100M or not ?

[andrewss]

Dear Members,

I have a dilema.. I have just purchased a 1955 BN1 for a client. Althugh the Heritage Certificate says its a BN1 I have my 'doubts' and need your input. The car was manufactured in October 1954 according to the chassis number and Heritage Certificate black over red two tone. The engine number 1B231823M was apparently manufactured in March 1956. The car was delivered as new into the USA in May 1956 and registered for the 1st time in California September 1956.

I have checked and re-checked the car specs. It has a 4 speed gearbox with O/D. It has the O/D switch on the dash board. It has slightly larger wheel arches than the BN1, one overdrive unit instead of two, air box, large carbs, inlet manifold, louvered bonnet and everything else that indicates that this could be a 100M.

I fully appreciate that there are only 640 100M's recognised as 'M''s but this one has some unanswered questions...

Any ideas ??

Regards,

Andrew

 

[DerekJ]

There are lots of cars fitted with Le Mans kits. Over 800 or so done in period and many since then. Its possible that a BN1 has received a later engine and gearbox, the latter were quite common upgrades. All 100Ms are accounted for in the heritage records so clearly your car chassis number isn't one of them. Who knows what happened in the last 55 years? Maybe a car was re-registered using the chassis number of a scrapped car. In any case it's extremely doubtful you will be able to 'prove' this car is a 100M.

 

[simon1966]

My car was built on the 25th of October 54. By that time in the production the chassis and engine numbers basically matched. The Heritage Certificate would show the engine number that was supplied with the chassis number. If you look at this page https://www.healeydata.com/cars/results/?&page=8 of records you can see what I mean about the engine numbers and the chassis numbers. Maybe there is an error with the chassis number and your Heritage Certificate is the wrong one for the car? What is the body number for the car?

 

[bighealeysource]

Hey Andrew,
I would check that the body number is the same on the aluminum cockpit moldings, bonnet edge, boot lid bracket and front apron valance. Then take that body number back to Heritage Trust and see what they come up with. Also get hold of Bill Meade of the 100M Registry and see if he has the the engine and vin number registered you mention above as if it was a BN2 they would be the same. Obviously you could have the wrong vin number which would of course give you incorrect info for the car you purchased. What does the vin plate say on the firewall ? The fact that it has the M options really does not mean much to determine if it is a factory 100M rather than a BN2 or even BN1 that was converted as many have been over the years. Good luck and let us know what you find out.
Regards
Mike

 

[Bob_Spidell]

The factory 'M' cars have a different distributor and 'special' carburettors, with hand-etching on them. These are somewhat more difficult to counterfeit than a cold air box and louvered bonnet. Again, Bill Meade has this info, as does the AHCUSA Resource Book.

 

[MikeAH100M]

Also check to see if the left hand lower cross brace (X) in front of the radiator has a kink in it. The factory M's have this kink because they had to bend it to get the M cam into the front of the already installed engine. This can be faked, of course, but would be another indicator.

 

[AH100M]

I believe you may have that backwards. In my understanding, for the factory-modified cars the hotter cam was installed in the engine before the engine was installed in the car or the engine was lifted from the car to install the cam. Either would not necessitate the bending of the brace. A quick-and-dirty install of the cam by a dealer or an owner would leave the bent brace evidence as bending the brace is an easy way to swap the cam without having to pull the engine.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

I believe you may have that backwards. In my understanding, for the factory-modified cars the hotter cam was installed in the engine before the engine was installed in the car or the engine was lifted from the car to install the cam. Either would not necessitate the bending of the brace. A quick-and-dirty install of the cam by a dealer or an owner would leave the bent brace evidence as bending the brace is an easy way to swap the cam without having to pull the engine.

The 'story' is the mechanics would pull the engine when Geoff or Donald was watching--which they were supposed to do--but when the bosses weren't around they'd install the cam in situ, which required bending the X-brace. Our 100M has the bend in the brace.

 

[AH100M]

The 'story' is the mechanics would pull the engine when Geoff or Donald was watching--which they were supposed to do--but when the bosses weren't around they'd install the cam in situ, which required bending the X-brace. Our 100M has the bend in the brace.

So the presence of the bent brace is a moot point.

 

[Editor_Reid]

So the presence of the bent brace is a moot point.

The only version I've ever heard before is that for the 100M (that is, the "factory" cars, the real ones; those that are not clones or "tributes" or fakes) is that at the Donald Healey Motor Company, the engine was lifted slightly and the brace bent, and the cam then installed. That is to say, only the real ones have the bent brace.

Mine had the bent brace. I bought it from the original owner who didn't even know it was a point of authentication.

(I hear dozens of owners of cars that are not real 100Ms scurrying to the garage to bend the brace in their never-ending attempt to blur the difference between the 100M and those that aren't.)

[sigh]

 

[andrewss]

Update... thank you for all your comments. I wrote by mail to Bill Meade explaining what I have. He responded in saying that only BN2 chassis' were used to make 100M's. I then asked the question whether he has a list of 100M engines and gearbox numbers. Apparently not, only chassis plate numbers. Bill did advise that I can register the car as a 100M (after market conversion) but i still want more info on this car.

The car I have is stamped as a BN1 chassis but in direct comparison (I mean side by side and measurements taken of the chassis, panels, components) it has all the hallmarks of a BN2 with bent cross members !! It does seem that nobody can tell me in my engine/gearbox is a 100M engine or taken from a 100M.

So unless someone knows more about 100M engine numbers I'm not going anywhere fast.. Does the 'M' on the end of the engine number mean anything ?????

