Lot details
Registration No: 888 DTB
Chassis No: BN4047487
Mot Expiry: Feb 2012

The Big Healey in all its various guises is one of the best looking and most charismatic sports cars ever to have emerged from Britain. Proven race and rally winners, the Works competition cars spawned countless imitators both in period and over the ensuing decades. A select few of these privateer machines have become justifiably famous perhaps none more so than Denis Welch's `Bulldog' and John Chatham's `DD 300' (though, of course the latter was formally a Works car). However, the majority have led more anonymous but often no less enjoyable existences.

Beginning life as a roadgoing 100-Six with the distinctive number plate `888 DTB', this particular example - chassis BN4 047487 - is understood to have metamorphosed into a Modsports racer sometime around the late 1960s / early 1970s. Accompanying invoices suggest the Big Healey was owned by R. H. Lister of Dursley (Gloucestershire) at the time and that the Chosen Engineering Motor Company of nearby Churchdown was commissioned to enlarge / upgrade its engine to 3000 specification in April 1971.

Other contemporaneous bills, parts catalogues and a handwritten note indicate that R.H. Lister - and fellow Dursley resident D.C. May - further enhanced the car via the addition of competition overdrive, uprated suspension, Koni telescopic shock absorbers, disc front brakes, Minilite alloys, Firestone Racing tyres and triple Weber 45 DCOE carburettors on Derrington inlets.

Purchased by J.K. Palmer of the Queensbury Road Garage, Kettering in January 1974, the Big Healey appears to have been sidelined thereafter. Liveried in Dark Green with a White hardtop and still sporting the extravagant wheelarches and oversized alloys from its Modsports days, the old warhorse looked decidedly forlorn when Colin Singleton acquired it some thirteen years later. Although, surviving pictures on file show the car to have been substantially complete.

Extensively refurbished and reconfigured to HSCC specification over a six-month period, `888 DTB' was then entered for the `Top Gear' British Heritage Championship. Apparently rewarded with a class win on its first outing, the car proved equally competitive in the Austin-Healey Club's Race Championship; a report showing that during July 1989 the latter's Class C (Modified Big Healey) standings were headed by C. Singleton despite competition from C. Dean, J. Chatham and J. Everard etc.

Another period of inactivity followed before the two-seater was treated to a very thorough, seemingly `DD 300'-inspired, `ground up' restoration by both John Chatham Cars and Longneck Racing Preparation. Carried out between 1996 and 2000, the work was intended to give `888 DTB' a dual personality (i.e. make it capable of both fast road and competition usage). To this end, the Big Healey was finished to a far higher cosmetic standard than many race cars. Albeit `under the skin' there was no doubting its previous heritage.

Boasting strengthened engine and suspension mountings, the partially seam-welded chassis was equipped with uprated springs and dampers all round not to mention a heavier duty front anti-roll bar, adjustable trunnions for negative camber and anti-tramp bars. The use of aluminium for the dashboard and gearbox cover as well as for the front / rear shrouds and wings helped keep weight down, while the adoption of a high-ratio steering box brought a reduction in wheel twirling. Servo-assisted, the front discs and rear drums gave decent stopping power. Finally, safety considerations saw the fuel / brake lines routed inside not to mention the fitting of a collapsible steering column, new wiring loom and plumbed-in fire extinguisher.

Assorted old MOT certificates imply that '888 DTB' has covered just 4,000 miles since March 2000. A high proportion of these were accrued on Continental road trips. Though, the Big Healey has also tackled a handful of races during the last few years. Tasked with overhauling the car's transmission in summer 2005, Hardy Engineering reconditioned the competition overdrive (complete with gearlever actuation switch), replaced the Quaife limited slip differential and installed new `Sebring' ratios aboard the four-speed manual gearbox.

Able to boast a pocketed block and big-valve polished / ported alloy cylinder head, the engine has just been refreshed by John Chatham Cars (replacement crankshaft, new `649' camshaft, fully balanced and blue printed etc). Among the 3 litre straight-six unit's ancillaries are: an alloy radiator, high performance starter motor, remote oil filter, high performance alternator, oil cooler, tubular exhaust manifold, twin-spark Mallory distributor, high performance coil / leads, twin fuel pumps and triple Weber carburettors.

The powerplant has yet to be properly run-in or dyno-tested but is guess-timated to be developing over 200bhp. With an eye to civility the vendor has fitted carpets to complement the cabin's existing high-backed bucket seats and full rollcage. A road car fuel tank has also been added. Starting readily upon inspection and sounding very purposeful through its side exit exhaust, this appealing Big Healey is offered for sale with a good history file (dating back to 1970), MOT certificate valid until February 2012 and sundry spares (differential, big core radiator and set of Minilite-style alloys). Riding on 72-spoke wire wheels and accompanied by an application form for a FIA / MSA Historic Technical Passport, `888 DTB' is worthy of close inspection.