Thank you all for the thoughtful advice and personal adventures. As I'm not concerned about the sparkling new ca rshow version of the Healey (except to appreciate the tremendous amount of effort that goes into it and the beauty of the finished result) I'm 72 and for most of 20 years my car was being slowly worked on as I learned how to do each job to my approximate satisfaction I and has just been usable (approx 50% of the time when it's not suffering some repair problem). The Healey has always been my archetype of a true sports car and, for whatever time remains for me (after I turn 100) I want to get the most pleasure out of it as I can
Due to a suggestion made here I ordered a 500 wt dash heater/ defroster/ fan which should solve the problem.
Now, on to the next...
Roberte