1958 Austin-Healey 100/6 BN4 Roadster ‘big brake’ model, this is finished in beautiful period Seafoam with contrast cream British White paint, this color is set off with the white cream interior with Seafoam piping, has the complete tonneau cover, top, full bow set and the side curtains, custom car cover, Chassis #BN4LS49611 is a relatively recent restoration initially from the Wayne Carini F40 collection and for Summer 2011, full updating by Fraser Dante, the full equipment includes the hard to find five rare original steel wheels, nicely detailed underchassis just presented, Chassis no. BN4LS49611, here is a perennially desirable British sports car, the Austin-Healey 100 was so-named for its ability to hit 100 mph, this could actually reach 104 mph, in the trunk is the rare ‘hammer’ with the spare, this is one of 14,436 produced from 1956 until 1959 for the total world market, here is the essence of a British Sports car, hard to find equipment comes with this car, great expense and effort just completed for Fall 2011 to make this rare ‘big brake’ system as new, this braking system took lots and lots of technical work to accomplish the top braking as these brakes were the end of an era of drum brakes that were used on Ferrari’s of the same era, this has outstanding work making for great performance,
History: here is a terrific presentation one of the early and desirable ‘Big Healeys” that were used by the BMC Competition Department, their contract driver list reads like a who’s who of competitive drivers’ of the period; the Morley brothers, Clive Baker, David Hobbs, Pat Moss, Paddy Hopkirk of BMC Sebring fame, Rauno Aaltonen and the most famous and successful of them all, the ‘Flying Finn’ Timo Makinen, these cars had an outstanding look along with the strong torque of the large 6 cylinder engine, dual carbs and a 4-speed transmissions, these early cars were light as compared to the later cars without roll up windows, no attached top, no heavy bumpers, lots of ‘comfort’ extras in later years took out the performance these lightweight bodies were the start of the real sports car market, great fun to drive,
This 1958 Austin Healey initially restored a few years ago for a collector, this was owned by Wayne Carini of F40 Motorsports and ‘Chasing Classic Cars’ , he sold it to a collector who really never drove it after purchase, was found at a sale in Florida and returned to Fraser Dante Ltd in Atlanta for a full ‘refreshment’, hard to find so original with the color and original five steel wheels and center caps, recently owned by a true ‘car guy’, then this was sold by Fraser Dante to a customer who did 100 miles and got transferred to Minneapolis, did not want to use in that harsh environment, now back in Atlanta,
ENGINE/TRANSMISSION: has the BMC 6-cylinder engine with dual SU carburetors, engine block #26C/U/H49611 with date code 12.J.7, cylinder head #AEC814, intake is the Westlake alloy #565394, proper radiator #11 B2301, freshly flushed with new coolant, air shroud and proper fan guard, the engine is very nicely detailed for driven show, the 4-speed transmission #AEC 3174, tail shaft housing # 1B3764 works as it should, proper shifter, the running condition is just checked and set by a top technician,
BODY/BRAKING: Kumho 165/R15 radial tires with full matching spare on 5 rare steel disc steel wheels with correct Healey dog dish hub caps that bearing clear with large ‘big brakes’, this 1958 Austin Healey has been fully restored, but sat for awhile, which is not good for a brake system, Fraser Dante, in order to accomplish a top braking system, did a full brake rebuild on the “big brake drum system”, a very hard to get and expensive master cylinder starts the process, then one has to use the special aluminum brake cylinders only for this “big brake” system, these parts are very expensive and accessible through Moss Motors, Fraser Dante spent great effort to work with Moss technical support to get the parts for this rare Healey (SEE LINKOF SOME PARTS), then our top technician installed said system three times to get it fully inspected, the parts to make this system work from master cylinder to the individual brakes, shoes and other pieces are fully checked the system fluids installed, then road test and drive to ensure system worked correctly,
The underchassis is most solid when found as this was an earlier frame off restoration with some minor miles one can tell, as Wayne Carini told us, F40 Motorsports sold the car to a collector and then it sat for many years, now one can see the (LINK) for the fresh underchassis presentation that is just completed to bring it back up to high standards, said fine underchassis is shown with only paint on metal so one can see how solid it is, then the final prep to protect inner fenders from rocks being thrown up and the very lower rocker panels has clear protective coating just applied, this effort was accomplished by a top body shop commissioned by Fraser Dante, one cannot tell as this is virtually invisible, this extensive work on the chassis shows the integrity of this beautiful 1958 Austin Healey,
EXTERIOR/INTERIOR: very pretty Seafoam green over British White, chrome front and rear bumpers with bumper guards, dual exterior chrome mirrors, very nice Cream bucket seats with contrasting Seafoam piping looks excellent, the interior specialist who just checked the whole installation states that the seats are leather, very nice new carpet kit, all the gauges work, has the front safety belts, nice tan vinyl soft top with the bows are part of the package, has the matching tan vinyl tonneau cover that is generally used in Europe, has the factory side curtains, rare tool kit in trunk, the custom car cover is brand new,
SUMMARY: truly beautiful 1958 Austin-Healey 100/6 BN4 Roadster in the rare Seafoam color with the top, bows and side curtains, great looking Austin Healey has been gone through for Fall 2011 by Fraser Dante to insure the excellent in presentation and ready to drive and enjoy, this is an fabulous Healey with solid mechanicals and excellent presentation for one to drive, show and enjoy, a pretty investment, lightweight 100/6, $51,950
GREAT 1958 AUSTIN HEALEY 100/6 IN A TERRIFIC COLOR!