1953 Austin-Healey 100 Prototype

Lot details
Registration No: AHX 11
Chassis No: BN1L 134370
Mot Expiry: None

We are pleased to be offering you today a most significant Austin-Healey, an extremely rare pre-production 100 no less and the oldest known Austin-Healey in Europe, which served as the Donald Healey Motor Company's Turin Motor Show car and, more recently and since headlining at the marque's 50th celebrations, has been displayed at the Heritage Museum at Gaydon.
For here is lefthand drive chassis BN1L 134370, one of only nineteen pre-production two-seaters to be completed at Donald Healey's Cape works at Warwick. Actually this was the first of the second batch of ten pre-production cars and only the sixth road car built by Healeys with body number JM4 106-10, the tenth Gerry Coker styled body built by Healey sub-contractors Jensen Motors, and still carrying its first and therefore historic AHX 11 registration. After being passed out from Harry Brandish's production car workshop at Warwick shortly before its 1 April 1953 registration, this was the car that was driven to Northern Italy to the Turin Motor Show by Geoff and Margot Healey.
More recently brought back home to the UK from residency in the US, this famous car was then entrusted by its collector owner to marque specialists MPH in the Cotswolds for a full restoration. Interestingly, as you will see, the colour today is not the usual Healey Blue, but a match has been achieved to the original Healey Grey Blue found on the car, a colour first seen by Donald Healey on a Jaguar.
Particular care, we are told, has been taken to retain as much of the original sportscar as possible, including the original floors and sills, other panels being repaired rather than replaced. The Warwick-fitted 1B 136788 engine has been retained as has the original gearbox and rear axle.
During the renovation, among differences from the normal production 100/4s discovered were...the employment of various handmade parts in lieu of stamped-out
pressings for the body tub, an absence of ducting to direct cooling air from grille to radiator, three-part outer sills with wooden former inside, and all outer panels including doors, boot lid and bonnet being made from aluminium; the ride height altered with different thicknesses of spacers under the front shock absorbers; two sets of holes for mounting the steering box and an absence of any fixing holes for a righthand drive steering column or pedals set-up; the parcel shelf and heater mountings being welded-in; no boot lid handle, lock or boss, but an internal cable-release behind the seats as on the contemporary MGA (allegedly to prevent the Healeys personal belongings items being stolen during the Italian Motor Show!) and a handmade bonnet release; a 15ins diameter steering wheel, 1in less than what became standard, and much smaller footwells; simple sidescreens containing curved Perspex screens, handmade and thicker side flashes than on production cars, a galvanised fuel tank and curved cooling fan tips as on the A90; and castellated nuts on the big-end and main bearings with special flywheel, no timing arrow on the timing chain cover and a clutch actuating mechanism that is totally different to that fond on subsequent production cars.
The current condition of this clearly sympathetically restored and historic Healey is described as being to concours standard and, judging from the enthusiastic appraisal in the pages of the October issue of Classic and Sports Car magazine, both 2.6-litre four and four-speed manual gearbox would appear to be performing well.