When the Special Test Cars were first built in 1953, Geoff Healey writes "DMH
decided that the cars should be painted with the same metallic green paint
from Dockers that we had used on the 2.4-litre [Riley] Healeys".
For LeMans 1955 it was BRG, as can be seen in some of the colour movie footage
on YouTube.
A year after the crash, the car was rebuilt at Warwick. It was repainted in
BRG with cream sides and a red ring around the grille. There were two owners
in 1957, and another in 1958.
In 1959, it was resold and was "repainted in blue and gold" according to
Baggott. Personally, I think it may have been the Healey Blue colour over
ivory at some point, before it became the dark blue and gold, which makes more
sense to me.
It changed hands again in '63 and '69, but has remained unchanged, and a
non-runner- since then.
Even though "barn find" cars bring the highest values, I bet they don't stay
that way for long in the immaculate surgical operating theatre garages of
their wealthy owners.
As with any restoration, you have to pick a point in history, and find out
what it looked like just at that particular time. But when ? As it left the
works in '53 ? As it looked before the LeMans crash ? Just after ? (Not
really funny, but it was most well known for this). After the '57 works
rebuild ? Or during its (dull) club racing period in the sixties ? This
decision and its re-restoration then becomes just another listed step in the
car's passage through time.
Peter
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