Austin Healey Restorations
I bought and fully restored a 1936 Austin Seven Ruby saloon in 1981, and advertised it for sale when finished. Mark Prosser phoned to view the Austin, he called liked and drove the car and bought it. He then enquired if I would be interested in restoring the Austin Healey MK111 3000, that he had bought some months before, as he did not like the British racing green colour. We agreed I would undertake a full restoration of the Austin Healey over the next year, taking it to as near concours condition as I could.
This would be a steep learning curve as I had not restored a Big Healey before.
However, being a time served vehicle coach builder I was taught that nothing is impossible.
So the task began, the Healey was collected and the strip down started. The car was stripped, sandblasted, all rot was replaced with new steel, and it was then primed and painted Colorado Red, over Old English White. All the mechanicals were rebuilt, the car was rewired, copper brake pipes fitted, and the engine and gearbox restored and painted Healey green. The car was then reassembled. The restoration was finally finished for the 1983 lakes weekend, where it won its class in the concours and went on to win a further two concours awards.
Merlin was the first company to manufacture new Austin Healey 3000 and 100/4 chassis in the early 80s. Our restored cars fitted with our chassis have won numerous concours awards as well as British and international rallies.
We built a MK11 Tri Carb FIA rally car for David Shakespeare who won concours awards here and in Europe with his car. David and his brother John also won numerous UK and International rallies in his Big Healey, only being beaten very occasionally in Europe by Walter Rohl. We went on to build a second Austin Healey MK11 FIA rally car for David, saving weight by hand making the rear bulkhead in 18s gauge aluminium. This car was built to be driven in Europe to beat Walter Rohl.
My own Austin Healey MK11 Tri Carb has one of our new chassis, which we manufactured in 2005. Photos of the chassis can be seen on the MK11 race car page, on our site. When I bought my MK11 Tri Carb in the 90s, the chassis was beyond restoring, the only salvageable items from the body / chassis unit being the front bulkhead, front and rear shrouds, and the dash. We hand made the doors and hardtop in 18s gauge aluminium. The hardtop has a tubular steel space frame under the alloy skin to help with strength and to hold the hand wheeled and shaped alloy secure. The bonnet louvres have been cut out by hand and are hand planished into the bonnet. The engine has been balanced and blueprinted by ourselves, and is now fitted with triple 45 webers. The gearbox has straight cut gears and a race overdrive fitted. The car has a full roll cage, high backed GRP seats, 5 point seat belts and fire extinguishers fitted. The brakes have a bias bar fitted so the front and rear brakes are two separate systems for safety.
I achieved a 2nd place at the 2006 national concours in the specials class with the Healey. I have also won the Liverpool and Chester Sprint Championship for over 2 litre cars for 5 years and came 2nd in the Austin Healey Sprint Championship in 2006, only losing by a 2nd place podium finish.
We are still enthusiastic builders of all types of Austin Healeys for road and race use, and wish all Healey enthusiasts Happy Healying.
If we can help with your Healey, please do not hesitate to contact us, as I am sure that you will find our experience and commitment second to none, and we look forward to hearing from you.
