I’ve been thinking about Jim’s car and why I think it’s significant. We love our old Austin-Healey’s for a lot of reasons, i.e. their style, their connection to an earlier time, their simplicity, and back in the day, their recognition as a performance car. Of course, they may be a lot of things, but generally they are no longer seen by current automotive enthusiasts as a performance machine. To those new automotive enthusiasts, the Healey is all but invisible. Yes, they look nice, but they are not recognized as anything other than a nice-looking older car. So, when Jim shows up at a performance event targeting modern day performance cars, his green AH is seen with a combination confusion and amusement, i.e. I hope that old English car doesn’t get in my way and cause me a problem. But, when Jim fires it up and turns up the wick, the recognition that this old Austin-Healey can run with modern performance cars gains it a respect that can only be garnered with current real-world delivery of speed. What I love is that the car has Healey DNA in its bones, it uses old school engine (albeit DMD aluminum) with current technology to deliver a no excuse performance car that can run with the modern machinery.
It puts the Austin-Healey brand in those younger enthusiasts' knowledge base in a way just
looking great doesn’t. Now that’s cool!! Donald and Geoff were always experimenting and adapting new ideas… I believe they would love this car.
Oh, and beside the Pikes Peak Hillclimb, Jim has participated in things like the Sandhills Open Road Challenge... sanctioned legal Open Road events. I've participated in a couple of them with a modern-day performance car... and I never saw an Austin-Healey enter. Check them out:
The Sandhills Open Road Challenge (SORC) is a 55-mile rally style open road race through the scenic Nebraska Sandhills. Arguably the most demanding event of its kind in America, SORC offers a daunting series of “S” curves, straights, and 90-degree...
sorcrace.com