Editorgary@aol.com wrote:
> I don't personally doubt what you found. The info I put up on the
> website is the collective wisdom of several of the concours committee
> members who specialize in the 100-Six cars. Right now I don't know what
> (or who) to believe. So I'm back to doing my own research, and when we
> republish the book, we'll put in what we find. In the meantime, there
> certainly is proof that at least some of the 1C engines were painted
> dark green, such as the picture in Geoff Healey's first Healey book.
> So I'm back to trying to collect info again to see if I can find some
> pattern.
> Cheers
> Gary
Gary,
I have no doubt that some 1C engines were that way. I wonder if these weren't
"real" Westminster engines that were just transferred across from other parts
of
Morris, under the engine rationalisation plan, and hence were painted Morris
Green. From what GCH says in the Healey Story early engines certainly were
transferred across straight from Morris.
However there seems to be no doubt that several of us - if not many - have
"Healey" painted engines which appear to be that way from day one.
I think we have to bear in mind what a mess British industry was in after the
war, not just from the point of view of lack of raw materials, but from lack of
organisation. From a historical perspective, as this group knows well, bits
were
pulled in - no, **had** to be pulled in - in from wherever the resource was
available. And if there was a need to deliver in a hurry engines might be used
without regard to engine colour, though doubtless they would have been put in
and the niceties of cosmetics would have been set to one side. Let us not
forget
that at that time industry here was virtually bankrupt having sacrificed
everything for victory and was trying desperately to get itself back on its
feet
at whatever cost.
Thus I think that it would be a very rash man who would look from perspective
of
today in which manufacturing is much more highly organised and be prescriptive
and say that such and such actually was definitively done one way or another. I
realise that this is not the spirit of concours, but then the spirit of
concours
was not the spirit of manufacturing over here in those days.
Remember that our much-loved and much-prized posessions are in fact souped-up
Austin Westminster taxis ;-) !! ***JOKE***
In any case I look forward to the next edition of your book.
Peter Dzwig
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