Another "100M" ?

[Healey 100]

To quote Geoff Healey: "The body number on cars fitted with the louvered bonnet delivered to Austin direct from Jensen is accepted by some as the first number for the 100M, completely ignoring the 100M vehicles produced prior to this change....." Geoff Healey seems comfortable that those cars produced at Warwick with hoods reworked by Jensen were 100M's, that's what he called them. Indeed, it sound like they were the first 100M cars produced. Just an academic point, I suppose, but I find the statement specific enough to make me question the veracity of the oft-quoted 640 number for 100M production. May the mystery of how many 100M's may have been produced continue, I am sure the real answer can never be known.

 

[Fury5]

Reid, keeping or changing the louvered bonnet on your car is obviously up to you for whatever reason you deem sufficient. My car (which is not a 100M) ended up with a louvered bonnet when the original hood got flew off the car at speed (and yes, it was my fault for not sufficiently tightening the hinge bolts). I quickly grew quite fond of the louvers. They did more to lower the temperatures in the cockpit than any other modification I have made. So you might want to factor that in before you swap your bonnet.

Cheers.

 

[Editor_Reid]

.

... I quickly grew quite fond of the louvers. They did more to lower the temperatures in the cockpit than any other modification I have made. So you might want to factor that in before you swap your bonnet.

That's something I've considered. It will be interesting to see if it affects the operating temp of the engine or the temp in the cockpit. However, if things heat up too much I can always put the louvered bonnet back on. After all, it fits fine and is already painted the same color as the rest of the car, so it's an easy change.

Meanwhile, I'm kind of looking forward to sporting one of the rare non-louvered bonnets!

 

[Michael Oritt]

My BN1 was converted by the first owner in 1955 to mostly-Le Mans specs though he did use an Iskenderian cam--his changes are documented by contemporaneous notes he made in the Service Manual.

In 2002 I replaced the original transmission with a Smitty's five-speed conversion and utilized the original shift knob by welding onto the new shift lever the tip of the original one. Subsequently Michael Salter told me that he needed a BN1 shifter and in exchange would provide me with a super-rare BN1 five-speed shifter which he had stored away in his vaults. We ultimately made the switch and so a BN1 knob found a new home and everyone is happy!


Ninth, and very, very strangely, the car has a BN1 shift knob on a BN2 transmission. Nice BN1 shift knobs are rare. I am never surprised to see a BN2 shift knob on a BN1 because proper BN1 shift knobs are so rare that sometimes you just have to use what you can find and put a BN2 shift knob on one, but I have never, ever, seen a BN1 shift knob on a BN2.