Talking About Wheelhouses

Drive Time

Okay, you may all start laughing at me now, but here’s my latest automotive crush:

…and all the details are here.

The biggest knock on the Healeys is, of course, their ability to spew oil and lose carburetors.  And then there’s , courtesy of Lucas Electrical (the Prince of Darkness) and failing instruments (the Rootes of All Evil).

But.

If that thing isn’t drop-dead gorgeous to you, we can’t be friends.  And its roaring 2.9-liter straight-six engine… I need a cigarette, and I don’t even smoke.

FYI:  we had one in the family, but my Mom made Dad sell it because she felt like a floozy driving it, and “all the men looked at her”.  (Which says all you need to know about my mother.)

I feel faint.  Mostly because of its price, but anyway.

7 comments

  1. Absolutely gorgeous. The kind of car that makes me wish I was a good enough driver to justify owning one. Of course, if I WAS that good a driver AND had the money necessary to support a road-going work of art, what I would want is a car with a body designed by the British from the 1960’s and all the internals designed by the Japanese of the 21st century.

  2. Way back when, I owned a Bugeye. The 3000’s never had much appeal for me. Apparently, they were reasonable cars for what they were – Sporty Touring Cars. and I’m not fond of the paint scheme. and I’d be a little leery of it not having enough shakedown miles on it to make Shure those wire wheels are round, But everybody gets to dream, so yes that looks like a nice restored example.

    You are right on the price. It’s at least 50% higher than the US market. See https://classiccars.com/listings/find/all-years/austin-healey/3000 Restored great examples for $100K and reasonable “Runs and Drives” examples at around $40k . …. and remember that all us who were around when these cars were new either already have the “Collector Car” they wanted as an 18 year old, or are looking higher in the market, or selling it due to downsizing …….. or can’t afford it.

  4. It’s been said that that the reason Brits drink warm beer is because they have Lucas refrigerators.

  5. Knew a guy that had one he had stuffed a small block into. Still needed work when I knew him but it was in.

  6. As a second or third car, why not? Like any what, sixty year old car so long as you can afford to maintain it.

    As much as I love those big Harley’s, e-types etc I’ve got old and soft. I want power steering, air conditioning and abs brakes. That’s what got me into a 94 SL500. The best one on the road will be a fraction of the price of that Healey.

    Much easier to contemplate a 500k road trip in the merc too….

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