Austin-Healey’s and the Austin Healey Car Club of NZ and Others

[Roger Dowding]

The McLoughlin ownership of the car and some competition details - events, entry lists and photo's.

Myles Hicks writes ;

" He then sold it the Pat McLoughlin. They raced it through until 1970. During that period it was raced all around the north island, originally with the 3000 Ruddspeed engine, but then later with the Austin 4000 engine which was then enlarged to 4200. It was probably changed to make the Healey more competitive against newer cars. Remarkably the larger engine fitted into the engine bay with very little modifications.
In 1970 Pats brother Roger was killed in a road accident in his A90 [ **A95 ! ] which had the Ruddspeed engine fitted to it. At that time the Healey along with Rogers lowlife [*** lowline ! ] Cooper Climax where parked in the barn.
"
" When we got the car it had a tow bar fitted which slid out, apparently they would tow the Cooper to the meetings behind the Healey, remove the tow bar, one raced the Healey, the other the Cooper, then hook it all up again at the end of the meeting. " .

Ross Cammick [ BMC Boy ] wrote this ; about the car when in the Mcloughlins care.

" It was fitted with a 4000 big Austin motor and the original Ruddspeed was fitted into a A95 Sedan which I think hit a bridge and killed one of the McLaughlin brothers.
When Gavin bought the Healey the 4000 was still in the car and they could drive it. The A95 was parked in damaged condition under a tree with the Ruddspeed engine
out beside it.
"

Ross adds ;

" Old English white over black as original with a black works hardtop.
It has a lot of mods fitted from Ruddspeed including an original 100S oil cooler. It’s a 1959 3000 BT7 "

Pictures of the car at Ardmore, and Pukekohe 1962 - 1964

Ardmore 1962 ;



The Entry List Ardmore 1962 - Graham Woods



Pukekohe 1964
- Race No #37 The Auckland Car Clubs December 1964 meeting Engine now the Austin Four Litre.
In the Paddock



On the track being pursued !



December 1964 the Entry List.



More to come at Pukekohe and a photo at Chamberlain Road the ACC Hill Climb.

[Roger Dowding]

Pukekohe 1966 Race No #35 -being driven quickly - the car is at Rothmans Hill - this photo has been cropped. I am hoping to get the Original.
Car now 4200 cc



Entry list from the Race ; The Ken Wharton Memorial Trophy Race at the New Zealand International Grand Prix meeting.
I was there so have seen the car - but didn't realise it



Got my time line a bit out of kilter !!
1961
The car at Auckland Car Club Chamberlain Road Hill Climb - a well known road in the Speed Event calender in the 1960's 70's -unsure when they stopped using it ?no details of the date - crudely painted numbers as they did at these events - just white chalk / poster paint that easily rubbed / washed off. This would be 1961
This is earlier in the cars history - still has the old style number plates 603.043
Would have been in Russell Leathers days as plates replaced with Black on Yellow in mid 1961 .. 420.664 and then with BN2253 when permanent plates arrived in mid 1964



1963
This is an Entry List for Pukekohe 1963 with Pat McLoughlin in the car still the Ruddspeed 3000,Brother Roger in a Sprite which was painted in the same colour scheme Old English White over Black. No photos.



That is all I have on the cars competition history - to date
Next is what the car looked like when the Hicks acquired it and the A90/6 [ A95! ] in 1985.



Photos from Myles Hicks archives - except the Gear Knob from Mark Donaldson from AHCCNZ

Programmes mainly from Graham Woods with one from Milan Fistonic - as detailed on the images.

Note ; some photo descriptions partly incorrect - I have to rename them now that the events are correctly dated.

[Roger Dowding]

Ownership Number three - we are now in 1985 - the car having sat since 1970.

