1954 Austin-Healey 100 - A Love Story

[@stevebarb2925]

When I got out of the Army, in 1964, I bought a 100/4 for $200. It was a daily driver for almost 3 years, when I sold it for $400 and I thought I made a killing. From then on, my heart speeds up every time I see one, Thanks for the memories.

[@johnsader8811]

Agreed! Your comment hits home! The people, places and things that passed through our life's....

[@tomhollandroberts1737]

I had a 1956 Healey "100" BN2. Great car. I now own a 1963 Healey 3000 BJ7.

[@russparker1647]

What a beautiful car. And the colours are perfect. Always wanted a big Healey, maybe this one the most.

[@crashas1515]

I had a 1955 .. 100/4 3 speed transmission with electric overdrive. Great little car. I was stationed in Key west 1959-63 and ran the keys to Boca 3 times a month. Loved that car.

[@JT-rc7vx]

I remember aitting in the jump seat of my dads 61' 3000 flying down PCH with the wind in my hair and the intoxicating smell of leather seats and gasoline from the little Austin gem under the hood. Still smile to think of it.

[@richardhoward208]

The 100 was one of the best looking cars ever. I had a 1956 right out of high school. Owned it 12 months and it was in the shop 12 times.

[@CylinderScene]

The Brits nailed "cool". Reliability, not so much.

[@gypsoncustommachining7591]

My dad owned a bunch of these while I was growing up! Lay down windshield is the best!!!

[@fordcolby8329]

i guess it's quite off topic but does anybody know of a good site to stream newly released movies online?

[@mqbitsko25]

Donald Healey did not "shut the production down." They were made by BMC at that point and Donald Healey had little to do with them. They were never "smogged" because sales had dropped to almost nothing and BMC had neither the will nor the money to upgrade them. The model was pushing 20 years old since its early design sketches by that point. It had gone from being an ultra-modern sports car to a quaint anachronism. We love them today, but in 1967 they were "stodgy old British cars" and nobody was interested. Keeping them going was certainly possible. British Leyland kept the corpse of the MGB twitching until 1978, but imagine how ugly the Healey would have been with fat rubber bumpers. Sometimes it's best to let things die an honorable death.

[@willymueller3278]

What a beauty ! I had a 1961 Healey 3000 which is not as nice as the Healey 100 in my opignon, and unfortunately sold it. I can never buy another one, cause they are too expensive now. Well, one can always dream of it !

[@bernardlowe7191]

At the Bonneville Salt Flats in September 1953, the strictly stock Austin Healey, just like this one, with that A90 4 cylinder truck engine, averaged 104 miles per hour for 30 hours with a high top speed, and a modified stocker achieved a two way average of 142.6 miles per hour! The company advertised “the world’s fastest production car.” That car can be seen in the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia.

[@CylinderScene]

So cool. The history of the hundred is just amazing!

[@raysrox57]

That Is One Beautiful Car

[@stephenhenion8304]

Mint Machine in Superb Condition! Someday, Ahhh Someday👍👍💥🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@trevorparker8686]

The A 90 engine didn't come from a truck,the A70 engine was enlarged from 2200 cc to 2660 cc and installed in the Austin Atlantic. The A 70 engine was used in earlier saloon cars and the Austin gypsy. The basic architecture of the engine was obtained when Austin bought Bedford, and in 1939Bedford obtained that design from Chevrolet. I am not sure what vehicles Bedford used the original six cylinder Engine in. Austin used the Bedford design , chopped two cylinders off of it and made it into a four-cylinder 2200 cc. That accounts for its enormous weight. 60 pounds heavier than a small block Ford. Cheers

[@BanBb1]

I had a '67 but this was always my favorite.

[@Neiltmason]

Lovely car ..quite a few Austin Healey historical facts wrong in the commentary. Still I enjoyed the video.

[@mqbitsko25]

The BN2 is the one you want. It's the original Hundred but has a proper 4-speed transmission made for right-hand drive. The BN1 used a left-hand 4-speed from a larger Austin sedan. The first gear was way too low for a sports car so it was locked out for use in the Healey. The result, if you lived in the U.S., was an "upside-down and backwards" 3-speed shift pattern. Very few BN2s were made before the move to the SLOWER six with the miserable gallery head engine. It was years before they made the six as powerful and quick as the original four, and by then the car had grown fatter and fancier. The Hundred (not the "one-hundred-four" as Americans mistakenly call it in retrospect) was so-named because it could go an honest 100 mph. Very fast in the 50s. Today the most sought after Healeys are the early Hundreds, especially the BN2, and the last of the line 3000 Mk III cars with the wood dash, etc. I looked up the dyno specs of the original Hundred's 4-cylinder engine and they were almost identical to the VW TDI 1.9 turbodiesels of the last 90s and early 2000s. Loads of low-end grunt.

[@shankarbalan3813]

What a deliciously good lookin car!

[@mqbitsko25]

When my uncle was in Vietnam in 1965-1966 he left his BN1 with my parents to use. There is a pic of me wearing nothing but a diaper and Ray Bans standing behind the wheel of the Healey Hundred. Black with red coves. (Not an original paint scheme for that year, I've come to find out.) They had the chance to buy it from him for a song when he got back but they passed. Regret? I've looked at it pretty closely and arrived at the conclusion that keeping the car in anything like decent condition for a half century would have cost FAR more than it would be worth today, especially if you look at inflation and lost investment potential. You don't invest in old cars. That's the story you tell your wife. You LOVE old cars and accept the financial loss.

[@JDSFLA]

Depends on the car. For example, I sure would like to have bought the MB 300SL Gullwing. They are worth multiple millions today.

[@jackmcgregor3334]

Never mention the main man GERRY COKER the designer .there wouldn’t have been an Austin Healey with GERRY

[@Pete-z6e]

Jack Mcgregor , without?

[@JDSFLA]

Your wife sounds like a wonderful woman. OK, your Austin-Healey too.

[@garrymcdonald7994]

Those wing mirrors look terrible. And so does the black paint.