stylist, having worked with Stabilimenti Industriali Farina
in the 1930s, before accepting his current position at Rootes.23 Despite working at Humber, Healey remained in close contact with several former colleagues from his time with Triumph, often meeting with them for a drink at the local pub. On one such occasion, not long after agreeing to work with Bowden and Sampietro, Healey mentioned their plans to James Watt, who before the war had been the sales director at Triumph.24 As an RAF pilot in the middle of a shooting war, Watt had little time to spare, but offered to provide assistance however and whenever possible, transforming the trio of collaborators into a formidable quartet.
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(ABOVE) Geoffrey Healey pictured during the war while serving with the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in the Middle East. (The Donald Healey Collection at the Audrain Automobile Museum)
(LEFT) Geoffrey Healey’s engineering manual from the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), which was filled with
information that would serve him well when working with his father after the war. (The Donald Healey Collection at the Audrain Automobile Museum)
© DALTON WATSON FINE B
© DALTON WATSON FINE BOOKS © DALTON WATSON FINE BOOKS DALTON WATSON FINE BOOKS TON WATSON FINE B