Myles Hicks writes ;

" Gavin purchased the car in 1985, as it sat for the last period, with the Cooper still sitting with it.
When we got the car it had a tow bar fitted which slid out, apparently they would tow the Cooper to the meetings behind the Healey, remove the tow bar, one raced the Healey, the other the Cooper, then hook it all up again at the end of the meeting.
After sitting in our shed for another 30+ years, Gavin started the restoration last year. Sadly he passed away before it was completed. I have continued with the restoration which is getting close to completion. It was in very original condition, only done 39,000 miles.
"

Ross Cammicks notes ;

" I think the McLaughlin car is the Ruddspeed Healey that belongs to Myles Hicks (do you remember Gavin Hicks father of Myles and Justin. He passed away recently)
It was fitted with a 4000 big Austin motor and the original Ruddspeed was fitted into a A95 Sedan which I think hit a bridge and killed one of the McLaughlin brothers.
When Gavin bought the Healey the 4000 was still in the car and they could drive it. The A95 was parked in damaged condition under a tree with the Ruddspeed engine
out beside it.
Myles noted about the 4000 engine ;

" Interesting it’s listed as 4000 as most of the programs had it entered as 4200.
The original motor would had been 4000, so they must have done the enlargement after this date - referring to the Dec 1964 entry list shows 4000cc whereas the 1966 entry list 420occ "

Myles is currently finishing the car which had only about 40000 miles on it and in very nice condition bodywise for its age. Old English white over black as original with a black works hardtop.
It has a lot of mods fitted from Ruddspeed including an original 100S oil cooler. It’s a 1959 3000 BT7 .. Edited ..

They found a buyer with a Jensen 541 who wanted a modified 4000cc Austin 6. Probably the only person who would want one of those boat anchors!
"

Photos from the Montage - separated out.







The burnt out A90/6



Scrutineering stickers from the Car -last warrant was in 1970.



The whole Montage [ posted before ]




Restoration photos to follow ;

[Roger Dowding]

Recent photos of the restoration from Myles Hicks -restoration started in 2018 ;
Some other interesting cars in the edges of the photos - other Hicks projects.







The Engine Bay should look like this when finished a 1960 photo of the car when new-ish - a 1959 model as stated.




That is the story so far !
Thanks to Myles Hicks and Ross Cammick for the information - Myles for the photos, and to Graham Woods and Milan Fistonic for the entry lists. Contributions from two TRS members..

[Roger Dowding]

Correction of information has been made on both posts.
Incorrectly attributed Chassis Number AHS3905 to Joe Jarick from QLD Australia with that Chassis Number Joe and Lyn Jarick's Car is AHS3807 ..which they have owned for 40 years - My Bad - oops !!.

A bit of the History of AHS3905 from Chris Dimmock - sent to me by Mark Donaldson.
From the Austin Healey Owners Club yearbook.



Post #828 about BU1629 and IF4514 - Carjam shows them as the same car - this is incorrect and the chassis number for BU1629 is 159745 not 159475 .. their error - must see if it can be corrected. I know you can correct odometer reading, so will try - It may rquire the actual owner to do so.

Both lots of information from Mark Donaldson - thanks Mark.

Mark is also locating some information on another Ruddspeed 3000 - this one a racer in the USA [ and Canada ! ] in the 1970's.

[Ray Bell]

Sam Miller was quite a man...

He lived on the same farm all his life, about 30kms North of Gunnedah. During the war he built a little car for his nephews, a Douglas flat twin engine in the front drove a very long chain to the back axle, it looked like a miniature Riley and the wheels were turned up out of some gum tree.

In the garage when I visited there about 20 years ago was a Lancia Lambda which had been in that same garage every night since it was delivered new in 1926.

The real prize, as far as I was concerned, however, was a 1911 Regal Underslung...

[Roger Dowding]

My getting the story wrong on Joe Jarick's car resulted in getting some clarification from Mark Donaldson, and today some details from Joe Jarick ;
Joe writes ;

" On arranging the purchase ; in November 1974

“ First mention of 3807 was in the May issue of Safety Fast magazine. Following been unsuccessful buying 3901 (too expensive even though I had supplied the engine parts to get it going), 3910 (Bo changed his mind), in mid 1974 I rang Directory assistance in Portugal and asked for his name. There was 83 people by the same name. I asked the operator to ring one. It was not him, but when I mentioned ‘Austin Healey’ he said you need ‘Ingeniro’, the man of the same name who was an engineer. He passed the message on and I received a letter a week or so later. “

Joe had previously owned AHS3701.

