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Rarity of Stock 100! :-]

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simon1966

simon1966

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So I went to test drive my BN1 at Fourintune as they completed the restoration. My car is basically stock except for a BN2 box put in back in the 60's. There are three 100's at the shop right now. Two are factory M's and mine. Thus I conclude that a stock 100 is actually rarer than an M! :encouragement:

20171120_144621.jpg
 
Simon, your car looks really beautiful. It must have been thrilling going for a drive in it!
 
Editor_Reid said:
So it would seem! I've begun referring to non-louvered bonnets on 100s as the "ultra-rare smooth bonnet option."
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My original steel bonnet was one of the steel panels that had not been really damaged by rust. I never had any doubt that it would be re-used.
 
That's one way of looking at it.

Another might be that most folks who are willing to fork over the big bucks for a restoration from Fourintune feel it is better spent on an M which will have a higher value than a non-M car.

My take is that this is an expenditure one need not justify. I hope you enjoy your car and drive the **** out of it.
 
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simon1966 said:
Hee Hee! Mine is one of the 1500 however!
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Yes, of the orignal 640, only 1,500 still survive. And more seem to "be found" all the time!

I succumbed myself to the lure of a louvered bonnet for my BN2 many years ago. It really is off one of the 640 - a car that was written off - and I've kept the original bonnet for reinstallation someday. I would put it back on now, but I hesitate because I'm afraid of what it would do to the operating temp.

I guess with the "smooth bonnet" installed I could crack it open up to the safety catch, like they did for the 1953 Le Mans. I suppose that that produces an effect similar to having a louvered bonnet, but it would be a drag for everyone to keep telling you that "your hood is open."
 
Reid, I was referring to the 1500 right hand drive 100's that were believed to have been made. I don't think anyone knows for sure how many were RHD, but this is the number I have seen in the past. I think this was derived from the build records for home market cars and cars sent to Australia and NZ. Thus a factory original RHD car is a bit of a rarity in its own right. Not the cachet of a M though :smile:
 
I was referring to the 1500 right hand drive 100's that were believed to have been made
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I have one of the even rarer RHD cars that is still in the UK. Saw an estimate somewhere that around 600 were produced for the home market. Don't know how many are left now and I can't remember where I got that figure from.
 
There can only be a few hundred left. Seeing how rotten mine was after it had spent 30 years in Essex and then Manchester made me realize how ill equipped these cars were to deal with the UK weather. When I moved to the USA back in 87 this poor car just hung out in a lock up outside London for several years before I shipped it over. With the restoration I had it taken back to as close to original as possible. Based on information from the registries etc. I suspect that there are only about 500 original RHD cars left in the world. A bunch of them are in Australia/NZ where they have taken to converting LHD imported from the US to RHD. Your UK based right hooker is probably one of only a couple of hundred at the most. For now mine is in the USA, but suspect it will eventually find its way back home at some point.

20171120_141734.jpg
 
https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/make/austin_healey#!manufacture

Here are the actual numbers of cars in the UK based on registrations....

1953 24
1954 92
1955 124
1956 77

For a total estimate of 317

There are some 100-6 in the 56 number presumably and this total does not include unregistered cars that are just sitting in a garage not on the database. It also would include a few 100S cars that are left in the UK. So the 500 estimate for global RHD 100 survivors does not seem unreasonable. 1/3 of the total made survive. The other assumption is that all the cars currently registered in the UK are RHD. I think it is likely, but there must be a few LHD cars in among this lot, and presumably some conversions from LHD.
 
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Beautiful car. Panel fitment appears to be perfect. I have a BN2--one of the 640--and, of course, I am very fond of it, but I have to admit I like the lines of this car where the 'character' line, if continued, would intercept the tangent of the wheel arch. When they increased the wheel well size they didn't know what to do with the line on two-tone cars, so they just curled it around before intercepting the wheel well (which would have looked even more awkward).
 
Thanks Bob. I think that panel fit is something that Fourintune really focus on. The care and attention to detail as they worked on the substructure, constantly checking panel fit. For what it is worth, they do not install the engine and drive train at all during this process, having come up with their own methods of ensuring it is all good at the end.
 
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