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Austin Healey 100 engine color

TFR1

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Is it possible that early Healey BN1 engines may have been painted blue? The first color on the engine this front cover came from is blue.

TFR1
 

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Yes, VERY early 100s appear to have had light blue engine paint. Perhaps only the pre-production cars?
 
It is not my car.
It belongs to a friend that has owned the car for more than 20 years.
I don't think he has ever requested a Heritage certificate.
Upon engine teardown, it appears to have not previously been disassembled.

Tfr1
 
It would be neat to know the cars numbers so we can figure out its approximate build date. If you don't want to share the numbers on a public forum you could go to https://www.healeydata.com/ and use the database to get a good idea when this car was built, assuming it has the original numbers.
 
It would be neat to know the cars numbers so we can figure out its approximate build date. If you don't want to share the numbers on a public forum you could go to https://www.healeydata.com/ and use the database to get a good idea when this car was built, assuming it has the original numbers.


Simon,

I will talk to the owner, but I am sure he will not be concerned about sharing numbers.

I will post soon.

TFR1
 
I had a thread on this about two years ago. I built three late BJ8 engines, all three had a blue color underneath the healey green. Never got a satisfactory answer on why.image.jpg
 
There may not be an answer to why this BN1 engine was once blue. It seems that it was a lighter blue, then a darker blue and finally a "proper green".

engine # is 1B223XXXM
on the 'pan rail' is 55 2 82 J

The car is included in Randy Hicks...100 Registry

Clearly not an early car, but still all signs are that the engine was once blue.

Very strange.

TFR1
 
So it is actually newer than mine :smile: Mysteries that will never be solved. Perhaps the engine was repainted at some point and primed with the blue?
 
I had a thread on this about two years ago. I built three late BJ8 engines, all three had a blue color underneath the healey green. Never got a satisfactory answer on why.View attachment 51954

I've seen a lot of BJ8 engines with the blue paint. It appears to be the color of the primer used before the Healey green engine paint topcoat.
 
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