1954 Austin Healey 100 BN1

This is a very early, mostly aluminium-bodied example and left the factory wearing Healey ‘Ice Blue’ livery and specified for the UK market.

The car’s history is somewhat anecdotal and vague in places (not least because of paperwork destroyed in a house fire) but from what we and the vendor can discern it spent some time overseas and then returned to the UK in, perhaps, 1971, after which it was with the same owner until 2016, having been first registered here in 1982.

Today, it is showing 79,195 miles on the odometer. In 2006 the figure was 73,595 miles. Clearly then, the car has been very sparingly used in the intervening years. 

From what our experience of driving it has told us, it appears to be in very decent mechanical order and there are numerous bills, invoices and receipts attesting to parts ordered, work done and upgrades installed from 2020 onwards.

The current vendor, who is well-known to us, is a serial collector of rare and interesting classic cars - and a man whose current mission to rationalise his collection is the reason for its sale today.

The bodywork is pretty straight and true, and there are no dimples, dinks or dents of any note anywhere that we can see. 

The shut-lines and panel gaps are decent for the most part, although the doors are somewhat shy of being perfectly flush with the surrounding bodywork. 

The hood is currently detached from its mechanism but, aside from some yellowing to the rear screen, it appears to be intact, free of any rips or tears and ready to be reacquainted with the rest of the car.

The clear screens on the side panels (currently in the boot) are yellowed, cracked and some of the plastic has fallen away.

The black Everflex tonneau cover is in fine fettle, as you might expect of an item that was ordered new in 2020.

The wire wheels look to be in good order and the non-matching tyres seem to have plenty of life left in them.

It’s fair to say that the red paintwork has probably seen better days, and there are numerous largely cosmetic issues in sundry places.

There is bubbling to be found to some degree on pretty much every panel, with the worst of it around the wheel arches, in the sills, and at the base of the doors.

There is also bubbling on the front valance, on the offside ‘A’ pillar, on the o/s/f wing, on the bodywork forward of the bonnet, on the boot lid, and atop both rear wings.

There are areas of cracked and split paint on the boot lid and between the wing and the bonnet on the nearside.

The chrome work has held up pretty well and the lights, lenses, badging and other exterior fixtures and fittings are decent.

The interior is in really pretty good order.

There are invoices in the history file detailing nearly £1,000 spent on the seats, with the work including repairs to torn seat-back covers, new underlying wood where necessary, and the sourcing and fitting of replacement seat bases.

The seats today are comfortable and supportive, and the deep red leather has a warm and inviting patina to it.

The wooden steering wheel, which is a new-ish item, is in excellent condition. 

The door cards are fine, as are the carpets and mats.

The gear lever and handbrake look good, as do the other dials and instruments.

We didn’t tweak every lever, press every knob or flick every switch, but those we did tweak, press and flick did as they were told. 

There is some surface rust visible on some of the hood mechanism arms and hinges.

The boot, which contains a spare wheel and the side panels, is in decent nick.

The car has a slight modification to the bonnet in the form of a vent put in place to increase airflow to the original and, apparently, rather troublesome Weber carbs. 

That was then.

Today, the car has SU H4s as part of a programme of recent-ish upgrades that includes an SU-type fuel pump, new fuel line, new radiator, new water pump, new thermostat, new electric fan, new fuel tank sender unit, new head gasket, and fully overhauled and refurbished brakes. 

It has a BN2 gearbox.

We have driven the car and can report that it drives very competently and feels tightly screwed together and, mechanically and dynamically, thoroughly sorted.

The car’s undersides appear to be possessed of a decent amount of structural integrity but there is some rust in evidence in several places and you’ll want to take a look for yourself and reach your own conclusions. 

The engine bay is clean and tidy. Everything seems to be in its right and proper place.

The car comes with plenty of paperwork covering work done since 2020, with most of the myriad parts ordered coming from AH Spares.

The earlier history is a little patchy, although a previous owner has very usefully typed-up what he knows of it. 

It comes with a clear HPI report, a V5 and a copy of a factory record certified by the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust.

Decent early Austin Healey 100s are becoming increasingly hard to find. Scarcity, time and entropy have seen to that, as is their nature.

Yes, there are some bodywork and cosmetic issues to contend with and they’ll need to be addressed sooner rather than later. 

That said, though, this car seems to us to have all the underlying quality and mechanical integrity needed to more than repay the investment of time and effort required to restore some, most or all of its considerable former glory.

We’re confident to offer this fine car for auction with an estimate of £32,000 - £37,000. 

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