Diamond in the Rough

As I wait to sandblast the Austin Healey, I am using this time to learn more about my car and track down the various parts I need. To this end, I have joined a local Austin Healey club (Golden Gate Austin Healey Club) to get connected with other Austin Healey owners and experts. I took my family to our first Austin Healey club event back on August 24 in Vacaville. It was an ice cream social at a local Frosty Freeze. We met many other Austin Healey owners, and they were very welcoming and excited to have us a part of the club (even though we all came in a Honda Odyssey). Ironically, one of the Austin Healey owners lived only a couple miles from us.

Also, I have joined a nationwide Austin Healey club. My main purpose for joining this group was to utilize the club's online forum. There are questions I come across that I need an expert to answer. My first forum post proved to yield valuable information on my Austin Healey. I posted a picture of my dashboard:

It appeared as if the dashboard has been cut away or was missing a part. The car had been butchered in other areas that it wouldn't be surprising to learn they cut this too. However, all my internet searches on the dashboard were fruitless. All I could find was a one piece dashboard. I posed this question to the forum.

The forum administrator was quick to answer. He said that this dashboard had two pieces, and I was missing the instrument cluster panel, This panel would bolt on to the main dashboard. Only the first 800 Austin Healeys made had this feature before the dashboard was in manufactured as one piece. And, while this meant the car was rare, finding the instrument cluster panel would be extremely difficult (even more so than the windshield frame). Now the journey to find this part begins!

Against the Wind(shield)

One of the many parts the Austin Healey didn't come was the windshield frame. The windshield frame consists of eight main parts. There are two posts, two post feet (connecting the posts to the body), and four frame components. The only components that came with the car were the two feet.

The beauty of this windshield was its ability to slide down. Its regular position was upright, but it could slide down, giving the car a sleek, racing look.

This windshield design was only used in the first two years of production. The limited number produced, along with the Austin Healey used as racing cars, makes this part difficult to find. In fact, the difficultly in finding a windshield was one of the reasons the previous owner decided to sell it. I called several people who specialized in old British car parts, and all of them had the same response, "that's a hard part to find, good luck." I was able to track a company in Europe that was selling it complete, but they were asking $2,500. Ebay had a listing of just the windshield frame posts, and it sold for over $400.

 As was needed to find this part, I ran into a whole lot of luck. To help in the search for this part, and other parts, I purchased an iPhone app that would search listings on Craigslist nationwide. This search pulled up a 1955 Austin Healey BN2 for sale back in Massachusetts I read the description about the car for sale, and the owner had mentioned the car came with an extra windshield frame posts. I quickly called and asked him if he would sell just the windshield frame posts. Unfortunately, he had someone already commit to buying the car, but he would ask the potential new owner if he wanted the extra windshield frame.

My persistence paid off. After multiple calls over several weeks, the owner decided to sell me windshield frame. In addition to that good news, he also said he was able to dig up the other components I needed. In other words, he had everything I was looking for and for a price that was significantly lower that I could ever imagine! He sent it, and I paid for in (in that order). Much like a kid on Christmas, I was excited to open up the package the day it came in the mail.

They need to be re-chromed/repainted, but, overall, they are in great condition. Finding them relatively easy took a huge burden off me in the journey to restore this car. Now all the pieces (pun intended) are beginning to come together.

Unveiling the Find

My father-in-law, George, had the Austin Healey for weeks before I was able to see it. By then he had already put it on jack stands. Upon seeing it for the first time, I loved it! The Austin Healey just needed some TLC. It came with a book on restoring Austin Healy 100/4s, 100/6s, and 3000s. Using this book and the car's vehicle identification number (and the type of rear axle), we were able to determine it was an early 1953 Austin Healey BN1.

Other than the frame and body parts, there wasn't much else that came with the car. All the car had with it was the radiator, gas tank, front/rear suspension & brakes, and the steering column. There was no engine, transmission, seats, and windshield. The original license plate, in California black, also came with the car. The last registration tag on it was from 1970.

In mid-July 2014, we began the restoration process and took every removable piece off the Austin Healey. Every bolt had 40 years of rust to knockoff. Most bolts we had to break using a drill.

We uncovered some original upholstery in navy blue. The exact color of the upholstery will be useful in determining the original color of the paint. There was rust damage, but not as much as we anticipated. With time and money, all of it can be repaired.

As we moved along, it was obvious that the last person to have the car running (not the person we bought it from) didn't know what they were doing. The had put a Chevy 350 in it, and, in the process, cut and poorly welded it in various places in order to fit it the engine in the car. Their jerry-rigging, though unfortunate, can all be fixed.

The above picture is taken of the engine compartment. The red arrows identify two areas that the previous owner had cut away in order to fit the exhaust of the Chevy 350. Ironically, this jerry-rigging cut into the leg room in the cab. After three days working on the car, we finally got it completely apart.

Now that the car was apart, it revealed the parts of the frame and sub-frame that would need to be fixed. Our next step is to sand blast the frame, further revealing the areas needing repair, and fix the problem areas.

