Car 24 is Brian Watson's Missattor, a Mistral-bodied Ford 8 (later Ford 10) special.Originally Posted by Roger Dowding
Car 24 is Brian Watson's Missattor, a Mistral-bodied Ford 8 (later Ford 10) special.
I see a spare Healey 100 engine in the background, too, as well as half a dozen rods and other assorted engine bits.
Model " Dinky " Austin Healey in 1;1 scale.
Have several " Dinky " Big Healey's but not like this.
An AH 100 with a Triumph TR4A and a Jaguar E-Type - part of a Dinky trio I have had since the 1980's
- Owned a 100 and a TR4A, but never an E - type
Mille Miglia 1955 - The first year of the 100S - checking the chassis number AHS3...
OON440 was a works car.. known as a Special Test Car from the 1954 series SPL257BN - it competed in the Mille Miglia in 1954 [ as a normal 100 ] and 1955 as a 100S,and later raced at Sebring in 1956 - according to the Geoff Healey book " Healey - The Specials "
In New Zealand we have the " Healey Corvette " the car created by Arthur Kennard, the car was bought new by Geoff Mardon of motorcycle and Stanton Corvette fame.
Meanwhile in Australia was the " Healey Oldsmobile ", had heard of the car - this a " Sports Car World " magazine article from the time.
another photo of the car. Rick Neville archives
On the grid ; Nassau Speed Week 1958.
The 100 Six cars would have been fairly new - Introduced in late 1957.
Niel Allen's first-ever race win came in a 100/6...
It was at a Warwick Farm AARC Club Meeting in November, 1963. I wonder if there are photos of that?
He also set fastest lap in the Marque Sports Car Final at the end of the day.
A couple of images - complete with notes - the Start of the " Florida International Grand Prix " known as the
" Sebring 12 Hour " Race.
Three Austin Healey cars in the start line up Cars #23, #25 and #24. Why they are out of numerical order I do not know.
According to the Geoff Healey book " Austin Healey - the story of the big Healey ". 3 cars were prepared based on the 1956 100 Six - Six hour record breaking car that broke National Class D and International Class D records for events from 200 miles to 1000 miles and also 3 hour and 6 hour records on a 10 mile circular course.
They had elongated bodywork [ long nose ].
The two unusual looking cars in the centre of the second photo in white are Arnolt Bristol cars - Bristol cars with bodywork designed by an American ' Arnolt '.
Possibly the start order was dictated by practice times?
The Healeys also appear to have elongated tails.
" elongated tails. " Thanks for that Ray Bell - I thought so too about the tails - which is like those on the record breaker / endurance cars in the mid/later 1950's 1954-56 on.
Start order - could be - must do some more delving into the Sebring archives ..
Think this is 1967 .. a Sprite in front - of the group.
1968 a view of the track .. or part of it !!
The drawings (in pencil) of the Sprite in post 1249 were given to me by the Healey family (long story) and stolen from me by a Healey specialist in Henderson.
The Book by Jack Barlow about Lance Macklin - the American who raced for Donald Healey Motor Company works team in the 1955 Le Mans and elswhere.
Should be a good read but unknown when it will be available in New Zealand.
A series of photos have emerged of the " 1955 Austin Healey Le Mans entry car #26 " [ Chassis # SPL226B ] from when it was auctioned in 2011 prior to be restored to its 1955 state.
It sold at Auction for GBP843,000 USD988,273 at the time and was untouched from 1969 when purchased by Jack Scott for .... This.
Profit would have easily paid for any storage costs for all those years.
Can anyone decipher the word between "in" and "condition" ?
In unroadworthy condition ?
That seems likely...
It would have had a good chance of being put out of square when hit by the 300SLR.
Does its value, though, come from being involved in the worst crash in motor racing history?
I'm surprised that the Healey Jaguar that featured in Sports Car World hasn't appeared here. Sprite based.
Oldfart, have heard / read of it but have no information although have a few SCW magazines from the 1960's.
If you have some details would like to see them on here.
Cheers
Roger
Ken H ... like Greg T I could not work out that word - thanks for the translation - mind you you did work in the UK for a while..
Cheers
Roger..
a photo of the cars Chassis Plate -
- More to come .. on NOJ393 .. and Ray Bell could be right its fame is because of the terrible crash
NOJ393, one of the AHX 1953 Special Test Cars -
Chassis No SPL226B, Engine No 1B136878,
Later when converted to a 100S, Engine No SPL261BN.
The Car was raced at Le Mans in 1953 as a 100 and in 1955 as a " 100S ". As a 100S it carried body number 25.
- [ details from Geoff Healey books - - " Austin Healey - The Story of the Big Healey " and " Healey -The Specials " ].
Photos of the car as seen in 2011 when for sale by Jack Scott who had paid GBP 155 in 1969 to buy it.
- it had been rebuilt for the first time after the 1955 Le Mans crash and by 1969 was looking tired, as in, had lots of " PATINA ".
It stayed in its 1969 condition from then until the sale in 2011 when a further restore / rebuild took place.
[ photographer is not known - the photos were posted by Rainer Jordan on an Austin Healey facebook page along with the chassis plate posted earlier in the thread ].
Fully restored to its 1955 Le Mans " works " livery and race number " 26 " which happened between 2011 and 2013, to my knowledge. Steve Pike has photos of the restored as have many others - some of which have appeared on this thread.
Last edited by Roger Dowding; 09-18-2022 at 04:57 AM.
Various photos of NO393 in 100S form.
At Le Mans in 1955 - in the pits and the crash.
As seen in 1969 at Auction.
As it is now fully restored to 1955 Le Mans state.
Photo from Road and Track is undated
Steve and Helen Pike beside the car - Mille Miglia
The chassis plate [ again ] as seen in 1969 -presume it too !! , has been tidied up.
I reckon Lance was a lucky boy that day...
The whole of the crash could have been concentrated on him rather than the Mercedes going scything through the crowd in the stands.
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