HOW AUSTIN-HEALEYS ARE ASSEMBLED

How austin-healeys are assembled

Today I found an interesting article on how sports cars were built in 1957 from Motor Sport magazine so I OCR'd it here for anyone else interested.

"The Austin-Healey assembly line is quite a short one, because the bodies are supplied complete with seats, etc. After the power unit and suspension units have been assembled the cars go up a ramp for under-chassis pipework, greasing, brake-bleeding, etc., to be completed from a pit, after which they come back to floor level for the fitting of gearbox tunnel cover, carpets (which are then rolled up and stowed in the boot until needed for final fitting) and a slave seat for the use of the test driver. Every wheel is statically balanced on a Weaver balancing machine. Dunlop supply all the wheels, which are painted by Austin, and the “ Road Speed ” tyres, which arrive at the assembly line on overhead conveyors.
A skilled electrician who has been with Austin for some 35 years checks all electrical wiring on the car before the completed Austin-Healey is supplied with petrol, oil and water and taken to a bay where the engine is run slowly while carburetter adjustments are made, after which it leaves for a brief road-test. If the car is found to be generally satisfactory it is taken by a girl driver round the shop to another bay, any further adjustments required are carried out and the carpets and seats are fitted, any blemishes both exterior and under the bonnet are attended to, spanner marks removed from pipe unions, underbonnet flaws rectified by hand painting and the fan shield painted red, etc. A further road-test is then undertaken by a different test driver. Each Austin-Healey then goes to the rectification bay, in a corner of the latest vast assembly hall, and a very careful inspection is carried out."

Andy.

Thanks Andy. Interesting to see the comment about scuttle shake on a new Healey.

Couple of interesting things in this article. In regard to "scuttle shake" I noticed that the wheels were only statically balanced. Was this the standard of the day? The other thing was that the motors were "electrically motored in" was this the standard of the time or is it done now? No mention of using rust or Bonami to seat the rings.

It's rare to read anything about Austin-Healeys in Motor Sport. I have heard that Bill Boddy (the editor) disagreed with DMH over Healey's withdrawal from Le Mans type racing events. DMH has beem quoted saying that he felt that the regulations were framed in such a way that standard production cars did not stand a chance.
Boddy took exception to this and basically 'blacklisted' the Healey car.
That hasn't stopped me from being regular reader since 1970, mainly for the Grand Prix reports by Denis Jenkinson, Alan Henry, David Tremayne,and now Nigel Roebuck.

And the "Bod" was nothing if not a law unto himself! I remember him very well, he and my father were friends.

Thanks for the link to a great article. I own examples of all three cars and have always been interested in how different they are and would have been assembled. Are there any articles on the body painting and assembly on these cars ? Kevin

Andy - Thanks, that is a great read for the Longbridge owners. Contact Derek to see if he is willing to add this to www.healeysix.net.
Best of Luck
jim