1960 Austin Healey 3000 Mark One

John Chatham, the renowned Austin Healey expert, bought the car as a full-blown restoration vehicle, offering it to his discerning customer base as a ‘blank canvas’ project for them to commission their ideal car. The vendor realised the potential the car offered and worked with John and his team to create a fast road/race car with the twin objectives of saving weight and maximizing performance.

The result is a bespoke Austin Healey 3000 BT7 that produces in well in excess of 200bhp but is still capable of winning Best in Show and drawing admiring glances wherever it goes.

It has only covered around 500 miles since being completed and is due for a post-build inspection, which John Chatham has confirmed he will undertake for the new owner free-of-charge. This generous offer should give potential bidders enormous reassurance that the car they’re buying is a good ‘un. (Not that John builds anything but…)

The bare chassis was stripped before being fully strengthened with reinforced chassis rails, engine mounts and suspension points. The floor panels and inner sill sections are all heavy duty items and the area around the lower front shroud was also strengthened. The outriggers were then modified to support the tailored exhaust system with additional mounting points fitted at the same time. 

A works-style lightweight hardtop was fitted, complete with a useful roof vent. It looks stunning but the fit around the rear Perspex window will need some attention when the car goes back for its post-build fettling. The hardtop is removable with simple tools, there is no soft -top with the car although these are easily available from specialists.

The car was then professionally resprayed in ICI two-pack paint with special attention being paid to the door alignment to ensure tight and even gaps. The finish, in Old English White over blue, looks amazing as you can see from the photo gallery. However, the car has picked up the odd stone chip in its first five hundred miles of road use. It has been fully Waxoyled inside and out, and so will probably outlast us all.

All the original chromework has been professionally restored and re-chromed and is complemented by chrome door mirrors and works-style rear bumpers. Other modifications include a Le Mans-style fuel filler cap, the deletion of the front bumper, an aluminium bonnet with additional louvres, extra louvres on the front wings, and an aluminium engine bulkhead finisher.

Battery and fuel pump cut-off switches have been fitted and mounted on the bonnet, which should help keep the scrutineers happy.

The interior has been beautifully and expensively retrimmed with blue leather low-back bucket seats, bespoke quilted trim, and a gorgeous wood-rimmed steering wheel. 

This is a four-seater BT7, albeit one that has had the rear seats removed as a weight-saving measure because the owner wanted to save every single ounce he could. (Ounces, you note, not grams. This is, after all, a quintessentially British sports car…) A rear seat could be refitted should the new owner want to take three passengers along for the ride.

The engine produces between 220 and 230bhp thanks to obsessive attention to detail and an enthusiasts’ dream specification that includes a 300-degree high-lift camshaft, a ported cylinder head, balanced crankshaft, conrods and pistons, a lightened flywheel, triple 1.75” carburettors, and a six-branch tubular manifold that feeds into a hand-crafted stainless steel free-flowing exhaust. 

A similarly obsessive level of attention was paid to the look of the engine bay too, as the owner admits to being “very fussy”. The result must have pleased him enormously as it’s a genuine work of art.

The four-speed gearbox was rebuilt to include over-drive on 3rd and 4th gear and all that power is fed to the rear wheels via a torque-biased limited-slip differential and a 3.9:1 final drive ratio. 

The car’s suspension specification is similarly high and includes a double-mounted and uprated front anti-roll bar, 650lb front springs (standard springs are fitted at the rear), and an adjustable top trunnion at the front for camber adjustment.

The braking system has been uprated to Type 14 Healey brake calipers and EBC Green Stuff pads on the front, and the installation of a brake servo and Goodridge brake hoses throughout.

A few carefully selected modifications have been installed to make this example more user-friendly. These include an alternator, electric screen wash and fuel pumps, and a five-blade fan to cool the high-efficiency radiator.

The car comes with a complete photographic history of its restoration. It also comes with a Heritage Certificate, although it is not a fully ‘matching numbers’ car as the engine has been changed at some point in its life.

Please visit the ‘Records’ section of this listing where you will find a comprehensive photo history of the rebuild.

This beautiful example is not a concours Queen. It could be, and with relatively little effort and expenditure, but this is a car that was conceived and restored with fast road and track use in mind and to consign it to a life on the back of a trailer would be a tragedy.

No, what this car yearns for is a life of semi-serious competitive use, backed up by weekends away; the wind in your hair, a loved one sitting beside you, and the throaty roar of a straight-six thoroughbred engine is the stuff dreams are made of.

And it’s a dream that stands up to rigorous financial scrutiny, too. The price of the very best Austin Healeys has been rising for a while now and while the price of £63,000 is at the upper end of the spectrum, we think it’s worth every single penny: it would be just about impossible to find and restore one yourself to this quality for this sort of money - and the fact that it should perform better than the paltry interest you’ll receive from a savings account makes this example one not to be missed… 

Viewing is always encouraged, and this car with us at Patina HQ in Abingdon; 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’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.