Healey 100 Part One

No car had an easier initial sell than the Healey 100. And none was more of a straggle to get the first few made and out on the streets. After Austin boss Leonard Lord had seen the new sportster at the International Motor Show at Earls Court in ‘52, he told Donald Healey that he could make more than Healey could; over the next few days, a deal was done and the car was renamed, and rebadged.

But Austin’s works at Longbridge could not take on production of the Austin-based two-seater until the middle of 1953. In a period when England was still chasing exports – which meant profits and hard cash – cars were desperately needed, in America and Europe, to give the public and press a taste of the sleek new two-seater.