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Austin-Healeys
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Topic 6, Classics Conference
Your Host
So Shifty:
how about that Sprite that had a body that resembled the MG Midget? And here I'd thought that Bugeye Sprites were the only kind. Is my face red?
Is it better than the Midget in any way? Nicer badge for one.
It seems that buyers don't much differentiate between the Midget look-alike and the AH sprite...personally, I feel the AH version should be worth a tad more. They are fun little cars and a bargain right now. You can buy nearly perfect Midgets and Sprites from 1968-79 (the non-bugeye was made from '67-71, the Midget up to 1979) for dirt cheap...$3,000 is close to top dollar no matter how nice it is. Along with the RX-7 coupes, the absolute "steal" of the current market, and so much fun to drive if you can fit in one. And they're easy to tweak, parts can be had anywhere, and as simple as a wood stove to repair...just imagine 90-100hp in a 1500 pound car that did 0-60 in about 12 seconds with 65 hp! And all this with your knuckles dragging on the ground.
In other words, Healey's progenitors a few centuries back might have been Healy, Hielye or god knows what all.
By the way, did you know that 'yankee' is an Americanization of a Dutch word for sailor and trader, and before that it, in Dutch it was an epithet, the equivalent of '[non-permissible content removed]' or 'sumbitch'? So the Dutch sailors were calling themselves bastards, and the working class people of New Amsterdam were calling themselves by the name the sailors had used. Eventually it came to mean 'Dutch colonials', and later 'Americans'.
Ain't dat somethin?
56 AH 100M roadster (1 or 640 factory built) Condition 1 $48,000
56 AH 100-4 (BN2) Cond. 2 $25,200
60 aH 3000 MK I (BT7) Cond. 2 $33,328
64 AH 3000 MK II (bj7) Cond.1 $29,138.
No doubt about it, good Big Healeys from the 50s &60s are strong sellers right now.
So I guess this is a good time to sell and a lousy time to buy.
I still have the blue, hard-cover "DRIVER'S HANDBOOK" that came with my 3000. If that car is worth 33 grand today, I guess the handbook must be worth a thousand or two. Is anyone interested in buying it?
website...but I assure you, having been a British car collector, we are cheapskates by nature, so don't expect to make a fortune on this...here's a good site to start:
http://www.austinhealey.com/big.html
Oh, my last post on Sprites was supposed to read "under $10,000", not "under 410,000", which I'll save for the Bugatti posts.
I mean if people are paying $60,000 for Dodge Cornonet Hemis, I don't see why a car like this isn't worth half that.
were talking about two differernt vehicles. In my opinion it was the best looking car ever made. Your other comments have me puzzled, however. I've driven cars at 100 mph, but never that one. It wasn't much of a powerhouse, so I'm not sure it would even get there. As I remember, BMC boasted 0 to 60 in 12 seconds. That's not very impressive. Leather, yes, but what chrome and what wood? Some of the drawbacks I remember were an aluminum-steel interface where the body met the fenders that was a perfect galvanic cell on salty roads....new fenders were required every 4 or 5 years. The knock-off lugs on the wheels were soft brass and even though I tightened them once a month, I had wheels fly off while driving down the highway (never at 100 mph, though). The electric fuel pump was notorious for not working. I used to drive with the brass hammer for the knock-off wheels always ready so I could reach back and slam the panel every time the fuel pump stopped working. I can't count the number of times I stopped to help a stranded Healey 3000 and got it going by doing nothing more than hitting the fuel-pump panel (right behind the driver's seat) with my fist, heard the click, click, click and told the driver "turn the key, it'll start now. And, of course, the flexible-tubing exhaust system that broke every 6 or 7 thousand miles was a really clever British invention.
It certainly was beautiful, but it was also the worst engineered car I've ever owned. I still can't believe anyone would pay $33k for one today.
The BJ8 Healeys had a wooden facia, but not normally trimmed in leather...the earlier cars were trimmed in leather on the wearing surfaces. A leather facia was also an option on some models.
A Mark III had 150 hp and 173 ft lbs of torque and 3000 rpm (not bad for a six), and with the overdrive transmission topped out at 125 mph, with 0-60 in 9.5 seconds...the "weakest' of the 3000s had a top speed of 114 mph and did 0-60 in 11.4 seconds.
These figures are from "Austin Healey--The story of the Big Healeys" by Geoffrey Healey.
As for rust...well, in those days, mercedes and porsche and Rolls Royce were no better--most cars rusted like crazy in the 1960s.
I don't have any of your reference books, but if they say the Mark I was fast, they must also say that every 6-cylinder Chevy and Plymouth manufactured in the 60s was faster, because every car like that could beat me when the light turned green. The 3000 looked like a racing car to all who were unfamiliar with it, so I always got a challenge. It didn't take me long to realize that if I took it I'd lose. I remember I outgunned a VW once, however. 115 mph top speed? You can't be serious. To me, the fun of it wasn't power and speed, it was being in the cockpit of something that felt like it was custom built around me, and driving without a top or windows...even in rain or snow (real driving with a clutch and floor shift). Everyone I knew in those days thought I was crazy, so I wouldn't be surprized if no one alive today can have any empathy for why I loved it, in spite of all of its engineering and manufacturing deficiencies.
But they weren't a drag racer, that's for sure...they were a cruising car...true, maybe a Dodge Dart could beat you, but you'd certainly catch up the minute you hit a turn.
Yes, without rollups you definitely had an early one.......battery in the trunk? Just like a new Miata...see, they were ahead of their time!
And I never considered mine to be tired. I bought it new and kept it in good shape all the years I had it. But when I did get rid of it, I remember having lot of free time on my hands for the first few months.
To be honest, bikes, boats, planes and open-cockpit sports cars are all pretty much behind me now. I'm content enough with my pickup, but once in a while that bike way back in the corner behind the lawn tractor catches my eye. I'd have to get it running first, though.
About Austin Healeys- I remember a simple modification that was common in the 60's that improved the handling. Those wire wheels were known to bend, especially during hard cornering. A friend who had a 62MKII replaced the rear wheels with 15 inch Buick wheels, which was a simple hub change and bolt on. I remember a demonstration ride through some winding roads in the Santa Cruz mountains. We were chasing a friend in his TR4. I was perched on that rear seat- I tell you, on one corner, after a spinout, we stopped close enough to the edge of the road, that I had a REAL CLEAR view to the bottom of the ravine. Scary, but fun...
One thing I personally don't like on British sports cars is chromed wire wheels...although this was a legit option on some years on some cars, generally most wire wheels were painted, and I personally find this level of understatement quite attractive...British cars just don't look good all tarted up. I saw a nice MG Tickford from the 30s with some kind of aftermarket air horns you might find on a Clenet or a plastic car and I about barfed.
Nice site, thanks! That's a lot of work you've put in there!
6000 rpms? I'd say you're running out of valve springs at that rpm on a 1275! That's pushin' it!
Host
Glad you liked the pages need to work on them somemore. Thats what i thought too would rollers help out. being in socal the freeway speeds are intense. I'm thinking of switching from su's to a single weber??? maybe a v8 LOL
keep up the chat.
greets Jah rastafari
No overdrive ???? do you have one? I know of several people who have converted to a datsun 5 speed
maybe I should just keep it around 75 then it wont be an issue LOL
Still have a surge problem comes and goes any ideas?
sometimes the tach freaks out when she is running off and twice I have to shut off the engine and "reboot" her, then she runs fine???
tek car
one god one people one love
Ira
well tek all and farwell back to puddle jumper
What color was yours?