1967 Austin-Healey 3000 MKIII

Lot details
Registration No: REU125E
Chassis No: HBJ8L/36298
Mot Expiry: Sept 2005

Autocar summed up a works Austin-Healey 3000 perfectly in 1963 when it told readers: "A classic competition car among the all-time greats in motoring history". At the time of its arrival in dealer showrooms in 1959, as the successor to the 100/6, few would have guessed that the low-slung, `Big Healey' would triumph over its apparently unsophisticated engineering so very effectively that, now all these years later, the model is rated as one of the most successful rally cars from the 1960s. The list of Healey competition drivers is long and illustrious, including such personalities as creator Donald Healey, Pat Moss and Timo Makinen.
Offered here is one of the 3000 road cars that were exported all over the motoring world, this 1967-manufactured 3000 and therefore from the very last year of production, being first supplied to a Paris Dealer in left-hand drive and fitted with a kph speedo. Some thirty years ago, the MkIII BJ8 was purchased by a French friend of leading marque specialist and former Healey racer John Chatham, who has maintained the car for the owner ever since. The 29,047 kilometres displayed when entered is believed by him to be the genuine total mileage. In his view, it has never been involved in an accident and, apart from undergoing a full mechanical rebuild, has been in receipt of a body strip and repaint in blue with the trim renewed in blue leather and given a full rewire. Chassis rails, body panels, paintwork, wire wheels, interior, engine, gearbox (four-speed with overdrive) and electrics are reportedly in very good condition.