Sunday, October 4, 2015

2015 Battle of the Brits: Austin-Healey


It's been a busy couple of weeks, so my 2015 Battle of the Brits photoblogging has lagged. But let's pick it back up with some of the prettiest British sports cars ever made: the Big Healeys of the 1950s and 1960s.

Here's a genuinely early Austin-Healey, a 1954 100 BN1 with only 26,000 miles, still wearing its original paint. The original owner owned it for more than 60 years:




A late Big Healey next to an early Big Healey: a 1967 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk III (left) and a 1955 Austin Healey 100-4 (right):



Notice the fold-down windshield on the 100-4? Sporty!

Pretty soon the Big Healeys gained a large 6-cylinder engine and the 100 line morphed into the 3000 line. The 3000s were more powerful and more sophisticated, but every bit as pretty as the early cars:


1962 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk II.



1964 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII.



1967 Austin Healey 3000 Mk III.

You can see increasing luxury and sophistication in the dashboards, too. Here's the dash from that 1954 100 BN1:



And here are a couple of dashes from later 3000 models:



Alas, I didn't get any good pictures of Austin-Healey Sprites this year, so that's it for Austin-Healey. And since I didn't win the big PowerBall jackpot last weekend, that might be the last batch of Big Healeys in this neighborhood until next year's Battle of the Brits.

Coming next for 2015 Battle of the Brits photos? The Grand Finale: everything else!

P.S. Links to the other Battle of the Brits posts:
Austin-Healeys

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