Why Do You Own a Healey Today?

Legal Bill started an interesting thread about our daily drivers, which gives a bit of insight in what Healey owners are thinking when they pick a new car. I'll start another: How did you end up with the Healey or Healeys you own today?

For me, I got interested in unusual cars long before I got a drivers license. As a kid, I was totally into the California scene of hot rods and customs. I took a trip out to California in 1963 with my folks and came back home to Massachusetts with high-riser handlebars to give my bicycle that cool California look. I was building AMT and Revell model cars and entering them into the local model car shows. I read all the hot rod and custom "little books" and later Rod&Custom and Hot Rod magazines. Along the way (probably from ABC Wide World of Sports) I got interested in Formula One racing. I still remember where I was when Stirling Moss had his accident at Goodwood. When I was old enough to get a driver's license in 1967 , my cousin had a '59 bugeye she sold me for $350. It had a non-factory hardtop and she taught me how to drive a manual transmission. I had a love/hate relationship with that car. It was a pain to drive in the winter and a joy to drive in the summer. It didn't really hurt to let it go a year later for a low-mileage Volvo 122S 4-door.

But with that car, I became a "Healey Guy". My Dad was a Realtor and his office was located in a building owned by a clothier who had just bought a 1967 BJ8 in Metallic Golden Beige. I used to love to park my POS Bugeye next to the BJ8 because we were fellow "Healey guys". But since I was also interested in hot rods and the newly introduced muscle cars, they also formed my Healey ideas. A local guy blew the motor in his big Healey and replaced it with a 289 Ford automatic with a 2 barrel carb and started beating all the local muscle cars in town at the midnight drags. I was hooked.

So when I graduated school and had some spare money, I built the Bugeye of my dreams ,,, a tribute to the cars that ran the Sebring 12 hrs. And when I bought a big Healey, I rebuilt it to the specs it had when it was an SCCA racer in 1965. It wasn't enough and I ended up building it to the small-block Ford specs that I admired in the late '60s.

So how did you end up with your Healey?

My dad bought our BJ8 in 1978. It had lived its life in Buffalo so it was a bit rough, but it was good enough to drive. He had always wanted one since a friend of his took him for a ride in his 100 during college back in the 1950's. My dad commuted in the Healey for several years, then I started using it. It was my high school car during senior year in '80-'81. I loved it, and our being active in the AHCA became steeped in Healeys and their history. Fast forward many years, dad died in 2001 and the Healey sat in mom's garage for ten years. I had my own fun stuff along the way (TR6, Early Bronco), and eventually mom threatened to sell the Healey. I needed more space for it, so I had a another garage/workshop built as its new home. I started its long deserved restoration about a year ago. Since I have long been a student of all things Healey, last year I added a good Sprite driver to the stable and love that too--my wife and kids love Spritey too.

I was a 'car kid' and my dad worked for Ford so, naturally, I loved Mustangs and Cobras. But, I was vaguely aware of a car called Austin-Healey which looked a bit like a Cobra but seemed to have a certain 'panache' that the muscled-up Brit-Yankee hybrid lacked. In my early twenties I got a wild hair and bought a clapped-out 3000--I don't recall exactly which model it was but I hope to shout it wasn't the tri-carb center-shift BN7 I still lust after (I do remember it was center-shift). Anyway, after I unloaded that car I vowed to own another Healey someday when I had the wherewithal. When I was 30 I went to the Palo Alto Concours and, guess what, there was a red over black BJ8 for sale in the parking lot and needless to say I didn't see much of the concours. Well, that BJ8 became mine over 30 years ago and I just spent the day getting it ready for a 3-4K road trip a buddy and I have been taking for over 20 years.

My dad didn't like foreign cars but insisted "if you're going to own a car like that you better learn how to work on it." Dad was a factory rep for Ford and a former auto shop teacher so he knows his way around a wrench. We've rebuilt the drivetrain and fixed numerous other problems together. After we rebuilt the engine Dad said "I'll take it out and break the engine in for you." Dad put 600 miles on the car in a weekend. About 10-12 years ago Dad called me and said "there's a '56 for sale; I'll go check it out." Thinking it was an early 6-cyl car I said "sure, go have a look." Dad called the next day and says "I bought it--it's a 4-cyl and has an 'M' on the registration--does that mean anything?" When I picked myself up off the floor I said "Dad, does it have a louvered bonnet?" Dad said yes and that's how we acquired a 'factory' 100M from a private collection for, well, suffice it to say it was a bargain.

