Janice
By Michael Oritt
Some of you may remember a 1964 British movie entitled “The Yellow Rolls-Royce” starring Rex Harrison, Shirley McLaine, Ingrid Bergman, and Omar Sharif, the story being about the life of a Rolls-Royce and its owners over about 40 years, loosely connected by various romantic escapades in the car’s back seat! The film was entertaining if forgettable, but one day it crossed my mind and I began to wonder about the history of my 1955 Austin-Healey 100 Le Mans. (I don’t mean the sexual part, although I know that anything is possible, even given the small cockpit!)
Janice 1956
According to my seller (the second owner) the car had been driven less than 18,000 miles when he purchased it in 1982 from the first owner’s widow. He stored it until 1995 when it was disassembled and repainted by Bud Weikert of Waynesboro, Pa., and then put up for sale. I bought the car from him in 1998 with the original, if somewhat worn interior and top, a full tool roll and a box of parts including the stock components that were replaced during the car’s “Le Mans” conversion in 1956. I learned from the Service Manual the first owner’s name (USAF Lt. Alexander Tweedie) and hometown (Daytona Beach, Fla.), but no more. This bit of knowledge raised several questions in my mind: Was this mileage really authentic? How could the soft materials have survived for almost 45 years? Why had the car been driven so little?
Having grown up in South Florida, I knew that during the 1950’s the regional BMC importer and dealer was Ship and Shore Motors in West Palm Beach. Through a bit of sleuthing I located one Ed Bussey, the agency’s owner, and he told me that all sales and service records were long gone. In our chat he mentioned the name of Phil Stiles, his Service Manager, who was also a Healey driver at some early Sebring races—he said that Phil was likely involved in the car’s conversion to a Le Mans, if in fact it was done at his dealership, but unfortunately no further details were available.
I began some White Page searches on the Internet under the first owner’s last name and came up with quite a few leads in the Central Florida area—frankly, many more than I hoped for! Nevertheless, I began to make some calls in no particular order and within an hour I had located his son, Brian! After we got acquainted he told me that his father had died a young man in about 1980 and that his mother thereafter sold the car. He said that he could probably put his hands on some old photographs and also shared that his mother Janice, who apparently was the co-owner of the car, still lived in the area. Shortly thereafter I received several pictures of the car (circa 1957) which were quite informative. My favorite shot is that of Janice Tweedie behind the wheel (see above)—her “Pepsodent Smile” and period hairdo simply exude the whole mystique of the 1950’s. Another photo of the engine bay showed the LeMans kits’ larger carburetors and the Cold Air Box bearing an “Iskenderian Cams” sticker, confirming a notation in the Service Manual that Lt. Tweedie elected to use an Isky cam instead of the one that was a part of the “LeMans package”. (Due to a worn lobe, this cam was replaced by my seller prior to my purchase with a NOS “M-spec” cam and valve springs, thus making the LeMans conversion complete 45 years after it was begun!)
Subsequently, I sent some current photographs of the car to Brian and he was gratified to see that its appearance was virtually identical to that which he remembered as a child. Last summer I began to think about reuniting the car with its surviving original co-owner, and about that time Brian told me his mother was coming to the Baltimore area, not too far from where I live, and that she would call me, but that meeting did not come off. This year I determined that I would, if necessary, “Bring the mountain to the Mohammed” and drive my car down to Florida to meet her, when I learned that she would be in the North Carolina mountains for the “fall colors”. After establishing with her a date, time and place to meet, I drove from my home near the Chesapeake Bay across to the mountains and down the Blue
Janice 2000
Ridge Parkway to Franklin, NC. Over lunch Mrs. Tweedie shared many historic details that answered my initial questions. Her husband apparently drove the car quite regularly until about 1960, when he was sent to Germany for about a year, during which time the car was not driven. Following his return he purchased a Jag roadster which became his primary focus, and the Healey was covered and stored until his death in 1980. Although Brian wanted her to keep the car for him when he came of age, Mrs. Tweedie decided to sell it, and it ultimately came my way. Following our lunch we did a photo session and essentially replicated an image from 44 years earlier (See below). Clearly, both car and driver have fared well! My mission was complete, and after giving her a Tee-shirt bearing a picture of the car, I said my goodbyes. I had my verification of the car’s low mileage and explanation of its original, if unrestored condition!
I feel that anyone who owns an older car has in his or her possession a kind of time capsule containing links—perhaps hidden, perhaps known—to the past. Given the relatively easy access via the Internet and other electronic search vehicles, it is not difficult to pursue past ownership history through Departments of Motor Vehicle databases. Name searches are quite simple, if sometimes time-consuming, and most of what we look for existed within living memory. I owned two Healeys in the 1960’s and I often wonder where they are today
(If anyone owns a 1961 British Racing Green BN7 with a wolf-whistle tapped into the intake manifold or a 1963 Black BJ7 with an air-conditioner hung on the engine, please get in touch!)
Give the concept some thought and consider exploring your car’s past—unlike family reunions, there are no Grandchildren’s diapers to mess with, and you don’t have to have anyone that you don’t like over for dinner!
