Here’s possibly the most elegant Nash Rambler you’ll ever see: the 1956 Palm Beach, created by Battista “Pinin” Farina.

When we think of the Nash Ramblers of the fifties, we don’t usually picture a sleek continental GT, but here’s one. The 1956 Nash Rambler Palm Beach Speciale was created by the famed Italian coachbuilder Battista “Pinin” Farina, who in 1950 became a design consultant to Nash Motors of Detroit. (Nash became American Motors in 1954, while Farina legally changed his last name to Pininfarina and rebranded his company in 1961.) Named after the upscale community north of Miami, the Palm Beach was a two-seat italian touring coupe on the outside and a production Rambler underneath.

The Palm Beach shared some styling elements with another Pinin Farina creation, the Lancia PF 200, while the cabin was as sporty and sophisticated as could be found in any Italian tourer of the era. However, the chassis was a stock Rambler package with 100-in wheelbase, and the only modification to the 196 cubic-inch, 82 hp flathead six was a single Weber sidedraft carburetor to provide clearance for the low hood profile. (Read about the long-lived Nash six here.)  But unlike so many show cars, the Palm Beach was designed to be a fully functional, roadworthy prototype.

There was some talk, reportedly, that the Palm Beach might serve as a replacement in the Nash lineup for  the 1951-54 Nash-Healey sports car (Farina styled the 1952-54 version). The lone prototype was shown on the Pinin Farina stand at the 1956 Turin Auto Show, and in 1957 it was sent to Dearborn for the Henry Ford Museum’s annual spring sports car show.

However, it’s not clear if there was any serious production intent for the Palm Beach. By that time Farina’s arrangment with American Motors had wound down, the Nash nameplate was being phased out, and the project ended there. American Motors executive Roy Chapin Jr.then owned the car for many years, followed by Joe Bortz and Jacques Harguindeguy, and it’s still around today. At the Gooding & Company Scottsdale auction in  2011, the Palm Beach sold for $528,000.      –Contemporary photos courtesy of Gooding & Company.