39,000 Mile BN1

[HealeyRick]

By: Dave Ferrier Special to the Star, Published on Fri May 01 2015
640 miles per year

The car: 1954 Austin Healey

The owner: Dave Ferrier, Orangeville

The story: As many readers will already be aware, Donald Healey, the English car designer and rally driver, started building expensive Healey cars in England after World War II. But he was also keen to develop a sports car for the mass-market, and for racing with Jaguars. The now-legendary Healey design built by Austin was first shown in 1952.

A few cars were built 1953, as a beginning, but production improved in 1954. My Austin-Healey was the 14th car built in that model year. A Brit had it shipped to Canada in the spring, but he stayed only a couple of years due to the cold winters. Apparently he wanted to take the car back to England but was unable to because of a shipping strike.

So he sold it to a gentleman in Shelburne, Ont., who kept the car for 50 years.

I was introduced to Healeys in 1962, when attending Toronto Teachers College on Pape Ave. I lived in the Beaches and frequently walked past a dealership that sold British cars. Spotting a red ’61, I borrowed $3,000, and bought it. But then I got married and sold the car to raise money to build a house.

Over the years I had other cars, including a ’63 Healey which was wrecked in an accident. Thus came my turn with the Englishman’s ’54.

The second owner, now getting on, asked if I would be interested in buying his Healey. I was; it needed very little in the way of restoration.

I took the liberty of painting the car in two-tone colours, which was done to many makes in the 1950s but not Austin-Healeys. The red on the sides matches the interior.

This ’54 has only 39,000 miles (62,000 kilometers) on it, having been driven an average of only about 640 miles per year.

Our family, especially our grandchildren, love to cruise in Baba and Pappa’s Toy.

https://www.thestar.com/autos/2015/...old-austin-healey-with-39000-miles-on-it.html