Description
AUSTIN HEALEY 100 BN 1 1953
Body #400
Chassis # 145421
Built October 1st, 1953
Registered OAC 381 in Warwick on October 28th, 1953
Car now in Italy but can be delivered to Northern France (Calais, Dieppe or other)
19 very early 100s were hand-built at Donald Healey Motor Corporation premises in Warwick with all alloy bodies between October 1952 and February 1953. In March 1953 production started on a proper production line in Longbridge but building process also involved the services of Jensen Motors of West Bromwich. The inner body structure built in Longbridge, the outer panels initially in alloy and then in steel by Boulton Paul and the chassis units supplied by Thompsons in Wolverhampton were delivered to Jensens, in charge of assembly and painting. These assemblies were then transported back to Austin for being united with engines and transmissions.
This car, one of the very few RHD early 100s (most of the early production was intended for export to the US) , belongs to the first batch of production, bearing body number 400: all panels are steel except the boot, as a few alloy boots were still around at the time and were used for #400 and other near body numbers. The car was delivered in early October 1953 to DHMC in Warwick: a Warwick registration number with suffix OAC was released to the DHMC on October 28th: from October 23rd to November 2nd, seven BN1s were allocated consecutive OAC - numbers, from OAC 377 to OAC 383. OAC suffixes are quite significant in Healey history, as a few such registered cars appear in Healey publicity shots and other printed materials. Notably, Donald Healey’s own unique 100 Coupe (actually 3 of those cars were built) was registered OAC 1.
Being such an early BN1, small production changes were frequent and for this reason #400 still retains a number of very interesting features, quite different from later production sister cars.
First of all, the front arches with higher cut-outs, see photos. Then a markedly different transmission tunnel, a two-piece alloy dash, an adjustable steering wheel, a differently shaped grey-painted soft-top steel frame and other minor details. Still with the car are the early lightweight rear axle, the correct rear springs, the 3-speed gearbox paired with an early type Laycock-de Normanville overdrive, the Triplex laminated windscreen, the correct 4x15” Dunlop 48-spoke silver painted wheels. . Brakes are all the correct drum type and size, shock absorbers are Armstrong lever type, the front anti-roll bar is the correct small diameter and dynamo and starter motor are the correct Lucas items: twin 12 v black batteries complete the package.
The car also retains its original buff-form logbook with seven registered owners, the first one after DHMC being a Mr. Rose of Loughborough. Three more recent owners are also known, V5c’s being still present in the rich documentation which accompanies the car. The car was painted the very rare Healey Grey of some early cars, a non-metallic variant of the Healey Blue we all now: this colour was indicated as City Blue at registration, leading us to think that the DVLA employee in charge of filling in the form was both a humorous chap and a football fan - Healey Grey is in fact very similar to Manchester City colours.
The car is Millemiglia - eligible and seen its provenance , admission to the Centenary Run of the MM in 2027 should be an easy process.
Please feel free to ask for more detailed photos or videos. The history of the car is quite rich: in the Nineties it was painted Dark Blue over OEW (photos available) and it was prepared for Continental rallies by enthusiastic owner Mr. Pettit, who left some interesting notes: the car showed well in the Liege-Rome-Liege Marathon and came home in third place in the Rally des 1000 Bournes in France. It was then sprayed red over OEW by a new owner in Paris, an architect who after very little use sold the car to its present owner. The rare OAC registration and a thick history file were luckily retained to the present day.
The subject of a recently completed 3-yrs professional nut and bolt restoration retaining all parts which could be refurbished and re-used, the car was brought up to concours condition: a complete engine and gearbox rebuild with all new internal parts was entrusted to Lesa Motorsport in Cividale del Friuli, Northern Italy, while body and paint were completed in Slovenia at Restorcars, this car being their tenth AH 100 project in recent years. Carburetters, overdrive, rear axle and upholstery were all done in UK. For safety reasons, a collapsible steering column supplied by AH Spares has also been added: and for that correct 50s sound, the exhaust is the mild iron, long type variety. The engine has been run-in on the bench and the car has been subsequently completing only about 150 shake-down miles for adjustments.