“I instigated the 100S Register in 1971 following purchasing AHS 3701. I am the third owner of AHS 3807, at the time I purchased it I met the original owner who was the Austin agent for Portugal. “
"

" 45 years ago today I purchased AHS 3807 in Portugal, having flown to Lisbon to meet the owner in Cascais, a resort village just to the north. The Carnation Revolution had taken place and on my return on 10 December, clutching the registration papers I drove the Healey through the border into Spain to Madrid, then north to meet the London bound ferry from Bilbao. I had sold a completely disassembled AHS 3701 in Australia to make the purchase along with almost everything I had. AHS 3807 had just 20,400 miles on it from new "

Photo of Joe racing the car - captioned ;
" a younger version of me. 1998 Australian Grand Prix Historic Support Event, Albert Park, Melbourne. I also ran the 100S at the 1996 Grand Prix, first ‘modern’ Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne "

The Melbourne Photo ; Joe Jarick archives



Photo of Joe and Lyn in the Car in 2018 [ posted in #822 some time ago ]..Joe Jarick archives



The car - Photo from many years ago



Photo from Steve Pike noted as 1972 but would have been late 1974 or early 1975 when it arrived in Sydney..

Car was sold new in Portugal as noted by Joe Jarick - details in the Geoffrey Healey Book
-Austin Healey -" the story of the Big Healeys "

Invoiced to " J. J. Concalves Sucrs., Lisbon, Portugal despatch date 25th May 1955 "

As Joe Jarick mentions he started a 100S Register in 1971, and Mark Donaldson has a very compete record of the 100S cars too !!.
37 of the 55 still survive [ 50 Customer cars and 5 Works cars ].
The Chassis numbering was done to confuse other manufacturers and works teams, as cars number from AHS3501 to AHS3910 - [ 409 ] they are in blocks of 10 AHS3501 to AHS3510, then 3601 - 10 , 3701 - 10 .. etc, etc .. for the Customer cars ..

[Roger Dowding]

BMC BOY sent me this photo from the archives on his car ..

Four Monochrome Photos showing the Car in the 1960's and in 2019.
Photo from mid 1964 on as has the permanent Number Plate





Race #23 - the Race Number at the Auckland Car Club December 1964 meeting.
But are they the same meeting as one photo the Race #23 is in a Roundel, the first photo does not appear to be. The car is at Pukekohe
Photo's above.
The Entry List thanks to Graham Woods -entry includes the Ruddspeed now Austin 3000 / 4000 of the McLoughlins.


Race #21 the Race number for the 1965 Gold Leaf Three Hour Challenge Race.. Photo below.
Ken Hyndman had the programme- posted on my Pukekohe thread a while ago.





2019 - The Brit Euro - in Monochrome ..
with the HL3000 plate that would have been ordered through the Post Office and issued late 1970's when Ross completed the Rebuild /Restoration ..



Carjam shows this

" Year: 1959
Make: AUSTIN
Model: HEALEY
Colour: Red
Body Style: Sports Car
Plate: HL3000
Engine No: 29DR96784
Chassis: HBN75439 "

" Plate Effective Date
HL3000 28-Sep-1964 "

BN7 The two seater version of the AH 3000 Mark One were fairly rare compared the the 4 seater [ well 2 + 2 ] BT7.
Produced 1959 - 1961 were 10,825 BT7 and 2825 BN7.
The two seater was even more rare in the 3000 Mark Two
Produced 1961 - 1962 were 5,095 BT7 and only 355 BN7 - these were the model known in the AH world as the Tri-Carb .. with the three SU Carburettors
The BJ series started in 1962




Thanks to Ross Cammick Milan Fistonic [ from a Magazine ] Rhys Nolan and Nigel Watts for the images.

[Roger Dowding]

Have received more entry lists, results and Programme covers from Myles Hicks - showing the Ruddspeed 3000 / Austin 4000 at events.

Matamata Street Races 1965.
Programme Cover



Entry List - Sports Car Race The Leathers / McLoughlin car - now with Pat Mcloughlin is the Austin 4000 powered car.
lap 1 was Tenth and it finished Fourth
Bill Dunster in second place



Lap Times and Placings - handwritten note re the Trophy's.



