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[Healeys] LeMans 1955-NOJ393 at Auction

Subject: [Healeys] LeMans 1955-NOJ393 at Auction
From: derek.c.job at gmail.com (Derek Job)
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 20:49:21 +0200
References: <84A4758DDDE5463492B10299E21CD1BA@9535DEE118EC44B>
Peter

Let me add something else to the mix.

I have a theory that the three Streamlined '100-Sixs' that ran at Sebring in
1957 were a mixture of Special Test cars and 100Ss'. Why do I think this?

1. The 1956 Bonneville streamilned endurance record car was a Special Test
car with a six cylinder engine installed. (SPL 227B)
2. 3 additional similar streamlined bodies were made by Jenson and
presumably were also designed to fit 100 frames not 100 -Six frames.
3, The photos of the 3 Streamlined Sebring 1957 cars all show features of a
100 not a 100-Six. No door handles, shape of dash etc.
4. One of the cars was entered as AHS 3604
5. All the cars were right hand drive

I believe that one of those cars Race number 25 could have been NOJ 393 -
SPL 226B

The reasons are.

1 The car returned from France in October 1956 and was later sold by the
DHMC aroundApril 1957 (After the 1957 Sebring Race and it is stated that the
three cars were shipped back to England after the race)

2. Bill Piggott says that the NOJ 393 chassis is stamped with the words
'Racer 25' (There is a photo in his book of this stamping). No-one seems to
why, however one of the 1957 Sebring cars carried race number 25.

So is it possible that, following the return of NOJ 393 from France (in a
damaged state),  that it was decided to rebody the car in one of the three
streamlined bodies to participate at Sebring in March 1957?

Who knows, but I think it is a possibility.

More research required

Derek





On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 7:16 PM, Peter Svilans <peter.svilans at 
rogers.com>wrote:

> 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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