1956 Austin Healey 100/4

Like so many other right-hand drive Healeys in this country, this one began life as a left-hand drive export, as indicated by the BN2L in the chassis number. It came back to the UK as a restoration project a few years ago, and though work was started, it soon stalled.

Enter our vendor, who rescued the car and worked on it as a retirement project. He’s no first-timer, either, having restored an Austin-Healey Sprite, a TR6 and a TVR Griffith amongst others in a fifty-year career of ‘playing about with cars’, as he puts it.

He takes the task pretty seriously and poured two years’ work into this one, doing five or six hours as day, five days a week. Add that up and you’ll find it signifies the best part of 3000 hours of labour.

An engine rebuild had been started, but not to our restorer’s satisfaction, so he did it again. It’s the original engine, too, so this one is a matching-numbers example. He also performed the left-to-right steering conversion, using all new parts: steering column, steering rods, dashboard – and re-wired the car with a new loom.

Before getting to that stage, he completed an exhaustive restoration of the shell, discovering more rust than he’d hoped to find on an American example and so rebuilding it with quite a few new panels. The total bill for new parts exceeds £20,000, he thinks, to include mechanical items and chrome pieces as well as a totally new interior trim set.

The original colour was red with black trim, not one the vendor liked, so he refinished the car in the white-over-blue that many associate with the 100M – hence the bonnet louvres and belt, too, though to be clear this car was not originally ordered as a 100M.

It’s barely done 40 miles since the end of the restoration and is for sale because it’s the resto process that our vendor enjoys. He may be retired, but as he says ‘I reckon I’ve got another couple in me’, and he’s keen to start the next one.

It looks wonderful – very fresh, very clean. When you get right up close and personal you can find imperfections in the paint, for instance where some of the blue has ‘bled’ slightly into the white in the curved line above the front wheel arches. Elsewhere there are one or two touch-ins and scratches, notably around the bonnet louvres and a small scuff on the rear quarter.

The gaps around the bootlid and bonnet look excellent. The shade of blue on the sides of the car is perhaps a little brighter than the true Healey Blue, but it’s a personal choice. Whichever piece of chrome trim you examine, you find the same excellent shine – much of it is new, after all.

Needless to say, all the lamps and lenses are undamaged and the dark blue hood and sidescreens are new. The car sits on painted wires, with chromed knock-offs holding them in place. There’s a copper-headed mallet in the boot for dealing with them. The car rides on four fresh Continental 165/80 R15 radials, and there’s a fifth one on the spare.

It’s all smart and new in here, post-restoration, with a smart dark blue carpet set, well fitted and featuring the inset ‘Austin’ logo rubber mats in the footwells. The seat covers are soft hide in a dark navy blue that makes a pleasant contrast with the brighter shade on the dash. There are seatbelts fitted in a still brighter shade of blue, with shiny chrome buckles.

The dash itself is immaculate, with either new or perfectly refurbished instruments in the silver-grey panel around the steering wheel. The wheel itself is a wood-rimmed Moto-Lita with the indicator switch on the top of the boss.

There is a proper tonneau cover to keep the drizzle off the seats when you stop for a pub lunch. It has a zip down the middle, so for those occasions when you’re flying solo on a chilly day, you can keep it attached, unzip the driver’s side and climb in to a surprisingly snug cocoon.

The door panels sum up Healey’s basic, lightweight approach: a cut-out allowing you to dump maps and sandwiches into the doors with a leather strap across to release the door catch. Which, incidentally, does away with the need for exterior door handles.

This is one of those cars you could park over a mirror at any car show, because the underside is finished to the same standard as the coachwork. Fresh paint over a textured stonechip is all you’ll see, with no hiding place under layers of underseal for anything to worry about. It’s all as sound as a pound and a cinch to inspect.

The big four-banger isn’t yet run in, and though it’s done its first 40 miles (!) on running in oil, it’s now on 20w50. Which is fine – just treat it with respect for the first 500-1000 miles, changing the oil once or twice more. No need to dawdle everywhere, but gain speed gradually: no big throttle openings yet.

As it is, it drives very nicely. ‘Much better than my mate’s 3000,’ says the vendor, with a chuckle. It’s all polybushed underneath so feels taught and direct.

The engine bay hasn’t had a chance to get grimy and everything looks to be correct, including the shade of paint on the block, head and rocker cover. One change the vendor made in aid of reliability was a switch from the throttle rod linkage to a throttle cable, so you’re not fighting the alternate slop and stiffness of various rod joints any more.

Another change you might not spot unless you knew about it is a replacement of the original clutch linkage (‘it felt horrible’, says the vendor) with a smoother arrangement using modern ball joints.

There is a considerable wedge of documents…which is no surprise considering they account for a nut-and-bolt restoration.

You can leaf through many invoices from A-H Spares Ltd, some with very chunky numbers at the bottom. Not surprising when you include items like a new aluminium bonnet and boot lid, a new screen and a set of seat covers. There are also bills from paint factors and from the company that made up the seatbelts and buckles.

We also found a stapled sheet explaining the throttle cable conversion kit, supplied by a Healey specialist.

The V5C shows the car is correctly registered as a Historic Vehicle in these colours. It’s been given rather a nice non-transferable age-related plate, 354 XVP and the number of former keepers, of course, is zero.

Our vendor’s application for this plate was supported by a letter from the Austin Healey Club confirming the car’s date of production as January 25th, 1956, and listing the engine and chassis number.

We’d tackle the minor paint issues by paying a professional to give it a proper machine polish and deal with the minor scratches and touch-ups – there’s nothing here that isn’t fixable within a few hours.

With that done, there’s nothing left to do but enjoy it. Our estimate is for a sale price of between £58,000 and £62,000. This car was a labour of love, and such a commitment can lead us to spending more than we get back, especially in terms of personal effort, so this car represents a huge investment in skill, time and money – it’s the next owner who gets to enjoy that.

Finally, a word about specification. Healey buyers are a picky lot, because everyone has their own idea of the right model, the right colour scheme and so on. We’re not usually allowed to get personal in these write-ups, but as your writer happens to be a Healey fan I’m going to make an exception: a BN2 in this colour scheme with the 100M bonnet and strap is exactly what I’d have. That pretty grille, the brawny four-cylinder power and that raw, exhilarating drive you only get from a ‘Hundred’ is Healey motoring in its purest form. 

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon. We are open Mon-Fri 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. To arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.