 

[Editor_Reid]

Update... thank you for all your comments. I wrote by mail to Bill Meade explaining what I have. He responded in saying that only BN2 chassis' were used to make 100M's. I then asked the question whether he has a list of 100M engines and gearbox numbers. Apparently not, only chassis plate numbers. Bill did advise that I can register the car as a 100M (after market conversion) but i still want more info on this car.

The car I have is stamped as a BN1 chassis but in direct comparison (I mean side by side and measurements taken of the chassis, panels, components) it has all the hallmarks of a BN2 with bent cross members !! It does seem that nobody can tell me in my engine/gearbox is a 100M engine or taken from a 100M.

So unless someone knows more about 100M engine numbers I'm not going anywhere fast.. Does the 'M' on the end of the engine number mean anything ?????

It is very easy to determine if your engine came from a 100M. Quote the number to the BMIHT and get the production record extract for that number.

The number you list - 1B231823M - was originally in the BN2 with the chassis number BN2L231823 (or perhaps BN2 231823, without the "L" for Left Hand Drive).

You already stated that it was made in March 1956, which seems exactly correct. How did you know that?

P.S. The "M" suffix on the engine number was present on ALL of those engines. It means nothing in relation to being a 100M.

 

[DerekJ]

If you want to have your car 'registered' that is up to you. It won't be registered as a 100M though, it will simply be a 100 LeMans. There are thousands of such cars and they don't need registering anywhere because they are simply 100s with some modifications.

...but lets not forget that BN1s with LeMans kits are the original 100Ms

 

[andrewss]

Reid,

Thank you for the clarification. I have sent a request for details on the engine/chassis and build details on their web service.

I have some registration documentation (rather faded, coffee/oil stains and hardly legible) where in the section engine details its marked 1956/03/??. This is not the way that the English write their dates so I'm assuming US and March 1956. I have tried to scan it for you but its worse than the original and almost white.

The owner between 1989 and the present was Alan Zafer... A name probably well known to you..

Thanks for your help..

 

[bighealeysource]

Agree with Reid as with the values continuing to go crazy, more chances for the 640 factory cars to start to multiply. Bill Meade's 100M Registry is IMHO one way to keep things correct. Plus, how many of those braces have been destroyed over the years from front end shunts,etc along with the front valance apron piece being destroyed ? Also as I understand it the M on the engine plate simply meant "motor" but nothing to do with a 100M
Regards
Mike

 

[andrewss]

Reid - Do you know what the 'M' stands for at the end of the engine number ? Would be interesting to know ... Regards

 

[Bob_Spidell]

... more chances for the 640 factory cars to start to multiply ...

It's been claimed that of the original 640 factory 100Ms only about 3,000 still remain. At one time, there was a half-clever counterfeiter who bought BMIHT certs for a range of chassis numbers, looking for the telltale 'fitted with a louvred (sic) bonnet' comment that best identifies the car as a factory 100M (a fairly large proportion of 1956 100s were Ms, as sales and production were otherwise tapering off). I believe he was eventually apprehended and prosecuted, after a couple of owners tried to register cars with the same chassis numbers.

As an aside, there are two levels of Registry certification: owner-certified and registry-certified. The first requires only the BMIHT cert, the second requires more extensive proof, including (at least) photos of all stamped chassis and body components, and the aforementioned distributor and carburettor ID.

 

[bighealeysource]

Gonna be like all those original Pontiac GTO's with tri-power and 4 speed until PHS got it under control. As Bob mentioned, Bill Meade has strengthened the certification process and as I understand it now, the big auction houses ( RM, Gooding ) honor that certification that it is a factory 100M. The counterfeiter's ruse was found out because two owners of the a 100M tried to register the same car number and Bill let both know someone had a fake. Think one was in US and other in Europe. Really a simple process to go through for the registry certification and well worth the time to take some pictures as I did it as soon as Bill made the changes to the 100M Registry.

 

[Editor_Reid]

Reid - Do you know what the 'M' stands for at the end of the engine number ? Would be interesting to know ... Regards

Without actually getting up off my arse and checking my reference library, I vaguely recall that it means Morris as they were produced at a Morris factory. (Corrections welcomed.)

In any case, they all had the M suffix; it doesn't mean anything special.

 

[Editor_Reid]

Reid,

I have some registration documentation (rather faded, coffee/oil stains and hardly legible) where in the section engine details its marked 1956/03/??. This is not the way that the English write their dates so I'm assuming US and March 1956. I have tried to scan it for you but its worse than the original and almost white.

Well, that might not be the way the the Brits typically write a date, but March 1956 is almost undoubtedly the date that BN2L231823 was built. It is extremely unlikely that it would have been shipped to the USA and sold there all in the same month. (For example, my 100M was built in February 1956 and not sold and registered in the USA until November 1956!) It's unlikely that the selling dealer at that time would know - or could even find out if he wanted to - what date a given Healey was actually built. Therefore I would suspect that whatever "registration documentation" it is that you have, it was made in the UK before the car was dispatched to the USA.

By the way, I HIGHLY recommend Bill Meade's "Worldwide 100M Le Mans Registry" as a way to help eliminate fraudulent 100Ms from finding their way into some unsuspecting new owners' hands. As bighealeysource noted, with the sales price of those cars where it is (typically $125-175,000 or so for a nice one at auction), the temptation to turn a standard BN2 (maybe $50-75,000 for a nice one at auction) into a 100M clone is very tempting for criminals. And then there are those with "poor ethics (those "leaning criminal" in orientation) who do what they can to blur the distinctions between the 640 and the rest, installing a few 100M mods always including the very visible louvered bonnet, and hoping that ill-informed (or mis-informed) bidders will take the plunge and bid 100M prices for a dolled-up standard car.

The lure of easy money - the premium for a 100M is basically a cool $100,000 over a standard car - often has a way of bringing out the worst impulses in certain people.