Healey News Bulletin Nov '18

HEALEY AND OTHER FINE CARS NEWS BULLETIN

NOVEMBER 2018

On Friday 9th November I made my annual trip to the Classic Car Show, sponsored by Lancaster Insurance, at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham, U.K. It’s no hardship for me because after a mile walk to the station it takes less than fifteen minutes, by train, to get to the NEC. The show opened at 10.00 am and I was amazed at the size of the crowd already queing (‘standing in line’ for our American readers) before the doors opened. The whole idea of me getting there early was to be able to take photos without being compromised by people standing in front of the camera looking at the cars, which they are perfectly entitled to do of course.

Right from the off I was having to seek opportunities of photographing cars without people being in the shots. Motor Shows are not the best environment for taking pristine photos of cars. However, the presence of car enthusiasts does create ‘atmosphere’ and that is a good attribute when telling a story in pictures.

The purpose of this Bulletin is to bring you images of the Austin Healey marque’s presence at the show and I have to tell you it was pretty impressive. In terms of number of stands dedicated to the marque and the quality of those stands I would say that it was the most impressive presence at the show. Not bad for a brand that was pulled from the market nearly fifty years ago! MG was also well presented by a number of different stands but in my opinion the largest – MG Car Club’s was set up like a market stall with the main aim of promoting its merchandise rather than to show off the marque’s cars. Purely a matter of opinion, I am sure that the MGCC people, with their vast experience of Motor Shows, know what they’re doing. In contrast the Austin Healey Club’s stand was well laid out with good examples of both ‘Big Healeys’ and Sprites; plenty of room to walk around the cars to admire them, all with their own description boards and club members in attendance.

I must say that the stand that surprised and delighted me the most, as regards displaying Austin Healey cars, was the JME Healeys stand. My previous perception of JME Healeys was that it was a relatively small, family run, company with a good reputation for restoring Healey and Austin Healey cars. Nevertheless, one amongst others, both in the U.K. and the World. Their stand at the NEC suggests that either my perception is wrong and to be fair I have only observed them from afar rather than having direct dealings, or, this was a company punching above its weight. Whatever, this was a very impressive stand, congratulations to JME Healeys. The same goes for AHSpares, a company that has established a distinguished profile, in its sphere, over many years.

Enough of the gab, let the photos continue the story –

1960 Sebring Sprite – one of John Sprinzel’s cars with a fascinating history – look it up on sebringsprite.com

1954 Austin Healey 100 – Restoration completed in 2016

1965 Austin Healey Mk. III phase two (BJ8) originally shipped to the USA returned to the U.K. some years ago.

1960 Mk I Sprite

1967 Austin Healey 3000 Mk. II (BN7) (WIP)

1954 Austin Healey 100/4 competed in the inaugural New Zealand GP alongside single seater formula cars.

Austin Healey 3000 Mk. III (BJ 8) completed by JME Healeys in 2018

Oxford University Motorsport Foundation. Its aim is to give academic students the opportunity to gain some practical engineering skills. Their next project is the Sebring Sprite shown here. For more information – www.oumf.org