Lot 625: 1955 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 sports car 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 respectable 90bhp, and 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. This was in fact the Atlantic’s four-speed unit with first gear blanked off – the short first ratio effectively redundant due to the torque and lightness of the Healey 100.

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 and handsome sports car 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.

An older restoration, apparently in good order apart from some isolated blemishes, this example is finished in Healey Blue metallic with black interior. The vehicle is offered complete with tonneau, side screens and hood, and comes with Swansea V5 registration document noting its cherished number.