1957 Austin Healey
100-6
Works Car Replica
This car was created for my wilder moments. It is a early Longbridge BN4, one of the first six cylinder Healeys made. It came to me as a unfinished project car. The Rally car theme had been started with fender vents and Minilites, but the car was disassembled and lacked paint and had a myriad of problems. It did have a totally rust free body. Still has original sills and floors.
The rolling chassis was completed when I got the car but the thought of building another car like my BJ8 did not excite me. But along the Healey Trail I had met this guy.......
John Chatham
I really liked those race cars during the North American Challenge Series! So instead of building just another Red Healey, I started thinking of Rally Car!
So I read everything I could. I talked to people like Kovacs, Menadue, Welch and Chatham. I wrote letters, took photos, checked out the competition, gathered catalogs and sourced parts.
I did everything myself except for the paint. (I hate to paint!). From the front
you can see the Works grill I made using the original material from a source in
England. The scoop on the shroud in front of the windshield was done by an
English restorer who had a Works Rally Car in the shop to restore and made
an extra for me.
Rally cars always evolved, so there is no norm for a Rally Car. My goal was to create a 1957 era Rally Car the way Roger Menadue would have built them. After 1957, BMC built the Rally Cars and Healey the Special Test Cars.
This car was to be built strictly for my own amusement and be driven, it's my toy!
This side view shows the fender vents, a great improvement. A SS competition side ..
exhaust is fitted. Most people expect a roll bar but they did not use them back then.
Interior is standard with a overdrive switch on the shift knob.
Works cars would have had wire wheels in this era, but the 15 x 6 spline drive Minilites look great and came with the car. The large wheels and tires ripped the splines off the original hubs the first time out!
The Boot Lid is aluminum from AH Spares and is modified to accept a second spare tire. The car came with a solid engine and the only modification made was upgrading to BN6 specs.
An oil cooler is fitted with the holes in the shroud below the grill providing air as original. The lamps are vintage Lucas and were used on the Barker Brothers Healey Race Car in the sixties when they won several national titles in SCCA. (Local guys from here in Louisville, KY) A factory hardtop is fitted and the car color is similar to the BMC red (not Colorado) used during that period for competition cars.
So here we are upon completion at Conclave 96 on the grounds of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. Almost 300 cars in the show. High dollar professional restorations galore! I am stuck in the back row with the modified cars, like life is a Tuxedo and the BN4 is an old Brown shoe. Driven in from Louisville and given a quick wash after midnight.
But guess who won Best Of Show! My little homebuilt race car. (Actually I tied for Best with Mary Harrell) How long has it been since a car built for less than $12,000 won Conclave? I came away a big winner that day, either my car won (maybe) or I am blessed with enough friends to pull off a stunt like that. (probably).
Since then the car has been used with enthusiasm. It has made trips to Conclaves in Michigan, Indianapolis as well as regional events.