I'm almost 61 now and in my 31st year of Healey ownership. We've almost finished a frame-off resto of the M (Dad built a wooden rotisserie without even mentioning it to me). All I can say is these cars become part of you; it's not even 'ownership' so much as it's a union--almost like a partnership. You get out of these cars what you put into them, and we all know you gotta put a **** of a lot into them. I don't want to be buried in mine--either of them--I want them to be driven for 100 years.

My adventure begin in the summer of 1968,hanging out at Owen's Beach in Pt. Defiance in Tacoma. I watched a cool orange 3000 pose through the parking lot & head up the hill. Greatest sound I had ever heard. Traded my '63 snrf VW bug & $75. for '60 2-place(Black). Had my own repair shop from '75 to mid '80's, specializing in British & German cars in which time I accumulated over 12 Healey's, several MG's & BMW's.I've had & still have "53 100 since '70, '63 BJ7 since '71 & my '67 BJ8 since '78. Bought 2 of the girls, as I call them, from original owners. I'm now almost 63 & getting ready to retire & put them all back on the road, since right before my son was born in 1996 they have been stored in my garage..
The engines will be freshened up(by me) & paint work as needed, can't hardly wait to hear there engines roar back to life!!cheers & happy Healeying.

My dad bought a silver blue BJ-7 in 1964 as his daily driver. I was about 4 years old then and remember the day we got it. We spent many years doing different rally's and local events and it was a big part of our family. When I was 14, he bought a E-Type and gave me the Healey to work on until I could drive. I spent the next 2 years fixing it up and drove it through high school. By then it was the late '70's and some parts were hard to find. The simple fact that if I broke it, I could be out of a ride for a while or in some cases even learn to make my own parts, taught me a lot of responsibility! Keeping the Healey running is where my dad taught me to think and act like an engineer. For that reason alone, a Healey will always be in my garage! I sold the car in '79 before I went to college but swore I would have one again. When I graduated, he and I were going to get one to restore but he got sick and passed away. My mother wanted me to continue that plan and helped me buy the one I have now. I have completely restored it and been driving it over 24 years now and hope to pass it to my son someday so he can enjoy it,

1971 ish. I was in high school. Some guys were renting a house on my street, and one of them had this really cool car. Turns out it was a Healey. Coolest thing I ever saw. Fast forward to 2004 - I finally got my BN7. A lot of Brit cars and bikes in between, and a lot of 'life' in between, but having a Healey was always in the back of my mind. The lines of the Healey are classic.

Im hooked on Healeys what can I say . I have 3 of them .
The lines and style are classic , they will always be appreciated and admired by those who own them . They will never go out of style .
Theres just something about the sound of that exhaust on a fine summer day with the top down .
I remember one day my wife and I took a drive in the Healey and parked it outside a restaurant where we were having lunch . We could see the car from where we were sitting . I parked it next to one of the new GT40s .
The crowd gathered not to look at the GT40 they were all pointing and chatting and remembering there Healey experiences .......The GT40 barely got more than a passing glance and the owner left in a huff !!!!
Now that's the definition of a classic car .

I've been a "car guy" since I was 5ish according to family lore. That said, I bought my first Rod & Custom magazine when I was in 7th grade. A bit later discovered sports cars. I had two friends in H.S. with older sisters that had Healey's.... I thought they were just the coolest cars!! Bought my first sports car in college...1957 MGA... one year later sold it and bought a 1959 Austin Healey 100/6 BN6.... my son owns that car today. Many many cars later.... Corvettes, Porsche, Pantera, etc.... bought a 3000 MKI BN7... then my current BJ7.... I'll own other sports/performance cars but suspect I'll always have a Healey in the garage.

Cheers,
Steve

A friend of mine said lets go buy a Healey and here I am---Keoke--LOL

I got my first Healey. be it a Sprite, in 1968 and it was a clapped out 1962. Fun as h... to drive and still remember drifting it around broad sweeping curves going to and from college. Lusted after a Big Healey when a fraternity brother got a brand new 1967 with dealer installed air. Then the idiot traded it the next year for a 68 GTO ! Got married, had a couple of kids and finally got a 66 Healey Blue BJ8 in 1978 with fiberglass rear fenders but I finally had one and was like a "pig in slop" ! Have been fortunate to own every model except a BJ7 and a Tri-carb. Until I got my 100M about 3 years ago the BN6 was my favorite. Will have it until I can no longer get in and out of it !!!
Regards
Mike

I owned a 1956 100-4 Healey in 1971 which was an absolute basket case. Did not have the money at the time to fix it properly so sold it for parts. Wanted one ever since and 35 years later bought a good 1956.

