G'day
Good choice of words Gary as it was certainly portentous, but it wasn't a
surprise.
What really happened was that Lord, who despite being El Supremo of BMC was
still very much an Austin man and well aware of the plans afoot at Abingdon
with MG preparing a replacement for the square rigged T series, the car that
eventually became the MGA. Lord made it known through the close knit British
automotive manufacturing industry that he was interested in one of the
smaller companies designing a new sports car that used Austin mechanicals
and would therefore compete against the MG. Three different companies took
up the project namely the Donald Healey Motor Company, Frazer Nash and
Jensen Brothers. BMC assisted with the supply of Austin mechanicals to all
three companies and even commissioned Jensen to build a new sports car.
Jensen was of course already building the Austin A40 sports which was more
of a touring car and not a sports car and also used the 4-litre Austin
engine in their first Interceptor touring car.
The Healey 100 shown for the first time at the Motor Show was a sensation,
especially in its distinctive pale metallic blue, itself very, very similar
to an earlier Alvis colour. In discussions before the Motor Show it had been
hoped that Healey and Lord might have already have made a deal, but it had
been slow in coming. At the Motor Show, Donald Healey and his staff had
trouble keeping people away from the stand and within a short period of time
DMH had received two offers of co-operation to manufacturer the new 100.
Healey never let on who the others were. The car's wonderful reception
brought on Lord's announcement that Austin was to build this new graceful
sportscar and it would be available from Austin dealers throughout the
world.
Despite the enthusiasm Lord showed for the new 100 he was a little
embarrassed as a result of his earlier commissioning of Jensen to build a
prototype, as their car was good and left Lord impressed. Jensen wasn't
displeased as they ended up with the body and trimming contracts of the new
Austin-Healey 100 as the original contractor, Tickford was just too small to
produce the volume required. Lord offered Jensen the contract, which
probably eased his conscience considerably. Jensen continued to build big
Austin-Healey bodies until the very end and even as early as 1966 saw that
the 3000 was coming to an end, produced their own V8 powered sportscar
prototype called the P66 to take its place and to sell under their own name.
This was some years before both the Jensen-Healey and the V8 Jensen
Interceptor, but that, as they say is another story.
When the first Longbridge Austin-Healeys were produced they carried the BMC
model descriptor of 100 BN1.
Time for breakfast.
Hoo Roo
Patrick Quinn
Blue Mountains, Australia
-----Original Message-----
From: Healeys [mailto:healeys-bounces@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of
editorgary@aol.com
Sent: Monday, 7 July 2014 9:11 AM
To: healeys@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Healeys Digest, Vol 6, Issue 281
Just to clarify for my own understanding.
I think what Pat is saying is that if the vehicle was called a "Healey 100"
-- of which there was only 1, and then for only a very short time until the
portentious meeting at Earls Court between Donald and Len Lord -- it was not
a BN1.
But I'm pretty sure that the very first "Austin-Healey 100s" that were
produced and distributed for shows and to dealers, etc. were certainly BN1s,
because those were the first three characters of the number on the car
number plate.
When there was a Healey 100 there was no such thing as a BN1. Such model
designations as BN1 through to BJ8 were given by BMC as they were part of
the Corporations designation system.
Hoo Roo
$12.75
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