Auckland Car Club " Hillclimb @ Bombay " - would be Chamberlain Road and a couple of Austin Healey's are featured.
Date of meeting not known.
Results List ; Times and Placings.
The Leathers car is shown as 2912 cc so the Ruddspeed 3000 engine
an R Cammick in another Austin Healey - Is that BMC BOY - seems he would have been too young ??

It is in fact Rick Cammick - Ross' older cousin who now lives in Fiji. just found this out - had seen the photo before though [ copied below - from Milan Fistonic

My old Neighbour from New Lynn Alan Woolf in his Ford 8.. so image is 1961



Car Race #27 - shown again. Same event ? It was at Chamberlain Road - Car has the early 1956-61 plates on



Rick Cammick in his 100 Six at Golf Road - MG Car Club Hillclimb in Titirangi -Golf Road now a sealed road has been for many years and yes by the Golf Course - photo from BMC BOY Ross.

[Roger Dowding]

Started the story as got the entry list for a Race at the Auckland Car Club December 1964 meeting with a 4000cc Austin Healey entered.

The Programme cover
[ now TRS site is working again ].



The full page with the entry list

[Roger Dowding]

Nigel Watts comment on his thread about TRs uploading same thing in the post above #870 - the second image shows as attached images - yet didn't seem to load up when I tried so just added the post with idea of editing it later, and there it is ..

Was going to add this too !!.

The entry list that started the whole Ruddspeed story - from Graham Woods, Myles Hicks posted the whole page of the programme.

Attachment 64127

Thats all the Ruddspeed for the moment.

Attachment 64128

Many thanks to Ross Cammick, Myles Hicks for the Ruddspeed story and photo's, and to Graham Woods for the original image [ above ] and the Ardmore and Pukekohe Sports Car Race entry lists, already posted.
Finally to Milan Fistonic thanks for your images and programme's too..

Do have another photo of Rick Cammick [ Ross' cousin ] in his 100 Six at the Golf Road Hillclimb with Auckland Car Club .. I was living in New Lynn at the time and didn't realise - even though Alan Woolf would have been heading off form a few doors up in his Ford 8..

This by Milan Fistonic from BMC BOYS archives.

Attachment 64129

That distance from 110 Seabrook Avenue ([ my house ] Alan Woolf was at 116 I think ) to Golf Road is only .....
3 km or ....
5 minutes to the bottom of Golf Road on Portage Road by the Golf Course - would imagine that they used the first Golf Course part of the road - as housing further up.

*** see Milan's comments next post .. nearer the top of the road, near Stottholm Road

The images have vanished - will try again in a new post Grrr ...

[Milan Fistonic]

The MG Car Club Hillclimb was not at the Golf Course end of Golf Road. Going up Golf Road from Portage Road, the venue was Crum's clay pit on the left at the top of the hill just past the shops by Stottholm Road. That's my photo of Rick in the Healey.

[Roger Dowding]

The MG Car Club Hillclimb was not at the Golf Course end of Golf Road. Going up Golf Road from Portage Road, the venue was Crum's clay pit on the left at the top of the hill just past the shops by Stottholm Road. That's my photo of Rick in the Healey.

Milan thanks, for that yes your photo which Ross Ricks cousin sent to me.. always like to acknowledge sources of photos etc..
Also thanks also about where the event was .. that would be where the new housing occurred later - in the late 1970's .. means it was even closer to where I lived.
Do you know the date[s] of the event. around 1960 - 61 by the number plates..

And now my attachments to post #871 have gone .. grrr..

[Ray Bell]

Did we establish for sure that the 4000 engine is an Austin engine (truck or Shereline) yet?

I note that the programme above shows it to be 3993cc while most sources seem to have the big Austins at 3995cc.

[Roger Dowding]

Did we establish for sure that the 4000 engine is an Austin engine (truck or Shereline) yet?

I note that the programme above shows it to be 3993cc while most sources seem to have the big Austins at 3995cc.

Ray, according to Myles Hicks - who now has the car, it was the car [so Shearline A125/A135 - I am not an expert on Big Austins ] version of the 4 litre - capacity details at motor race meeting were from the entry forms and deciphering the entrants handwriting then the potential for typos..
The engine got sold to a guy with a Jensen 541 - who liked the idea of a modified version of the engine at 4200cc and other mods.
as BMC BOY mentioned " about the only one who would want that " Boat Anchor ".
- I would have thought the 3000 could have been modified a bit more and kept competitive.
The result at Matamata was that the Bill Dunster 3000 came second and the 4000cc 4th.. or maybe Dunster was the better driver !!