George and I did get a chance to visit the previous owner, and he gave us valuable information on the car. He mentioned (as I had already come to find out) that the missing windshield posts and frame were extremely difficult to replace. Also, he had acquired it in the mid-1980s with the goal of restoring it. He purchased it from the person who had it last running (and had done the jerry-rigging). As the years passed, he realized he was never going to get around to getting it done, because he had several other cars in his yard he was going to restore first. Ultimately, his main goal was to have the Austin Healey go to a good home. He knew he accomplished that goal because we had done more work on it in three days than had been done in three decades.

Barn Find of a Lifetime

Recently, our family went down to one car, because, honestly, I don't ever need a second car. Most of the time I bike to work (sometimes I take the bus). At most, I need a second car only once a month. It didn't make much sense to have and insure a new car for such limited use.

A classic car would, ideally, be cheap to buy, maintain, and insure. Owning such a car would give me a car for those rare times I need it. My father-in-law George has restored countless cars and is truly a classic car enthusiast. Seemingly every time we talked, he had found a great deal on a classic car. I had mentioned in passing that I would love to own a classic car again. For years he was searching for the perfect car (and deal) for me.

In late June 2014, he came to me and said he may have found a Healey that has been sitting in a driveway for decades. I wanted George find the answers to two questions: 1) did he know for sure it was a "Big" Healey; and 2) was it for sale (in my price range)? The owner was a friend of his, and George found that the answer was "yes" to both questions. But before I committed to anything, I wanted evidence that it was a "Big" Healey (as I wasn't interested in anything else). George brought back pictures of the car from the owner's driveway as proof.

 From the pictures I was able to verify it was an early 1953-55 Austin Healey 100/4. The main giveaway was the shape of grill. Later Austin Healey grills were oval, while early Austin Healey grills took a much different shape (I don't know exactly describe it, other than it's a four-sided triangle). It was also obvious from the pictures that it needed a lot of work.

I know my fair share about cars, but I don't know very much about restoring them. My friends and I had an ill-fated attempt to restore a 1956 Chevy truck when we were 17 years old. I learned from that failed experiment that restoring classic cars takes time, money, and a lot of know-how. George had all the knowledge and know-how required to restore a car. Recently George brought a 1952 Ford wagon back from the dead. When he first brought it home, I thought the Ford wagon was hopeless with rust damage on every square inch of it. His finished project blew me away. For the record, the Austin Healey was in much better condition than the Ford wagon. I knew that if I were to take on this project that I couldn't do it without him.

George stated that if I wanted to buy it, I'd better act fast because the owner was looking to sell and the price he was asking was low. I talked it over with my saintly wife. We decided that we would buy it, thus beginning my journey as an Austin Healey owner once again. George loaded it on a flat bed truck and took it home. After decades, this Austin Healey had a new home.

The Beginning of My Love for Healeys

I have always had an infinity of Austin Healeys. It all began with a 1965 Austin Healey Sprite. This Sprite was the first car I owned (picture below). On January 27, 1998, I bought it, much to my parent's chagrin, after seeing it in a newspaper ad for $1,000. According to the ad, the Sprite ran well, but had been sitting for a few years and, as a result, the brake master cylinder needed to be rebuilt. My friends, Tim and Colin, and I rebuilt it in the guy's garage. We had never rebuilt one before, as we were novice mechanics, but we did an exceptional job and drove the car home. Here's a picture I dug up of us working on it that day:

I took it home, cleaned it up and fell in love with it.

The Sprite was the lower-end model of the Austin Healey convertibles; however, it drove beautiful. Heads would turn on every street I cruised. I could maneuver this car on a dime. I spent more time at a European car shop than I did in school my senior year of high school. My parents gave me a convertible top for it as a graduation gift. I learned how to diagnose and fix my first car problems on my Sprite. I learned how to rebuild a front suspension and replace wheel bearings and various other car parts. I enjoyed every aspect of this car.

The only problem was the size of the car. As the name indicates, it was small (and if you have never seen one, it is smaller than you think). My parents thought it was a death trap due to its size, even though they bought me a roll bar and seat belts for additional safety.

Sadly, I traded this classic convertible for a 1955 Chevy four door sedan, mostly because of safety concerns with the Sprite. I thought and hoped the Chevy, a car I always wanted, would be an even greater classic car experience. I was mistaken. The Chevy did not live up to my expectations and the experience and thrill I got from the Sprite. Ever since my Healey days, I have longed to drive a Healey again.

In the background of my mind, I always wanted a "Big" Healey (the name of the "Big" Healey is used among enthusiasts to distinguish those Healeys from the Sprite, which came out years after the first "Big" Healey). The "Big" Healey was the higher-end of the Austin Healey and came with a 2660cc engine. They were formally called the 100/4 (100 because its top speed was slightly over 100 mph and 4 because it was a four cylinder).

The 100/6 and 3000 (named because of the 3000cc engine) models followed the 100/4 in later years. These Healey were faster, better designed, and, overall, a much, much better car than the Sprite, but they were always going to be out of my price range.