Description
Is this not the most beautiful Fifties Roadster?? This is a 1954 Austin-Healey 100/ 4 BN1, Original UK Supplied Right Hand Drive, finished in Healey Metallic Blue with Dark Blue Leather interior and showing 105k Miles on the clock. She is an older quality restoration, still presenting beautifully today, and drives great! A winter bargain will similar cars on the market for twice our asking price!
Donald Healey's stylish Austin-Healey 100 caused a sensation when it debuted at the 1952 London Motor Show. Intended as a low-cost, high-performance, limited production sports car and aimed at the US market, which took almost 100% of production initially, the Austin-Healey 100 sourced its major components from the Austin Atlantic saloon. In fact, the car first appeared at Earls Court badged as a 'Healey Hundred' and was re-badged 'Austin-Healey' while still on its stand after Austin boss Leonard Lord bought the rights to the design. It was just as well that he did, for Healey would take over 3, 000 orders during the Show yet his company had never made more than 200 cars in a single year!
Lord had been happy to agree to supply Austin Atlantic components as the model had not been selling well in its intended market - the USA - and was scheduled for deletion. Low-revving and torquey, the Atlantic's 2, 660cc four-cylinder engine produced an unremarkable 90bhp, but when installed in the lighter and more streamlined Healey the result was a genuine 100mph-plus car capable of reaching 60mph in under 11 seconds. A three-speed gearbox equipped with overdrive on the top two ratios was an unusual feature of the original BN1, which was superseded by the short-lived, conventional four-speed BN2 for 1956. In 1953 a team of drivers including Donald Healey and George Eyston set a host of international and AMA speed records at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats driving two Healey 100s. Highlights including a maximum speed of 143mph and 1, 000 kilometres at an average of 127mph achieved by the tuned car and 24 hours at an average of 104. 3mph set by the AMA-selected 'off-the-showroom-floor' example. A muscular sports car to delight the purist, the 100 was not bettered by its six-cylinder successors in terms of outright performance until the introduction of the Austin-Healey 3000 in 1959.
Our car was built on the 3rd September 1954 as a Home Market RHD car, originally finished in Black with Red Leather, a rare combination on a Healey. Our car was languishing in a barn for many years until being re-registered with the DVLA in 2003 and treated to a full and comprehensive restoration, which still presents beautifully today! There are m, any invoices from Rawles amounting to around the £15, 000 mark, for rebuild work after the main restoration took place! The engine was completely rebuilt at this time also. Finished in the perfect colours, a UK RHD BN1 is a rare thing and this is certainly the best value car on the market today, she is priced to sell in days, not weeks, this is a rare car due to the huge percentage of cars exported. Ready to use this 100 is a wonderful winter bargain!
