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Questions about authenticity?

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simon1966

simon1966

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I would like to get some input from the experts. Yesterday I discoverd that there was some of the original Healey Blue on the firewall.



From the Heritage Certificate that I got back in the late 80's I knew that the car was shipped in Ice Blue. Today, while taking inventory I pulled off some of the nasty modern black vinyl from the door card and found this underneath.



I am fairly certain that this must be the original trim? Thin plywood, stitching and noticable padding under the covering.





The other door card is made of hardboard and has a different blue material under the black. I am guessing that this was a long ago fix by a previous owner?




I have a letter from one of the owners of the car who lived in Manchester UK, during the late 60's. He described having the machincal linkage for the clutch breaking while he was sitting in gear, stopped at a traffic light. Following this near accident he replaced the clutch linkage with a hydraulic system and also swapped the gear box for what he said was a BN2 box.

Here are a couple of shots of the gear box and the numbers that are visible. Does this look like a BN2 box to those that know these things?









A fibre glass transmission cover was fashioned for it,



It is lined with newspaper



Manchester Evening Post, April 11th 1975 it looks like to me?

If the car is Blue, the door panels are blue, I assume that the carpets would be blue as well. However, looking at the first photo of the under dash tray, what looks like original carpet lining the tray is clearly black. Does that seem right?

I appreciate any thoughts on this.
 
Hey Simon,
Certainly looks like the trans I have on my 100M/BN2 and the O/D looks correct too. I assume you have a BN1 as this trans is definitely not a BN1 trans simply based on the shifter location and mechanism and you were told a swap had been done. According to the Anderson/Moment Healey Restoration book we all use as our reference, the Healey blue cars should have had blue trim with grey piping and blue carpet, not black.
Regards,
Mike
 
bighealeysource said:
Hey Simon,
Certainly looks like the trans I have on my 100M/BN2 and the O/D looks correct too. I assume you have a BN1 as this trans is definitely not a BN1 trans simply based on the shifter location and mechanism and you were told a swap had been done. According to the Anderson/Moment Healey Restoration book we all use as our reference, the Healey blue cars should have had blue trim with grey piping and blue carpet, not black.
Regards,
Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike, my car is certainly a BN1 built November 54 and it looks like the letter I received depicting the change of gear box is validated.

I don't doubt that all the rest of the carpet would have been blue. I was particularly curious if the capeting in the shelf up on the firewall would also have been blue? The carpet that is there, looks original and is black. I'll check the book as well. I have a copy back home.

Thanks again.
 
Hi Simon, I don't have a BN1 here anymore but the under dash tray looks very different than what I have on my BN2. Sides are not slopped and the edge is the same height all around. Was the tray the same on BN1 & BN2? I/m wondering if its original and therefore the carpet not relevant to your car.
 
One of the easy points of ID on the transmission is that the bell housing is not separate on the BN1 whereas it is on a BN2. When I first viewed the pics on the photobucket site I failed to see the point of separation and ID'd it as a BN1 but on closer inspection it appears to be a BN2 transmission--a definite better piece of gear if not original. Another easy way to tell is the shift pattern--a BN1 has a 3-speed tranny with first down and to the right whereas a BN2 is a conventional H pattern with first up and to the left, etc.
 
RandyHicks said:
Hi Simon, I don't have a BN1 here anymore but the under dash tray looks very different than what I have on my BN2. Sides are not slopped and the edge is the same height all around. Was the tray the same on BN1 & BN2? I/m wondering if its original and therefore the carpet not relevant to your car.
Click to expand...

Thanks Randy, you have me thinking now? I wonder if perhaps there was a difference in equipment for the RHD UK market cars? If it turns out not to be original, it has been there at least 30 years so it can stay!
 
Thanks for the clarification Michael. I know it was a 4 gear box simply because I drove it for the first 5 years I owned the car. Initially I wondered if it was a BN1 3 speed with the blanking removed, but when I recieved the letter from the PO saying they had swapped it for the BN2 box my questions were put to rest. Jump forward nearly 20 years and I was really seeking to determine if it really was a BN2 box and so far it looks conclusive that it is.
 
Not relevant to the car, but the paper was the Manchester Evening News, I'm pretty sure!
 
To me it definitely looks like a BN2 transmission and bell housing. I would love to see photos of the hydraulic clutch linkage system and master cylinder. In the photo with the gear shifter showing, I can see the end of the mechanical linkage and lever arm and would like to see an underside shot showing how all that connects to the pedal.
 
I am out of town for the next couple of days, but would be happy to take some shots of the clutch linkage next weekend sometime.
 
Simon,
That is definitely a BN2 transmission! The BN1 transmission is cast integrally with the bell housing in aluminium, whereas your transmission is cast iron with the separate alloy bell housing. The shift mechanism, as well as the different pattern, is also visually distinctly different between the two transmissions.
Ice Blue cars did have dark blue trim including carpet. The carpet on the shelf looks original so who knows how it got there. My 100 (July 1954, Ice (Healey) blue with blue trim) had blue carpet on the shelf. But remember, these cars were built to a price. Such details as matching the carpet in an area that was not easily seen would not have been seen as important.
 
By the way Simon, Kilmartins can supply a new mechanical clutch linkage for the BN1/2. I've had one on my car for over twenty years without trouble.
 
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