Was smitten by British sports cars in high school and decided that I must own one, so I saved every penny I earned from various after school jobs and bought a Bugeye Sprite three months before my 17th birthday. Not long after that blissful event I learned that a big Healey was THE ONE to have but alas could not afford. Finally got my chance 30+ years later.

Because of one of these! Actually a Lodge C4 spark plug, not the C3 pictured here. Back in 1982 my Dad ran a gorgeous conditition unrestored Austin Heavy 12 fabric body saloon, rather like this one



We were on vacation in Devon/Cornwall and were visiting a now defunct small car museum. They had a display of antique spark plugs and my Dad and the museum proprietor were prattling on ad-finitum about the minutae of these fine plugs. At 21 I was bored and wandered off and came face to face with an Ice Blue Big Healey. Fell in love with it, scrapped my plans to buy a Beetle 1600 and build a kit car replica of the Porsche RSK and started my hunt for a Healey. Within 2 years I had my 100 and still have it.

In 1965 my brother came home from the Army driving a Jaguar XK-120 towing an XK-140. He soon became the center of the British car community in our town. He met a school teacher who had just bought a new BJ-8 and helped her prepare it for 1/8 mile drag racing. The car did very well and won a number of trophies. I was 10 years old and I still remember the sight of that BRG BJ-8 driving up to the house. The story goes on for dozens of years and dozens of British cars. I finally bought my 65 BRG BJ-8 in 1994 and its restoration was finished three years ago.

.
I wanted more power than my 1962 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider (Normale) produced, and on the recommendation of a friend (who had never even driven one), I bought a BN7. I believe I was 19 years old at the time. (The Alfa had been a hand-me-down, by the way.)

I read an article in a car magazine on a restoration project of a 57 100-6, back in the early 70's and fell in love. I got rid of my 65 mgb in favor of a beautiful 67 3000 that I bought and cherished until 199?.. My kids were getting older and I was worried about $ for college. My friend Gary Feldman had been bugging me for years to sell him my healey and so feeling the heat for college money I submitted. Gary still has that silver blue healey and he lets me touch it every once in a while. I've even tried buying it back but .... Several years ago I got the healey bug again. I bought a 56 factory 100M up in British Columbia. Gary and I hooked up together on its restoration. We spent many hours in his garage over the course of a year working and discussing the details of restoring the car. It will make it's debut in Hot Springs Virginia in just a few weeks. We had a blast and the car looks......well those that will be there will see.

I remember my neighbor (and unofficially adopted sixth kid in our family), Jim, coming home from college in a Healey Blue 100 in the mid sixties. It was too cold to put the top up since the back window might crack. I'll never forget the car or the bright red color of Jim's frozen ears. Jim went on to own another Blue 3000 and then several Loti that we helped him race and repair. When I could afford it, I decided to cure my vintage car itch with a Healey, starting off with several Sprites. Then I ran across a ragged Healey Blue 100M that I just couldn't walk away from. Can't wait to get it finished so I can freeze my ears off.

My wife bought the car. She said I needed a hobby. I came home from a business trip and there was a pile of parts covering the garage and body pieces all over the place. All torn apart. That was our 100 6 which I no longer own, but still miss. It was a lot of fun putting it back together and we put 12 thousand miles on the car with club activities. But as my wife pointed out, I needed a hobby, so I bought a BJ8 that was all torn apart. I should point out that she got a better deal on the first two cars than I did on the BJ8. I am now working on the 4th hobby car which we bought in pieces. I have only worked on one which we had to tear apart ourselves and to be honest, I like working the puzzle of pieces more than tearing one apart.
TR3A in pieces
Austin Healey 1006 in pieces
BJ8 in pieces
TR3A all together , but all rust
68 Austin Mini in pieces

Jerry

In the early sixties a friend of my father had a big Healey. Fell in love withe cars lines. In 1996 a was shopping for a toy and was viewing a porsche 911 when my wife saw one in their showroom. She said "why don't you buy that", so I did.
still love the Healey and I finally got the porsche last year. I have always loved cars, got the bug from my father.

I must have been 10 or 12 when a friend of my dad showed up at our house with his new Healey and took us for a ride. I was hooked. Bought my Bugeye in 1967 and still have it. Always wanted the Big Healey but could never swing the price with a young family to support. Finally in about 1985 I found a wrecked BJ7 in Hamilton, MT and dragged it home with big plans to restore it. That never happened so after about 4 years I sold it to a friend in Vancouver, BC who had it professionally restored. Now that I'm nearing retirement age and finally have the time and money I have purchased another BJ7 and am in the midst of a complete restoration.

Other British cars owned along the way: 1948 Ford Anglia, 1961 Ford Consul, 1977 MGB, 1978 XJ6, 2002 X-Type.

Griz