Description
This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at the NEC Classic Motor Show 2024 - Cars on Saturday the 9th of November, NEC, Birmingham, B40 1NT. 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, it went on to be a huge success. Built between 1953 and 1956, the Austin-Healey 100/ 4 was the first of the iconic Austin-Healey brand, and had two main variations during production, denoted by the codes BN1 or BN2; only available as a two-seat model, both cars are powered by the same torquey four-cylinder 2660cc engine (from the Austin Atlantic) producing 90bhp; 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. The BN1 was the first to be produced, with its 3-speed gearbox and overdrive, superseded by the BN2, with its four-speed gearbox with overdrive and the addition of the stronger five-stud rear axle (also fitted to some late BN1s), and the styling change of a rear wing swage line. The simplistic lines and interior favours the purists and those who want a true 1950s sports car. Able to reach 100mph, the 100/ 4 was fitted with its famous folding windscreen which can be lowered virtually flat. The car presented here is a 1953 Austin-Healey 100/ 4 BN1 (Body #1076) and it remains a matching numbers car having lived almost all its life in California, for most of the time in storage, unused! As a very early example, built in December 1953, #1076 still retains all the features of the very early cars, including the 4-stud rear axle, no reflectors above the rear shrouds, early door hinges, and much more. #1076 was repatriated to the UK in 2017 and has since undergone a bare-shell, nut and bolt restoration and must surely now be one of the best examples in the UK. The hugely thorough project was headed up by classic car expert, Richard Craig of RMC Classics, who sourced and owned #1076, and it is he who has conveyed much of the information offered here. His expert engineering work ensured every component was either restored or replaced, with the focus being to preserve much originality as possible. The car won Best in Show at its first outing to an MGCC Concours event and was chosen as ‘the car that people wanted to take home’. Fascinatingly, #1076 still retains a rally plate (affixed to the dashboard) from a 1954 event in which it competed – the California Square Wheel Touring Society’s Moonlight Rally – an event which Donald Healey actually competed on in the same year. Frustratingly, we don’t have an entry list for the event so can’t confirm if Donald himself drove this very car, but there can’t have been many other Healeys competing in this far-flung event so early on in production! At some point since then, another (earlier) rebuild was undertaken and all of the external panel-work has been replaced with aluminium items – all four wings, doors, a 100M louvered bonnet and boot lid. Of course, the front and rear shrouds are the original items. The attention to detail of the panel-work is fantastic and all the gaps are really very good indeed - all four wings have been hand-beaten by a coach builder - what an investment this was then, to make #1076 lighter and more desirable, quite an undertaking. All of the original spot welds in the inner wings etc. are visible, it’s just amazing to see how well preserved the car has been in the dry climes of California. The more recent UK-restoration is documented in hundreds of photographs, and help illustrate that, upon stripping the car down for the rebuild, how evident it was that the car has covered very little mileage – the engine had never been apart, still retaining all of its original bearings, water pump and even clutch! The ancillaries are all original too – carburettors, distributor, starter motor etc. It is so incredibly rare to find a 1950s sports car which has clearly led such a charmed life and hasn’t been subject to endless repairs over the years. Even three of the four cockpit trims are stamped with the body number, with pencil markings next to them noting the numbers to be stamped - this is very rare to see! Richard continues “Of course, the car now starts and runs beautifully, with excellent oil pressure and compression figures thanks to its complete rebuild. It pulls strongly and willingly, and sounds absolutely fantastic. Every system on the car has been rebuilt or renewed so it really does offer the driving experience of buying the car brand new in 1953! Overdrive works flawlessly, including the kickdown switch and the car rides very nicely indeed.” #1076 is now in a simply immaculate state of preservation, with originality and any modifications (to make the car more usable in the modern world) being very discreet...