[Ray Bell]

There's every likelihood that the extra weight (probably over 100lbs of it) in the front end hobbled the handling...

Remember the Ross Bond experience with the alloy head.

[Roger Dowding]

Nigel Watts comment on his thread about TRs uploading same thing in the post above #870 - the second image shows as attached images - yet didn't seem to load up when I tried so just added the post with idea of editing it later, and there it is ..

Was going to add this too !!.

The entry list that started the whole Ruddspeed story - from Graham Woods, Myles Hicks posted the whole page of the programme.

Attachment 64127

Thats all the Ruddspeed for the moment.

Attachment 64128

Many thanks to Ross Cammick, Myles Hicks for the Ruddspeed story and photo's, and to Graham Woods for the original image [ above ] and the Ardmore and Pukekohe Sports Car Race entry lists, already posted.
Finally to Milan Fistonic thanks for your images and programme's too..

Do have another photo of Rick Cammick [ Ross' cousin ] in his 100 Six at the Golf Road Hillclimb with Auckland Car Club .. I was living in New Lynn at the time and didn't realise - even though Alan Woolf would have been heading off form a few doors up in his Ford 8..

This by Milan Fistonic from BMC BOYS archives.

Attachment 64129

That distance from 110 Seabrook Avenue ([ my house ] Alan Woolf was at 116 I think ) to Golf Road is only .....
3 km or ....
5 minutes to the bottom of Golf Road on Portage Road by the Golf Course - would imagine that they used the first Golf Course part of the road - as housing further up.

*** see Milan's comments next post .. nearer the top of the road, near Stottholm Road

The images have vanished - will try again in a new post Grrr ...

The images ;

The entry list that started the search ! from Graham Woods - Myles Hick also posted a copy.



Shifting along



the other R Cammick - Milan Fistonic photo Ross Cammick archives - Rick Cammick at Golf Road, Green Bay /Titirangi, West Auckland around 1961 ..
Milan knows more :
Posted before ... oops ! Rick Cammick


Another of Milan's photos at Golf Road - that I meant to post Rick Cammick's car



including this ; post 872 quote :

" The MG Car Club Hillclimb was not at the Golf Course end of Golf Road. Going up Golf Road from Portage Road, the venue was Crum's clay pit on the left at the top of the hill just past the shops by Stottholm Road. That's my photo of Rick in the Healey. "

275,725 views when I first looked today - Thanks for the interest in a One Marque thread.

[Roger Dowding]

Russell Leathers must have done a few North Island meetings in the car
Here he is on the entry list at Ohakea 1961 - thanks once again to Graham Woods
[ - will send this to Myles Hicks in case he doesn't have it. ]
Three other Healeys in the race all 100's Four cylinder - unsure if any were 100S
Ivy Stephensen in a Buckler and Rod Coppins in a Jaguar 3500 cc - presume an XK of some description, or did he have a C or D-type ??.
Lots of well known 1960's and earlier Drivers there ..
Must see if Graham Woods has the results for this event.

[Milan Fistonic]

Because this event was not a championship round, single-seater entries were so light they were combined with the sports cars. A scratch race and two handicaps were run but as the event number is not on the attached entry list I do not know which race is shown.

In the first handicap race the winner was Tony Shelly in his 2-litre Cooper with the first sports car being T Register's Morgan second and Cavanagh's 1500 Special third. Leathers, Doug Lawrence (Cooper), Rod Coppins (XK120), Alwyn Marshall (Buckler) were the next finishers.

The second handicap race saw Bob Blackburn's Lotus 7 take the honours from the single-seaters of Boyd (HWM) and Grimshaw-Jones (Cooper Bristol). Sports cars filled the next three places with Colin Ngan (Cooper) ahead of Ivy Stephenson (Buckler) and Register's Morgan. Jack Malcolm was 7th in the Cooper-Holden while Tony Shelly, after starting from the back mark, could only make it to 10th.

[Roger Dowding]

The engines - the Austin 4000 beside the AH 3000 - Myles Hicks photo from when they got the engines out of the two cars the Healey and the A90.

