Austin-Healey 3000 MkI BT7

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Big, butch and beautiful, the Austin-Healey 3000 is to many the quintessential classic British sportscar. Launched in March 1959, it quickly earned a reputation as a formidable rally machine, thundering to spectacular success on many international events of the 1960s.

A development of the already successful 100/6, it used a simple but torsionally strong ladder frame chassis with Austin A90 independent coil spring/wishbone front suspension and a live leaf sprung rear axle located by Panhard rod. It was fitted with the more powerful 2,912cc BMC C-Series engine which produced 124bhp and 167lb/ft of torque. Mated to a four-speed gearbox with optional overdrive, this endowed the car with a top speed of almost 120mph and a 0-60 time of just 11.4 seconds.

The car’s muscular bodywork was made by Jensen in West Bromwich, with final assembly by the Austin-Healey craftsmen at the Abingdon works near Oxford. Improvements over the 100/6 included front disc brakes while a choice of either two-seater (BN7) or 2+2 (BT7) body styles were available, with two-tone paint as a popular option. Out of 13,650 MkI models built in total, 2,825 were built as two-seaters and 10,825 as four-seaters, 90% of them in LHD for the booming American market, before it was supplanted by the MkII in 1961.

This 1961 four-seater Healey is one of those US market cars. Amazingly it has had just one owner from new, a California gentleman who kept it for 54 years until he passed away earlier this year. In remarkably original condition structurally, it appears never to have been welded underneath thanks to a lifetime spent in the Sunshine State.

Equipped with the desirable overdrive option, it is showing some 92,035 miles on the clock which is thought to be genuine, and has clearly been a much-cherished machine although sadly, the bulging history file which did accompany the car somehow went missing during its recent journey back across the Atlantic, having been placed for ‘safe-keeping’ in a plastic folder under the passenger seat...

In the process of being UK registered, all import duties have been paid and it should be on UK plates with a V5C in time for the sale. Said to drive beautifully with an MOT until October 2106, it certainly started instantly and ran very smoothly as we moved it around for these photos, burbling nicely through its twin exhausts and even drawing an admiring crowd of nuns!

Far better preserved than any UK car could ever hope to be, it could easily be converted to RHD if desired, using a kit of parts readily available from one of the many specialists who cater for this model.

PS: This car now has a V5C and is registered 117 UYO