1964 Austin Healey 3000 Mk III

We don’t ever describe any vehicle as being perfect. Because where do you go from there? Better than perfect?

At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Nadia Comaneci became the first gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect 10. By awarding that score the judges had effectively decreed that no-one could ever do any better. And that surely can’t be right.

It’s the same with cars. Perfection, for us, will always be a mythical status that should forever be just out of reach.

So, when we tell you that we’d give this Austin-Healey 3000 MKIII Phase II a score of 9.8 out of 10, you can be sure that it really is very, very good indeed.

No expense, and no amount of hard work, has been spared in restoring this car to the highest standard and keeping it there. It’s a visual delight from every angle, inside and out, and it starts, goes and stops exactly as it should.

On the road it feels tight, solid and thoroughly well screwed together. Nothing rattles, groans sighs or squeaks. It pulls strongly, handles faithfully and entertains wonderfully.

The vendor, who knows his classic cars and how to keep them in excellent mechanical order, says the car is reluctantly for sale ‘though no fault of its own’.

As a lad he had a job in a local petrol station. The owner’s son had one of these cars and would haughtily summon the vendor to fill it with petrol or show the windscreen a cloth.

The vendor vowed that one day he would be the proud owner of a Healey 3000 MKIII himself.

He has now ticked that box.

This, then, is a superb example of a fine British sportscar.

We’re confident that it deserves, and will find, a buyer who appreciates its excellence and can look after it with all the passion and attention to detail shown by its previous owners.

Someone, perhaps, very much like you?

This fresh restoration has been done to the highest standards in recent years. The car is a UK RHD example with Heritage Certificate.

The Colorado red over Old English white two-tone paintwork was done as part of a nut and bolt rebuild and bare-metal bodywork restoration and respray. There are many photographs of the project as it evolved.

The finish has a shine and lustre that really bring the car’s muscular contours and lines to life. The chrome work is shiny and bright everywhere. Not least on the wire wheels, all 5 of which are in broadly excellent condition and are wearing matching Michelin tyres that are still sprouting their hairs.

The vendor doesn’t think the car has ever been left out in the rain. If we hadn’t driven it on the open road ourselves, we’d be inclined to think that it had never been outside at all.

There are no dinks, creases, nicks, scuffs or chips of any real note anywhere. Every panel is smooth and unblemished. The shut lines and door gaps are as crisp and even as anything Good King Wenceslas ever looked out upon – which tells us that there’s nothing even remotely banana-shaped about this chassis.

The black mohair hood and tonneau cover were new in 2011 and look very good indeed. They should do, considering that the car was in dry storage from 2010 to 2018. The hood fits snugly and the mechanism functions as it should.

The only remedial work required is a couple of gentle dabs of touch-up paint in places that can’t be see from the outside anyway. There are tiny chips to the paint inside the door closures on both sides and there’s a small nick in the paint at the bottom o/s edge of the boot lid’s inner skin where it’s caught a bumper over-rider that probably needs re-seating by a millimeter or two.

Apart from the fact that the already impressive paintwork would be rendered even more so by an additional deep machine polish, there’s really nothing else to point a finger at.

If anything, the interior is even more impressive. The black Ambla vinyl upholstery is pretty much immaculate and the seats – front and back – show virtually no signs of wear.

There are no cracks to the vinyl on the centre console or transmission tunnel, no fading to the dashboard veneers, no holes or scuffs in the carpets or mats, no marks or loose bits on the door cards, and no signs of wear and tear on the steering wheel or gear lever.

As far as we can tell, everything electrical does what it’s meant to do.

The boot, which is largely filled with the spare wheel (complete with spinner mallet), a battery and a car cover, is as pristine as the rest of the vehicle. Lift up the carpets here, or anywhere else on this splendid car, and you’ll find no rust.

What you will find is evidence of a restoration carried out to a standard where all the out-of-sight, under the carpet, hidden away bits have been prepared and painted with the same care and attention as all the more visible, in-your-face bits. And that’s always a good sign.

The driver’s door needs a bit of a tug to achieve proper closure, but this could no doubt be remedied fairly easily. We did notice a little condensation forming inside the fuel gauge on one occasion, but this will be mainly attributable to the fact that we took the car out for a spin, with the hood down, on a very crisp January morning.

Anything else? Well, the driver’s window is a little stiff to operate.

Frankly, we’re just been picky and looking for stuff to moan about. The truth is, there’s absolutely nothing here that would elicit a tut or prompt a raised eyebrow in anyone but the most obsessive perfectionist.

And, as we’ve already established, there’s no such thing as perfect.

The undersides of the car look factory-fresh. There’s no rust visible anywhere, all components look either brand new or thoroughly refurbished, and there’s a good coating of wax where appropriate. You’ll be pleased to see a full stainless steel exhaust system in situ.

The engine bay is pretty much immaculate. It’s a thing of beauty and a joy to behold, with everything as clean as a whistle and in its right and proper place.

In the relatively short time the vendor has owned the car he has polished it a couple of times, run his expert eye (and ear) over everything thoroughly, and introduced a roller bearing to the top joint of the steering mechanism in order to make the steering faster and lighter.

Most of the really heavy lifting was done by the car’s previous owner, a man who built and modified race engines for a living.

The thick wad of bills and invoices tell us that the engine was stripped and completely rebuilt in 2017, having previously been stripped and completely rebuilt in 1987.

The vendor thinks that most of the bodywork restoration was carried out 2-3 years ago and where there are invoices missing it’s because the then owner was using his own experts to do the work.

That said, much of the work is documented and the lists of parts replaced, refurbished, fettled or otherwise improved is as impressive as it is exhaustive.

Rest assured that everything - from the engine, gearbox, brakes and suspension to the bodywork, hood, electrics and upholstery - has been properly, painstakingly and expensively sorted out and screwed down.

The car comes with its original driver’s manual.

It doesn’t have a current MoT certificate, and while it is exempt by virtue of its age, we would strongly encourage the new owner to have the car re-MoT’d at the earliest. The cost of an MoT is a small investment when offset against the purchase and upkeep of any classic car, and it gives an independent, third-party assessment of the car’s condition, which not only provides reassurance to the owner (and any subsequent purchasers) but might also be invaluable in the event of a bump when negotiating with the police and any interested insurance companies.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a very good standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

And please be reassured, we’ve undertaken a full COVID-assessment and put into place strict control measure to enable us to safely facilitate a no-contact, socially distanced viewing that includes disinfection of the vehicle before and after your viewing.

However, if you’d rather not come to see the car in person, please give us a call and we can shoot a personal video of the car honing in on any areas you’d like us to concentrate on.

Or, even better, why not contact us with your mobile number and we can set up a WhatsApp video call? You get to direct us in real-time, giving you a virtual personal viewing experience while maintaining the lockdown. We like to call it ‘The Market’s 2020 Vision’…

Is it perfect?

No.

Nothing is perfect.

But you’ll waste a good deal of your life trying to find a better one than this.

This car is almost exactly the same age as Boris Johnson. But it has clearly taken better care of itself. It gets its hair cut, tucks its shirt in and doesn’t make any inexplicable or troubling grunts, rumbles, roars, burbles, blasts or other noises.

It is, by any measure, an exceptional example of a car that’s rightly considered as a true icon of the British sportscar makers’ craft.

It’s a pleasure to drive and is ready to get out on the road right now.

It’s a fabulous thing.

You’re going to like it.

We’re happy to offer this vehicle for auction with an estimate in the range of £49,000 - £64,000.

Inspection is always encouraged (within Govt. guidelines of course), and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near 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’.