1957 Austin Healey 100-6

I read the ad and then went on with reading the rest of the newspaper. Due to the wording of the ad, I figured it was a completed Sprite selling for $7000. Even though I'd love to own a Bugeye someday, I wasn't in the market for one at that time. I had always apprecitated the styling of all Austin-Healeys, and many times thought about how I would love to own a big Healey if I could ever afford one. Unfortunately, the prices were such that I never gave much more thought about owning one, and therefore spent my time with more affordable British cars.

After several days, I just couldn't help myself. I looked at the newspaper classifieds again to see if the car was still listed for sale. Sure enough it was, and for the sake of curiosity, I decided to place the call and obtain more information about the car. A woman answered the telephone, and she turned out to be the owner. She had purchased the car from an estate auction the year before, and gave a description of the car as being completely disassembled, having aluminum shrouds, and a six cylinder engine.

After hearing the intriguing description, I decided that I'd better go have a look at the car. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was the proud owner of the car and all of its parts in assorted bags and boxes. After doing some research, I found the car to be a 1957 Longbridge 100-6, titled as a 1958 and badged as a 3000 MkI. It had a creased bonnet, 12 quart oil sump, lightened flywheel, 6-Port head, overdrive, wire wheels, chrome Stellings & Hellings air cleaners, and fiberglass racing seats that I have since replaced. I could tell that someone had a really good time with this car at one time, and I was going to see to it that someone would have fun with it again just as Donald Healey had intended.

Soon after the woman brought the car home from the estate auction, she had the car serviced. The mechanic checked the engine cylinders with a vacuum gage (120-60-120-100-130-120), and quickly learned that several of the cylinders needed attention, but went ahead and gave the car a complete tune-up as instructed by the woman. She drove the car for a few months, but due to the condition of the engine she decided to have it rebuilt. While the engine was out of the car she noticed the condition of the rest of the car, and decided to take the plunge and rebuild the entire car from the ground up. The car was completely disassembled, the parts were tagged and bagged, chassis stripped to bare metal, then repaired, and coated with PPG epoxy primer.

By the time I came into the picture, the chassis work had been completed, the engine had been completely rebuilt by a local shop, and according to the receipts passed on to me, she had also spent more than $4,000 on new parts. By this time, she had spent much more money than she had planned on, and quickly realized that she had a long road ahead of her. She was realizing that if she didn't perform the work herself, it was going to cost a fortune to complete the job.

Among other interesting hobby's, the woman was an airplane pilot. She owned a French Bi-plane that had been giving her problems while she was flying it. On several occasions she was forced to land the plane in corn field's or other suitable places whenever the engine would stop running. She and her husband realized that she needed to make a decision whether to keep the Austin-Healey or replace the engine in her bi-plane. Both jobs were going to be expensive, and she needed to choose one or the other. Since aeronautics were deeply rooted in her genes (her late father was an aeronautical engineer), she was forced to choose the bi-plane.

This arrangement worked out very well for both of us, because I enjoy performing the work myself, and I've always wanted my very own Austin-Healey!