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Austin-Healey 100M auction on BaT!

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lbcspinners

lbcspinners

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This auction for a 1956 100M just began yesterday PM on Bring a Trailer: should be really interesting to follow! Enjoy!:winner1:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1956-austin-healey-100m-bn2-roadster-2/


ROBERT

1956_austin-healey_100m_bn2_roadster_158189062955ef473835e77IMG_9381-940x627.jpeg
 
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Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

Nice car; I'll be watching. Was the little red 'M' on the grill badge an option, haphazardly installed, often lost or all of the above.
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

Bob_Spidell said:
Was the little red 'M' on the grill badge an option, haphazardly installed, often lost or all of the above.
Click to expand...

It's the stuff of legend. As far as I know, and having been a 100M trainspotter for several decades, my belief is that most of the 100M models got it, but not all. It was not an option and there are no parts lists or price lists or really any mention of it anywhere at all, at least not that I've ever seen or heard (and if any of the other 100M guys know of a reference, they've kept it secret).

Of those cars that got it, some were surely lost. There are reproductions available and I've seen about three different ones, and only one of them is correct.
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

The "M" badge was standard on a 100M. I believe reproductions are available. Yes, they are held on by 2 wires, and are not easy to make straight.
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

I am with Editor_Reid on this - I read somewhere from a former factory employee (maybe John Wheatley) that only the customers they liked got the M wired on. As far as I am aware, the emblems with the integrated M as part of the casting are an aftermarket fantasy.

The subject BaT 100M looks to be a very nice earlier example with the smooth rear fenders without swage lines and nice to see one without the two tone option. It will be interestimg to see where this finally bids as the market has been in the doldrums of late....
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

Editor_Reid said:
It's the stuff of legend. As far as I know, and having been a 100M trainspotter for several decades, my belief is that most of the 100M models got it, but not all. It was not an option and there are no parts lists or price lists or really any mention of it anywhere at all, at least not that I've ever seen or heard (and if any of the other 100M guys know of a reference, they've kept it secret).

Of those cars that got it, some were surely lost. There are reproductions available and I've seen about three different ones, and only one of them is correct.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the ultra rare, limited edition, special VIP customer only, 100-6 MM grill badge......

100-6 MM Badge.jpg


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Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

Guido36 said:
I am with Editor_Reid on this - I read somewhere from a former factory employee (maybe John Wheatley) that only the customers they liked got the M wired on.
Click to expand...

Much appreciate the endorsement, only ... that's not what I said. I reject the idea that the little letter Ms were given to favored customers.

How many 100M buyers picked up their new 100M at the Donald Healey Motor Company? Uh, about zero. The Donald Healey Motor Company is where the cars were made into 100M models, but they were then shipped out to various destinations. OK, maybe a couple were picked up there, but that would be the rare exception. That was where they were made into 100M models, not where they were sold.

Also, I bought a 100M from the original owner. It had languished for months in a US distributor's stock and was certainly not a car bought by a favored customer. It was just a car that was shipped to a US port and went into a distributor's stock, and they had a hard time selling it because by the time it got to the USA the 100-Six was available and everyone wanted the new model and the 100 and 100M were by then day-old mashed potatoes. However, the car had the M.

Those little letter Ms were just something the Donald Healey Motor Company made and added, and if they ran out for awhile, cars got shipped out without them. There are examples of original 100M models without them, although it appears that most 100M models did have them.
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

On another Healey forum, there is a current discussion about methods of getting the lower windshield rubber to conform to the body without having a pucker. Interestingly, this BaT car which will probably sell for more than $100k has the pucker so maybe that's a correct feature for this model......:encouragement:
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

Rob Glasgow said:
On another Healey forum, there is a current discussion about methods of getting the lower windshield rubber to conform to the body without having a pucker. Interestingly, this BaT car which will probably sell for more than $100k has the pucker so maybe that's a correct feature for this model......:encouragement:
Click to expand...

Period photos show little-to-no pucker. I don't know if they had a trick or if the original seals were actually curved, but several years ago on this forum someone brought up the issue. I had bought a couple of curved seals made by a guy named Don Rould in SoCal in the early 80s or so. We were able to track him down and one or two people here were actually able to buy curved seals that he still had left over.

If you're interested you could search the archives here for Rould, although I don't recall his contact info being listed in any posts. I think the guy who found him was asked to keep the address private. I think by that time Rould was living nearer kids in Michigan or elsewhere in the Great Lakes region.

Finding him now would be an even longer long shot than last time, and it's even less likely that he would still have and sell any of the curved seals he had had made, but it doesn't cost anything to try.
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

Got my answer. Thanks all.

Car just jumped to $65K with 9 days left; if it's like other auctions bids will jump in the last few minutes, could be 'well sold.'
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

It will be interesting to watch the final few hours of bidding. This BAT BN7 went from $30K to $60K in a matter of hours. The final hour was fun to watch.
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

It's not only the track rod that requires new rubbers ;-(
 
Re: Austin-Healey 100M auction on BAT!

I just noticed the chrome brackets on the fascia on either side of the mirror:

100brackets.jpg

I've not seen these before, and IIRC my car didn't have any holes in that area; assume they're something to do with the windshield?

Also, the two bolts that are holding the rear dogleg down at the bottom don't appear standard.
 
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