Hello all and a question for a newbie...

[Ryanhieber]

I want to thank everyone for this tremendous resource. My name is Ryan Hieber and I just joined the forum tonight and while I hate to start off this way, I was hoping someone might be able to point me to anyone that might be able to help me out with a problem we are facing. We inherited what is titled as a 1959 but from the heritage what we have discovered is a 1958 BN6. This car was a total barn find and was without much of an interior to speak of aside from moldy red carpet and a white dash. No seats, no door cards, etc.

We had a heritage done and it was determined to be a Colorado red car with red carpet and grey trim with red piping. From our research the "grey" trim is more like a parchment colored beige so this coincides with what was under the dirt and grime on the dash. However, we are at a loss as to what the color the seats and door cards would have been. Would they have been red with white / "grey" piping or vice-versa? There doesn't seem to be much in the way of an example in this color combination anywhere so photos of this combo would be a true blessing.

Being my grandfather's car it is important for us to try to be as original as possible and being a family project my mother is adamant on seeing a photo before giving her approval on such a interior combination. Could anyone reccomend any books or resources who could possibly know for sure and possibly have photographs? Thank you all any help is truly appreciated!

sincerely,

Ryan Hieber

 

[DerekJ]

Ryan

When you say 'from the heritage' what exactly do you mean? Does the car have a chassis number on the bulkhead. BN6 cars had numbers from 501 to 4000 (maybe 4500 or 5000), I've forgotten). A BN6 should have drum brakes on the front and only have 2 seats (without 2 very small seats in the back). It is possible that the car was first registered in the US only in 1959.

What is unusual is that you say the car was red with a Grey (parchment) interior. That was not a standard colour combination at the time, normally a red car would have either a red or black interior. The Grey interiors were found on cars painted Florida Green or Pacific Green. However, it's always possible it may have been a special order for a customer. Do you have a Heritage certificate from the UK?

If you want to go with grey , then the door cards etc are also grey. The seats would be grey, with red piping and the carpets would be red. (The green cars with grey interiors had green piping and green carpets). I have never seen a red car done this way.

 

[vette]

Hello Ryan, I hope you enjoy the restoration and stay tuned to the Forum. It is a great resource for a lifetime. I don't have the answers to your questions but one of the books I read (from cover to cover) before and during the time I restored my Healey is, The Austin -Healey 100/100-6/3000 Restoration Guide, by Gary Anderson and Roger Moment. In my opinion it has been the best for exacting and minute detail of the cars. Dave.

 

[British_Recovery]

Colorado red cars were available with the grey interior. Seats would have had red piping, and carpets would have been red.
Bob

 

[DerekJ]

Bob is correct. My memory is failing me. Grey interiors were available on Colorado red cars as mentioned in the information on my own website!!! I don't think they were very common though.

 

[Keoke]

However, it's always possible it may have been a special order for a customer.

Yep.
This was always an option back in the day--DerekJ

 

[Ryanhieber]

Thank you all very much. I do have the restoration guide on order, I am glad I made a good decision there. I should have been more clear. We paid 40.00 or so to have a heritage certificate created for the car from the British motor industry heritage trust. It supposedly looks back and gives you a Maloney label (for a lack of a better term) based on your body number. It also gives engine numbers and other odds and ends to ensure everything is in order. Luckily all the numbers match. It stated Colorado red exterior, grey trim, hood/top - grey. From Andersons Restoration guide (a partial excerpt online which prompted me to order it) he stated "grey actually refers to a parchment color or beige-white" which made sense with what we were looking at on the car. We actually assumed it was white under the grime but close enough. However without any remnants of fabric on the seats and top for that matter, we were unsure if the seats/top matched the carpet or the dash.

DerekJ, I think you are correct it is not a prevalent combination. I have yet to find a photograph of an example. Perhaps people opted to go with a standard black during their restoration process. If anyone has this combo or a line on a reference photo, I know myself and my mother would certainly owe you a great deal of gratitude.

 

[Ryanhieber]

Or I forgot to mention door cards, they too were missing. Also it is a 2 seater bn6 with a manufacture date of July of 1958, drum brakes in the front and because it was shipped to the U.S. when it was first titled or registered it was done so as a 1959.

 

[Keoke]

Ryan:
Maybe you can locate a Previous owner???

 

[Randy Forbes]

There's a pretty knowledgeable Healey guy just over the state line, if you don't already know him. Tim Kozlowski; go straight up into Michigan from Centennial Road and take a left onto Yankee Road (pretty sure it'll be the first road you can turn left you can make__same road the old DANA test track is on). The first house on the right is Tim's, and the shop, Koz's Classics, is right behind the house.

Too bad you didn't come on here sooner, as my BN6 and I moved out of Toledo__Holland, technically__just three (>3) years ago.

 

[John Turney]

Welcome, Ryan,

The door cards would also be grey. The third photo down on this page will show a grey interior. Substitute the green piping with red and you'll have what it looked like: https://www.healeysix.net/BN6.htm

 

[Ryanhieber]

Thank you all again!!! Randy, sorry we missed by such a short time. Perrysburg here. Koeke, previous owner died in the mid 80's and his remaining family cannot truly remember. The car sat in my grandfathers barn since the early 70's and my mother never remembers there being seats. It was not a running car when my grandfather took possession.

 

[bighealeysource]

Hey Ryan,
Welcome to the forum ! You will find it to be a wealth of information and great people. I had a 58 BN6 and loved it. Nothing sounds like an early big 6. If you go for the original color interior can recommend a great vendor in the UK. John Skinner Interiors is a great source for your interior and bet they could do the original color grey/parchment. I have done 3 Healey's using their interiors and always pleased with their products. Plus have the best door cards available in my opinion. They can do your tonneau area armacord as well as the boot armacord in what would be red to match the carpets. They can do those also. Another great source is AH Spares for everything. AH Spares supplies a lot of bits to Moss Motors who is also a tremendous source for all things Healey.

One final thing is recommend you join the two national Healey clubs, Austin Healey Club of America and Austin Healey Club USA. They both bring a lot of different things to the party and well worth the annual dues plus you get a great Healey magazine once a month.

here are the websites:

www.John-skinner.co.uk , www.AHspares.co.uk, AHCA is www.Healeyclub.org, AHCUSA is www.healey.org, www.mossmotors.com

Regards
Mike

 

[mk31755]

Frank Warwick is right across the border in Indiana. His operation is called Warwick Auto Body. He is a wealth of knowledge. He owns several Healys and is always in the midst of restoring a few. He helped me restore my 100M and does a great job.