Such is the sales and competition success of the Austin-Healey 3000 that it’s easy to forget it has roots. Its creator, Donald Healey, had been design chief at Triumph and then co-owned a successful car-building company, before his association with Austin began on the eve of the 1952 Earls Court motor show.
The Austin-Healey 100 debuted at the show. As the story goes, a deal was struck immediately between Healey and BMC boss Leonard Lord. It was a good deal – Healey got his creation manufactured in volumes that his own company could never manage, and Austin got one of the finest sports cars of the decade.
In many ways
