Lot 675: 1954 Austin-Healey 100 Roadster

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 sportscar and aimed at the US market, which took almost 100f production initially, the Austin-Healey 100 sourced its major components from the Austin Atlantic saloon. Low-revving and torquey, the latter’s 2,660cc four-cylinder engine produced an unremarkable 90bhp, but 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. A three-speed gearbox equipped with overdrive on the top two ratios was an unusual feature of the original BN1, which was superseded by the short-lived, conventional four-speed BN2 for 1956. In 1953 a team of drivers including Donald Healey and George Eyston set a host of international and AMA speed records at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats driving two Healey 100s. Highlights including a maximum speed of 143.626mph and 1,000 kilometres at an average of 127.00mph achieved by the tuned car and 24 hours at an average of 104.3mph set by the AMA-selected ‘off-the-showroom-floor’ example. A muscular sportscar to delight the purist, the 100 was not bettered by its six-cylinder successors in terms of outright performance until the introduction of the Austin-Healey 3000 in 1959.
This Austin-Healey 100 was acquired by its late owner in May 1982 and used only briefly before being placed in storage in an air-conditioned garage. Offered for sale by his widow (following its owner’s death in May 2004) the vehicle has been re-commissioned and MoT’d for sale. It is offered with sundry invoices, old-style logbook, MoT to June 2006 and Swansea V5 registration document.