Summer in the Country/ Period Mods

[HealeyRick]

Summer is short in New England as well as our driving season. We have a London phone box in my little town north of Boston. Why, I have no idea. But it makes a nice background for a LBC. I took an earlier picture here a couple of years ago, but the bonnet was ajar and I decided to take another:



I had a theme in mind when I built it as a Nasty Boy, to keep it as indistinguishable as possible from the outside and from this view, the only hint might be the oversize exhaust pipes that I've tried to disguise as ANSA big bores:



And unless you notice the Cobra style lift-up reverse lock out shifter in the interior:



it would be hard to tell from a period correct modified Healey. (I love the coco mats, Halda Speedpilot, MG/Austin-Healey shoulder belts, Lempert 100S Derrington wheel. chrome fire extinguisher and Becker Europa radio. They are what I would've done back then if I could've afforded it.) I probably could have machined a stock Healey shift lever instead of the Cobra lever to be even less visual, but since my "theme" was to be a Healey with a period Cobra/GT350 swap, I went that way.

I bet a lot of us do period mods, though perhaps not as extreme as mine. I have spent hours looking at this thread that beings back so many memories of what we did to our LBCs back in the day: https://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?71,2199326

Got anything similar for your Healey?

 

[vette]

I don't think my mods could be described as Period. More contemporary or just plain unique. But what is that thing hanging under your heater controls in front of the radio? Dave.

 

[pan]

Very tasteful Rick!
Dave, that is the Halda Speedpilot that Rick referred to.

 

[HealeyRick]

I don't think my mods could be described as Period. More contemporary or just plain unique. But what is that thing hanging under your heater controls in front of the radio? Dave.

Dave,

It's a Halda Speedpilot. https://winktimber.com/vintagerally/gear/halda/hspdpilot_bj1.htm TSD (time/speed/distance) rallys were big things back in the '60s and if you were a serious competitor then you had a Speedpilot and a Curta calculator:

I bought the car from the original owner who bought it new in 1963 and converted it to an SCCA racer in 1965. He also raced a Mini Cooper and Barracuda in SCCA and was obviously a true enthusiast back in the day. After its SCCA career. the car went on to the local autocross circuit. The car had come out of storage from his barn and he had it at a friend of mine's shop to be put back into running condition. I was looking for a big Healey and negotiated the purchase, based on how rust-free it was. When I went to his barn, I got a lot of extras that the owner had from a friend's BJ7 that was crashed and junked almost from new. I saw the Halda and asked if that came with the deal, and got it then.

The Speedpilot was a serious bit of kit back then and I lusted after one when I ran rallys at the time. I'll confess, though, that rallys like that now are few and far between and mine is ornamental ... I haven't tried to make it functional with all the changes I've made in my drivetrain. It's a period piece like I said in the initial post... something we thought was really cool back then and have integrated into our cars today.

 

[HealeyRick]

Very tasteful Rick!
Dave, that is the Halda Speedpilot that Rick referred to.

Thanks, Alwyn. Combining "Nasty Boy" and "tasteful" is not always an easy assignment. I'm glad you think I've accomplished that.

 

[DerekJ]

Great stuff Rick.

 

[steveg]

Rick - I see your other car is a tardis.

 

[HealeyRick]

Rick - I see your other car is a tardis.

Better a Tardis than a Prius. But to be really pedantic, it's not a Tardis, which is a blue Police Box which Wikipedia describes thusly:

A police box is a British telephone kiosk or callbox located in a public place for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police. Unlike an ordinary callbox, its telephone is located behind a hinged door so it can be used from the outside, and the interior of the box is, in effect, a miniature police station for use by police officers to read and fill out reports, take meal breaks, and even temporarily hold prisoners until the arrival of transport.

In my photo is a "red telephone box", again in Wikipedia:
The red telephone box, a telephone kiosk for a public telephone designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, was a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar.
Despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, the traditional British red telephone kiosk can still be seen in many places throughout the UK, and in current or former British colonies around the world. The colour red was chosen to make them easy to spot.
From 1926 onwards, the fascias of the kiosks were emblazoned with a prominent crown, representing the British government. The red phone box is often seen as a British cultural icon throughout the world.[SUP][1][/SUP] Although production of the traditional boxes ended with the advent of the KX series in 1985, many still stand in Britain.

However, the one in my photo is empty, no phone included. I suppose I could bring my cell phone in there and make a call.

 

[vette]

Rick, Your car is nicely done and that Halda Speedpilot is definately a "serious bit of kit" well worth keeping and displaying. Since I have grown up buried deep in the Quaker Hills of Central Pa. I didn't get the exposure to much formal racing & rallying so I didn't recognize it. The fact that I spent my Navy years in NLondon, Ct. got me into sporty cars. Eventually selling a '65 Mustang for an MGA. Can you believe it.

 

[Michael Oritt]

Rick--

If you want to complete your look you will need a Heuer dash-mounted rallye timer. I happen to have a fully restored Monte Carlo and 8-day clock set that I would be happy to discuss with you.

 

[Keoke]

Hey Rick!
That is a nice car U got there.
But I thought Massachusetts was in the USA ?-----

 

[EV2239]

No mods but Duntisborne Abbots in the Cotswolds

 

[HealeyRick]

Rick--

If you want to complete your look you will need a Heuer dash-mounted rallye timer. I happen to have a fully restored Monte Carlo and 8-day clock set that I would be happy to discuss with you.

Thanks, Michael, but those probably cost more than my motor. (Bonhams sold a set for $4k: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21907/lot/86/) The popularity of historic rallying in Europe has really driven up the price of these vintage instruments. I'd be afraid to leave the Heuers in my car without an armed guard.

 

[HealeyRick]

No mods but Duntisborne Abbots in the Cotswolds

View attachment 43478

Great picture, thanks for sharing!

 

[Michael Oritt]

I am almost ashamed to say but I bought the set for probably $10-15 at a yard sale maybe 40 years back and kept them alongside the nav station in the pilot house of my trawler. About ten years ago I sent them to a rebuilder and spent about $600 having them completely cleaned with the faces restored. I have thought about attaching them to the 100's dash but since I have no pretensions of doing or appearing to do rallies I believe that would be a stupid and pretentious thing to do with the obvious risk of losing or damaging them.

I am getting to the point in life where I am beginning to assess the amount of stuff I have accumulated: Three race cars (all of which run, more or less, in the same group), the Healey, a garage full of spare parts for Healey/MG/Climax engines, clutch parts, etc. Then there are the antique guns....

I don't want to things to wind up like happened with poor LeRoy Joppa's estate and I think I will start shedding some stuff beginning, perhaps, with the Heuer set. Do you know of any sites, forums, etc. that appeal to the Historic Rallye crowd?

 

[HealeyRick]

Michael,

You can try here: https://www.hrcr.co.uk/ or on their Faccebook page. I see a good deal of vintage rally equipment regularly listed on eBay UK