This Month

A MINK coat costing into the thousands is not an unheard-of commodity in the United States, and the jewelers’ advertisements around the turn of the year seem to bespeak a fairly rich custom for four-figure ornamentation. But most of these transactions are by the American male for the benefit of the American female. To tip the balance slightly — without any thought of reaching an equality but just to give it a lift — I suggest that there are three very interesting pieces of machinery now on the market which many a man might enjoy.

It has remained for English manufacturers to offer the American motorist high-performance two-passenger automobiles in standard production form (see “This Month,” January, 1949, Atlantic), and events of the past year suggest that these cars are earning an affectionate following wherever they are in use. They are the Allard, model J-2, the Jaguar XK-120, and the Nash-Healey. These cars have no counterpart among American models, although the Allard consists almost entirely of components made in this country and assembled in England, with an English body, while the Nash-Healey uses the Nash Ambassador engine and transmission; the Jaguar is all-British. In point of phenomenal performance, with a high safety factor, there are no other cars in production anywhere else today at the price of these examples of modern sports car design.

The Jaguar 120, a somewhat more civilized conveyance than the purely functional Allard, is more fully equipped: that is, it has a concealed top, full-width windshield, luggage compartment, and its body and leather upholstery are elegantly t urned out. It is powered by a six-cylinder engine of moderate size, with twin overhead cams and three carburetors, for which a maximum of 160 horsepower at 5400 r.p.m. is claimed, in relation to a total weight (with fuel, oil, and water) of around 3100 pounds. The 120 runs as quietly and smoothly as ordinary cars, yet it can attain 125-130 m.p.h. in fourth speed, 90 in third, and around 60 in second, all with extraordinarily quick acceleration (standing quarter-mile in 17 seconds).

I incline to count the 120 as the best-looking sports car now on the market. It is solidly built, low— the highest point on the body, disregarding the windshield, is scarcely three feet above the ground — and its graceful lines achieve an eye-filling unity and correctness without an ounce of waste decorative bric-a-brac and chromium busy work.

The 120 has won enough British and Continental competitions in the past year to validate its durability, but it seems to me more a car for the highway than the racing circuit. By the standards of a large American sedan, the Jaguar XK-120 is not ideally suited to the portly, and its curved seats accommodate two, not three, adults of reasonable dimensions. Such a car is more fun for the driver than the passenger in any case. Wars permitting, there will be more of the 120’s on American roads as its qualities become more widely known.

The J-2 Allard is essentially a roadracing or competition model equipped with lights and starter, and its normal form is sans top or windshield (although both can be fitted). About the same size as the Jaguar, it is several hundred pounds lighter by reason of its small individual mudguards and its ultrasimplified sheet aluminum body. At the Le Mans 24-hour race in France last June, against the cream of British, French, and Italian competition, including many cars two and three times as costly, the Allard finished third and averaged 88 m.p.h. (First and second places went to French Talbots at 89 m.p.h. plus.) The Le Mans race, run on a highway circuit with many curves, hills, bridges, and a few sharp turns, in daylight and dark, with forty to fifty entries, is certainly the most severe production car test in organized racing today. Success calls not only for speed but equally for acceleration, powerful brakes that can stand the abnormal stresses of a 2000-mile race, and for a maximum of road-holding. In October the Allard fared even better in the annual road race at Watkins Glen, New York, winning over a robust field at 72 m.p.h. on a course far more difficult than Le Mans.

If the J-2 Allard lacks some of the amenities of a Jaguar, in acceleration and general performance it is just about in a class by itself, certainly at any comparable price. This is largely because of its high power-to-wcight ratio and its distinctive rear axle design, which is said to afford a degree of rear-wheel traction and stability on the road not often found in so light a car.

The Allard is powered with a modified Cadillac engine; and virtually all other elements in the car, with the exception of the steering gear and clutch (the clutch was described to me as a “bus clutch — very heavy”) are stock Ford and Lincoln parts. Ford, Mercury, and Oldsmobile engines are optional at moderate price differentials, but the car’s major successes have been with the Cadillac unit. (Incidentally, a Nash-Healey finished fourth at Le Mans.) With Cadillac’s standard compression ratio, the Allard mounts 160 horsepower, but the unit is available with a higher ratio, still not requiring special fuels but for which upwards of 225 horsepower is claimed at 5600 r.p.m. These are, of course, extremely high outputs for any production car, let alone a car so freed from excess weight as the J-2.

The Nash-Healey is substantially like the car which ran so successfully at Le Mans, but the single seat accommodates three instead of two. With a higher compression ratio affording an estimated 140 brake horsepower and a total weight of some 2300 pounds, plus an overdrive and consequent additional choices of gear ratios, this car is comfortably in the AllardJaguar category.

Cars of this sort are necessarily for entertainment purposes. My own view is that each is a better buy and makes more sense than the pair of garters with gold clips ($42) advertised as a Christmas gift for The Man. W hat could he do with them once the elastic had worn out?