This is for you Ray Bell. ***

Huge difference in size and as we know weight.



New comment from Myles Hicks ;
" She was a whopper! It’s unbelievable that it fitted in. They only bent the bulkhead flange down a little and put the smallest notch in the upper from cross member.
It was identified as a Sheerline motor, and yes the same as the Jensen 541 but the 541R had a different head. "
Sheerline was designated A110 originally and then A125 with the larger engine;
" A110: 3,460 cc (211.1 cu in)
A125: 3,995 cc (243.8 cu in)
6-cylinder overhead-valve "

This from Wikipaedia - there will be other / better sources ;
" The Austin Sheerline is a large luxury car produced by Austin in the United Kingdom from 1947 to 1954.

The Sheerline was designed by Austin during the Second World War, but volume production did not begin until 1947 because of the commitment to war production. It was a luxurious car in the style of the contemporary Rolls-Royce or Bentley but at a much lower price, around two-thirds that of the equivalent Rolls-Royce but still the price of five or six small Austins. There were about 8,000 built but it is now becoming quite rare.

The first cars,[1] designated A110, had a 3,460 cc straight-six overhead valve engine but this was soon[2] increased to 3,995 cc with 125 bhp (93 kW) and the designation then became A125. Initially only a Saloon version on a 9-foot-11¼-inch (3 metres) wheelbase chassis was made, but this was joined by a Limousine version in late 1949[3] on a stretched 11 ft (3.3 metres) chassis also used for a hearse and an ambulance. At 37 hundredweight (1,850 kg) for the saloon and 2 tons (2,000 kg) for the limousine this was a heavy car, and to maintain performance a low final drive ratio of 4.55:1 with 16-inch tyres was fitted. Suspension was by coil springs at the front and half-elliptic leaf springs at the rear. The saloon version had a top speed of 82 mph (132 km/h).

Production ceased in 1954 and Austin's luxury offering was limited to the A135 [ Austin Princess ] "

This from an Austin Memories site ;

" Design of the Sheerline began in 1942, Leonard Lord wanted a traditional British look, the vehicle was amined at giving a luxurious car in the vogue of a Rolls-Royce or Bentley with vertical grille, large and impressive headlights; distinctive knife-edge styling with separate but flowing wings and traditionally mounted side lights. The interior also needed to give a feel of opulence with walnut veneer, leather upholstery and luxury carpets.

This all came to fruition in 1947 when the Austin A110 Sheerline was annoounced. But only 12 were actually made when a decision was made to increase the engine size from 3460 cc to 3993 The model which was produced at Longbridge remained in production till 1954. It could also be purchased in chassis form as a Hearse or Ambulance. The year before 1946 Vanden Plas a coach building company who were based in Kingsbury London had been bought by the Austin Motor Company. So when the Sheerline was launched as a A125 the Vandan Plas version was called the Austin A135 Princess Mk I using the same chassis and running gear as the Sheerline it had a streamline body with the headlamps blending into the wings."

" Model (A110)
Date when launched 1947
Total produced 12
Engine
3,460cc Power RAC rating 26.9hp.
Length 15ft 11.5ins Width 6ft 1ins Height 5ft 7ins
Wheelbase 9ft 11.3ins Track front 4ft 10ins rear 5ft 0ins
Price ex Works Aug 1947 £1277 "

" Model A125 Sheerline

Date when launched 1947 Discontinued in 1954

Total produced 11,605 including chassis for use with other bodies
Engine 3995cc 130bhp at 3,700 rpm Max torque 150 lbs/ft at 2,000 rpm
Length 15ft 11.5ins Width 6ft 1ins Height 5ft 7ins
Wheelbase 9ft 11.3ins Track front 4ft 10ins rear 5ft 0ins

Price ex Works September 1948 £1277 Suitcases £21

Colours in 1948 for A125 & A135 . . Metallic Grey with Grey upholstery.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Portland Grey with Beige upholstery.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Black with Beige upholstery.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Or to Order "

As Ray Bell mentioned engine described as 3993 cc and 3995 cc - even in the same article.




As mentioned the Jensen 541 and 541 R both used the A125 Motor;

" "