First RHD Austin-Healey

[HealeyRick]

The first ever right hand drive Austin Healey is up for auction

1953 Austin Healey 100 RHD Ex-Betty Haig

The car was first owned by the legendary Betty Haig who raced it in 1953 and 1954


COYS: November 30, 2013 - The first right hand drive Austin Healey in existence is to be sold by international auctioneers Coys at their True Greats sale in London on December 3rd.


This is the sixteenth of twenty pre-production Austin Healey 100s, hand built at Cape Works before production started at the Longbridge factory.


This Healey on offer was delivered to Betty Haig in 1953, who drove it at the Great Auclum speed trials on 8th August that year – just three weeks after purchasing it. She raced it again on the 25th Paris to St. Raphael rally in early March 1954 with Enid Riddell. She came first in the over 2 litre class, won a Coupe de Vitesse and finished seventh overall. Reports at the time praised Betty for beating two 2.5 litre Lancia Aurelias.


This unique 1953 Austin Healey 100 has matching numbers and some unique pre-production features, including a highly lightweight aluminium body, aluminium seats, bonnet safety catch and fan cowling. There are believed to be fifty differences between these early cars and the production derivative. It is estimated at £100,000 to £130,000.


Chris Routledge, Managing Partner of Coys, said: “This car is arguably the most significant Austin Healey to be offered on the open market this decade. It is a unique opportunity to inherit a competition car rallied by a true legend like Betty Haig.”

 

[RandyHicks]

Can't be the 1st Right hand drive Healey. All the "Specials" (body #'s 5, 6, 7, &) were right hand drive and built before body #16. First Right Hand drive "non-special" Healey was body #9. Coys did not do their homework.

Randy

 

[HealeyRick]

Hi Randy,

There's some more info on the history of the car here, which is pretty interesting: https://www.firsthealey.co.uk/press.htm They state they have a BMIHT certificate documenting it as the first RHD "road" car.

 

[RandyHicks]

OK, there you go, "first road car". AHX9 (Body #9) was first RHD hundred, but not believed to be officially UK registered and a development car that was scrapped in 1955. Sure wish the factory kept better records.

Randy

 

[John Turney]

Chris Routledge, Managing Partner of Coys, said: “This car is arguably the most significant Austin Healey to be offered on the open market this decade. It is a unique opportunity to inherit a competition car rallied by a true legend like Betty Haig.”

While a significant Healey, I think the new owner of NOJ 393 would probably take issue with this statement.

 

[DerekJ]

Yes the auction house is getting carried away a little isn't it. Not only NOJ 393 but also NOJ 392 and OON 440 have changed hands in that period not to mention a couple of Works rally cars. However it is a very rare car being one of the first 20 hand built alloy models. Personally I doubt being the first RHD car or not makes much of a difference anyway. The guide price puts it in a range where some 100Ms have recently been selling. This car is worth far more than them IMHO.

 

[Editor_Reid]

.
Betty Haig?

 

[HealeyRick]

.
Betty Haig?

Betty Haig was born in 1906, the great-niece of Field Marshal Haig. She learnt to drive at an early age, and by sixteen, owned her own car. When she was old enough to drive legally, she moved through a series of increasingly sporty cars, including a Salmson and a Singer Le Mans.


Despite this interest, it was not until she was 29 that she entered her first motorsport event: the Paris-St. Raphaël Rally in 1935. She drove a Singer, partly backed by the factory, in exchange for reporting back on its performance. The Paris-St. Raphaël was chosen after Betty had seen it advertised whilst travelling in France.

She was the winner of the 1936 Olympic Rally, driving a Singer, once more supported by the works team. This rally was centred on Berlin, tying in with that year’s Olympics. The car ran perfectly throughout the event, although it broke down on the way home from Germany. It is recorded in some places as the only car to have won an Olympic medal.

She is reported by some sources as having won the Paris-St Raphael rally in 1937, on her third attempt, in an MG Midget. However, this is contradicted by some reliable sources. Betty’s win may have come in 1936, as there is a gap in the records there. If this is so, she would have been driving a Singer rather than an MG. Her other 1936 events as a Singer works driver included speed trials at Brooklands, and long-distance trials elsewhere.

In 1938, she drove in the Paris-St Raphael again, for the last time before the war, in the MG. She was second, reportedly after being held up on a stage by another competitor.

Post-war, Betty took up motorsport once more, with even more vigour than before. Now, she was taking on major, mixed entry rallies, as well as trials and hillclimbs. In 1946, she won the 2000cc class on the Rallye des Alpes Françaises, as well as winning the Coupe des Dames, in a nine-year-old AC. Later, in 1949, she drove a Morris Minor in the Monte Carlo Rally, co-driving with Elsie Wisdom and Barbara Marshall. The same year, she entered the Rallye des Alpes Françaises again, winning the 1500cc class and the Coupe des Dames with Barbara Marshall, in an MG TC. At this time, she was competing regularly in European hillclimbs in her own BMW.

In 1950, she joined forces with Barbara Marshall once more for the Monte Carlo Rally, driving an MG. In 1951, she was back in the Paris-St Raphael rally, finishing third, with a class win, in an MG TD. At some point, she is also described as having rallied a Healey 100 in this event.

Betty also raced on circuits, and partnered Yvonne Simon to fifteenth place in the 1951 Le Mans race, in Yvonne's Ferrari 166 MM. They were third in the 2000cc class, having challenged for the lead throughout.

Despite her seeming talent on the circuits, she rarely competed in major meetings, although she was a regular on the club motorsport scene in the UK. As well as circuit racing, she enjoyed a considerable hillclimb career, and held the Ladies’ record at Prescott for six years. Among the cars she owned and drove were an HRG, a pre-war Frazer Nash and models by MG and AC. In 1953, she raced an MG Magnette at Goodwood, coming third in a handicap race. In 1955 she drove in a Goodwood ladies’ Whitsun race in an AC Ace, and she raced a Climax-engine Elva in similar events the following year. It was her custom to favour British vehicles.

She continued to race and rally numerous cars until 1967. As time progressed, she stuck with the machinery of her heyday and was a regular on the burgeoning historic circuit. Her last competitive outings were in the Griffiths Formula, for 1940s and 1950s international sports racers. Towards the end of her career, she was a major force for the establishment of the Historic Sports Car Club.

She died in 1987.

https://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2011/08/betty-haig.html

 

[Editor_Reid]

.
Oh, that Betty Haig.

 

[healey106]

Reid - How many Betty Haigs do you know???????

 

[Editor_Reid]

Reid - How many Betty Haigs do you know???????

All of them.

 

[healey106]

Reid - It must be that new Lotus in the garage that gets their attention??????????

 

[HealeyRick]

The auction results don't contain an entry for this car and it now shows as being for sale in the Coys showroom: https://www.coys.co.uk/showrooms.php I'm guessing it was a no-sale, but have no idea what the bid was.