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.