My former Healey-back in the day

When they were just cheap old sports cars to have fun with, those were the days.


I actually remember seeing this car growing up, the black paint was so old and faded that I thought it was a dark blue. Only running 100 I ever saw in my town ((lots of six cylinder cars though) Previous owner had bought it in the late sixties or early seventies in a sports car shop in Omaha, disassembled, with the bulk of the car in boxes in the basement.

My favorite bit of Healey literature is one of the final chapters of Piggot's book "The Healey 100 in Detail" when he talks about his adventures with them as cheap daily drivers. Never had that experience with big Healey's, but similar adventures with Sprites in the 70s.

I suppose if you want an old sports car you want to jump in and have fun with a cheap Miata makes more sense these days.

With my bugeye having reached the "older restoration" category and the V8 in the big Healey taking it out of concours competition, I find it's a lot easier to have fun with the cars like the old days. Sure, I'm careful where I park, but a rock chip isn't going to bug me a whole lot.

glemon said:

When they were just cheap old sports cars to have fun with, those were the days.
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I actually remember seeing this car growing up, the black paint was so old and faded that I thought it was a dark blue. Only running 100 I ever saw in my town ((lots of six cylinder cars though) Previous owner had bought it in the late sixties or early seventies in a sports car shop in Omaha, disassembled, with the bulk of the car in boxes in the basement.

My favorite bit of Healey literature is one of the final chapters of Piggot's book "The Healey 100 in Detail" when he talks about his adventures with them as cheap daily drivers. Never had that experience with big Healey's, but similar adventures with Sprites in the 70s.

I suppose if you want an old sports car you want to jump in and have fun with a cheap Miata makes more sense these days.

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Very true statement. This looks a lot like my first 100. I bought it as a Christmas present for myself in 1969, paid $450 and it ran (I had been eyeballing a Jag 120 in a car lot nearby but they wanted $650 and I didn't have that much). It was Ice Blue and red primer and the top fit about the same as this one in the pic. Four months after I bought it I broke the crankshaft - cost me $150 for a used, reground crank - whole project cost about $200 including gaskets & bearings. That fall, a buddy and I decided to go to the New Orleans mardi-gras in it. We lost a rod bearing just before we got to Junction, Texas. I spent a week there trying to sell the car to anybody - couldn't get even $10 for it, so gave it to the local towing company and mailed him the title when I got home.

In 1971 I bought another one for $500 that I later traded for a Triumph 650 motorcycle....

I agree, those were the days and the fact that they were cheap definitely made them 'within reach' of even gas pump jockeys like me.

Thanks, nice story. I think that top in the picture is about the only soft part that survived to my ownership, it was very tight, but I never really drove with the top up, so not a priority.

Still cheap "garage find" '62 3000 Mark II BJ 7 circa 1978. That's me, a high school sophomore, thinking how to get the thing running. One of the front headlights was from a motorcycle and all shock and motor mounts were torn from the frame. Apparently it landed on all fours after being airborne. GONZO

Wonderful. I love this stuff. I only wish I had been able to buy a big Healey at the age you fellas were in the photos. The lust was there but that wasn't enough. I just realized I bought my BN2 twenty years ago and there is one photo of me with it. If only I had hair and some bell bottom pants I could have faked a photo. No getting around being in my late 40s when this shot was taken. BTW, I really enjoyed the oil spots on the driveway and that you didn't rely on brakes or transmission to keep the car still.

Healeys are endearing at all ages. Although I'm finding that I don't slip out of mine so easily now. Dig the pics. Thanks for sharing ya'll. GONZO

In 1962 I bought a slightly used 1960 BN7 from Watsco Motors (Frankie Watts), the Jaguar/BMC dealer in Miami. That summer I landed a summer job in the midgtown garment district of NYC and drove the car alone to New York without event, probably straight-through with a box of Tampa Jewels to fuel the trip. I believe I-95 existed only in small sections and the trip was mostly oin US1 or US 301. I am sure I had no spares, no tools beyond what came with the car and, most importantly, not a lot of knowledge on how to fix anything beyond a basic tune-up.

I was living with relatives in Westchester County and driving every day into the city down the rough West Side highway. At some point during the summer I began to break spokes and get flats on a daily basis . The original 48 spoke wheels were shot and to make a long story short I traded the car in on a new BJ7 and at the end of the summer I drove it back to Miami, again without incident.

The gods that protect the young and ignorant prevailed.

gonzo said:

Healeys are endearing at all ages. Although I'm finding that I don't slip out of mine so easily now. Dig the pics. Thanks for sharing ya'll. GONZO

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Ha. Near the end of a 2-week+ road trip in my BJ8 with my BFF we stopped at a CVS in Chico, CA to get some beer. After we parked, we were extricating ourselves from the car when a young boy--8 or 10 maybe--saw us and got all excited and yelled to his mom "Look at that awesome car!" Then, we heard the mom go "But look at the trouble they're having getting out of it!" Way to break a kid's spirit, mom.

Bob_Spidell said:

Ha. Near the end of a 2-week+ road trip in my BJ8 with my BFF we stopped at a CVS in Chico, CA to get some beer. After we parked, we were extricating ourselves from the car when a young boy--8 or 10 maybe--saw us and got all excited and yelled to his mom "Look at that awesome car!" Then, we heard the mom go "But look at the trouble they're having getting out of it!" Way to break a kid's spirit, mom.

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Yes, but I'm sure the beer helped.

Really enjoy the stories and pictures from those early days. Takes me right back to that special time when sports cars were a defining part of our everyday lives. Thanks for sharing.