Estimate: £45,000 - £50,000
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“A sporting car for the young and for the young at heart” S. C. H. Davis. Road Test of The Austin-Healey 100. The Autocar.
When Donald Healey conceived the first mock-up of his Healey Hundred with his son Geoff in his attic, nobody could have predicted the impact they would have on the sports car market in the years to come. Making a first appearance at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1952 the Healey Hundred gained enormous attention and a deal was done on the spot with Sir Leonard Lord of BMC to establish the Austin Healey marque and get the car into mass production. Donald had ambitions to dominate the North American market and this was his first step towards achieving that.
The first car from the partnership was the Austin-Healey 100/4 and production of the first series, known as the BN1, started in 1953. Originally supplied with a four-cylinder 2.6 litre engine producing 102bhp, the big transformation to a six-cylinder engine for all production cars happened in 1956, with the 100/6 (BN4) being the first to take this new engine - which delivered some 117bhp. Although sales of the BN4 model held up well with over 11,000 units produced, there was widespread criticism of their early engines, poorer acceleration and the new 2+2 seating arrangement that Healey was convinced customers wanted. The engine issues were ironed out after just over a year and sales of the BN4 remained strong though customers were vocal in letting Austin Healey know that they were still unhappy with the compromises that had been made to accommodate the extra infant seats with boot space reduced to almost nothing
Finally in 1958 Healey silenced the critics by launching the 100/6 BN6; a 2 seater sports car with much improved engine design, a better layout and space in the boot. At the same time production of the marque was being moved from Longbridge to the MG factory at Abingdon and in April 1958 the first BN6 models started rolling off the production line, although BN4 cars were still being made as a 2+2 alternative until as late as March 1959.
Registration Number: WDU 926
Chassis Number: BN6/515
Engine Number: 26D-RU-H/60252
Abingdon 100/6 BN6 production commenced with Car Number 501 and the example offered here is number 515, presumably from the first few days of production which is supported by the 21st April 1958 build date given on the Healey’s British Motor Industry Heritage Trust Certificate held on file. As most of Austin-Healey’s production was destined for the lucrative North American export market, the vast majority were left hand drive models and this particular car is one of only 133 machines manufactured for the Home Market in right hand drive configuration out of a total of 4,150.
Supplied through Sam Robbins Ltd in Coventry and finished in Healey Blue with blue seating, interior and soft top, this 100/6 was ordered with the following factory options: wire wheels, overdrive, heater, MPH speedometer, laminated windscreen and Roadspeed tyres.
Crucially WDU 926 also features Dunlop disc brakes all round as opposed to the standard factory drums. It is common knowledge that Healey, in their desire to promote their cars through competition, developed and built the specialised 100 S which featured, amongst other things, Dunlop disc brakes to all four wheels, a first for a production car. According to marque aficionado Bill Piggot in his Big Healey Bible, “Factory-Original Austin-Healey 100/6 & 3000”, when he was trying to get to the bottom of why his 100/6 was fitted with disc brakes all round, “... I asked Geoffrey Healey himself about this feature. I was told the following story, later corroborated when I met former Donald Healey Motor Co experimental engineer Roger Menadue years later. When the 100 S production-racing Healeys were being built in 1955, it had originally been proposed that 100 examples should be made but for reasons unknown only 50 were actually constructed. However, Dunlop had been asked to supply 100 sets of their then revolutionary four-wheel disc braking system, an order which could not be amended. As a result, there remained at the Warwick Healey works, 50 unused sets of these brakes... The Healey family arranged for these sets to be used on 50 100/6 cars which were then marketed as ‘extra special’ vehicles at a premium price... Whether these cars were built with these brakes or were converted when new by Healeys at Warwick remains unclear but they certainly did (and do) exist...” It is these fifty cars which have retrospectively become known as the 100/6 ‘S’ though they were never officially referred to as such by the factory themselves. A BN6 with factory Dunlop disc brakes is a rare beast indeed and it is thought that as few as ten may have been produced in right hand drive form.
FURTHER INFORMATION.
Since consigning this car we have researched the 100/6 S extensively and an article by Ian Duncan Pater in the Healey Club magazine Revcounter in October 2010 titled "100-6S, The Forgotten Austin Healey" has come to light and copies will available at the sale. The key references from this article can be summarised:
Classic and Sports Car: September 2010. "50 100/6 models were produced with disc brakes on all four wheels."
Chris Harvey: Healey, The Handsome Brute. "About fifty BN6s were fitted with Dunlop disc brakes all round at Warwick".
Healey expert Rob Sokolowski refers to a four wheel Dunlop disc brake system being fitted to BN6s starting with Chassis Number 507 (only eight cars earlier than this example). He is of the opinion that the brakes were factory fitted, though possibly at Abingdon, that the 'S' nomenclature stood for 'Sebring' and engine power was increased with the fitting of a high-lift camshaft. Meanwhile, Joe Jarrick, an Australian based Healey guru, was apparently told by Geoff Healey that forty cars were produced to homologate them for use in competition.
Since consigning this car we have been contacted by a Mr John Belsey who has confirmed that he owned the car in around 1970 and that he understood it to be one of 50 produced or modified with discs at Warwick. He was contacted by historic racer of note Mr Michael ‘Spike’ Milligan in the mid 1970s by which time he owned and possibly raced the car; we are currently trying contact Mr Milligan to see if he is able to add any further details.
This marvellous old warhorse was apparently raced, trialled and used for track days until 1989 and today still boasts various competition items such as roundel lights fitted on both doors for night racing and 2” S.U. carburettors. These larger than standard carburettors, a six-port head and who knows what other tuning goodies give the Healey the performance to match its pedigree and at least one marque expert has described its as being on a par with many 3.0 litre cars. Overdrive, as with the Works cars, functions on 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears, ensuring you have a ratio for every occasion.
There are pictures on file of WDU 926 in race trim in the early 1990s along with a note from the then owner who restored her in 1994/95. Though this refurbishment has worn very well, we are pleased to say this Healey is no trailer queen. The Ice Blue paint has aged nicely as has the interior which was refurbished in correct blue part-leather with white piping. New wheels, spinners and tyres have recently been fitted and with Tax and MOT exempt status, she is ready to be driven away by a lucky new owner.
