Austin Healey 100 BN-1 Cabriolet LHD 1955

The car offered here is from the collection of BP Classics. The following information was made available by the seller.

The Austin-Healey 100 is a sports car built by Austin-Healey from 1953 to 1956. It was developed by Donald Healey based on his Nash-Healey 2-door sports car, which instead had Nash mechanicals, to be produced in-house by his small Healey car company in Warwick. Healey had Tickford build a single Healey Hundred for the 1952 London Motor Show, and the design impressed Leonard Lord, director of Austin. The body style was by Gerry Coker; the chassis was designed by Barry Bilbie.

Lord struck a deal with Healey to build it in bulk; bodyën made by Jensen Motors got mechanical components from Austin at the Longbridge plant in Austin. The car was renamed the Austin-Healey 100, named the "100" by Healey for its ability to reach 100 mph (160 km/h). The 100 was the first of three models that were later called the Big Healeys to distinguish them from the much smaller Austin-Healey Sprite.

This exceptional left-hand drive sports car in crimson was built especially for the Stockholm Motor Show (so Km and no Miles counter) for car dealer Hans Osterman AB, who kept the car in house and registered the car in 1955. Also very special is that we have ALL(!!!!) old license plates with names and addresses of former owners and car dealers who had the car. History is 100% verifiable. As far as we know there are only 5 Show Cars built worldwide of this Austin Healey 100.

The car remained in Sweden all its life until we bought it in 2013. We kept it under Swedish registration plates until 2018, then we registered it in the Netherlands. But we used the car all the time for classic events and even drove it in Italyë to follow the Mille Miglia in 2016. What is also special about this car is that it was never restored, only the engine was done. We talked to an older man who owned the car in the late 1950s, and he told us that he had driven the car in Stockholm during the snow in the 1950s and had an accident on the left rear side, where you could see that the car had been painted once. vegetables. So far you can see where it has been damaged and repaired in the exact same place. So the car has not been painted since the late 1950s which gives it a nice patina and good history. The engine has always been well maintained and the car has always been inside so underneath is still very nice. There are plenty of user marks on it, but no rust.

In fact, the car should stay and be used as is, or put in a museum, because there is almost no original car like this anymore. The body parts on the car are originally stamped with the numbers of the car, both on the hood and on the trunk cover. The white stickers with number 4 were with it when we bought the car and have left them in place, but can easily be removed. There is a lot of history with this car and most previous owners are registered.

If you like a “one off” car, this one is 70 years old and a 100% original car! To get a good idea of the lot we recommend you come to the viewing day.