If you have been looking for a winter project to tinker with until spring, look no further than this 1955 Austin Healey 100-4 BN1L in a stunning Healey Blue. It is currently listed for $12,600 with the reserve not yet met. This suave speedster has been tucked away in a barn for 40 years. It has clocked in 7,000 miles and has a clean title. The car is located in Pensacola, Florida. You can view the listing here on eBay.
The inline four-cylinder engine does turn freely and has new SU carburetors. That is connected to a three-speed manual transmission with overdrive. In the listing it states that the undercarriage of the car is in very good shape, only suffering from light surface rust. There are a few trouble spots on the body though that will require new sheet metal. There is a quarter sized hole in the floorboards as well.
The interior on this car does need to be restored. A few of the gauges on the dashboard need to have the glass replaced on them. The fold-down windshield works as it should. It also comes with a Tonneau cover and side curtains. A spare wheel and jack are also included with the car. In one of the pictures, the two recovered red seats sit out in front of the garage door like a pair of earrings ready to be put on.
The VIN is listed and the seller is willing to send more photos if you desire to see more. If the original convertible top can be found, that will also be included in the purchase. While it might take more dollars and time than over the winter, you can at least look forward to knowing that if you can get it running and safe to drive, that spring, summer, and even fall car shows will be very enjoyable in a convertible.
Maybe an “over the winter” project if you can weld and/or are willing to drive around with the tinworm gnawing away…. Though the photos don’t show it, the ad copy mentions a need for new rocker panels and rust repair on the rear fenders, both typical corrosion sports for Healeys. There will almost certainly be more.
I’d feel a total teardown and rebuild should be essential. Though relatively simple and robust, four-cylinder Healeys suffer the same problems as their six-cylinder descendants. The major one is rust in hidden/hard to access places. When I bought my BN2 (same car, with four-speed transmission) many years ago, it looked much better than this, but the farther we got into it, more work lay ahead and more parts had to come off.
A great project, but not really for the weekend tinkerer, unless he or she has a fat wallet to pay for a lot of work done between the weekends….
Oh, and a nit-pick: a “BN1L” is simply a left-hand drive BN1. It was a serial number designation, not a model. “L”= LHD. The only BN1s that had model names were the “100M” (“Le Mans”) which was essentially a hop-up kit, stiffer shocks and dash plaque and the “100S,” which was considerably different (engine, brakes, full-aluminum body, etc., etc.) and was designed for racing (though it was a heckuva good street machine!).
Here we go… Peter Egan wrote a story about his 100-4. He kept scraping the exhaust pipe until it detached. Great road trip story. Mebbee Egan will buy it. He’s been there numerous times. He usually starts a restoration by sandblasting the brake backing plates.
Healeys are history. As are the rest of the sports cars of the time. Wanna’ race at Riverside? Uncork the exhaust and tape up the headlights. Do THAT with your Z-6.
I’d do a total teardown and build it back up. Big problem is the hidden one. The frames are famous for rotting out from the inside out so I would want to scope it. There was a guy who had his car running an autocross on Cape Cod many years ago at a Healey event, all of a sudden the car wishboned breaking in 2.
Mileage doesn’t need to be addressed if what’s in the ad doesn’t match the cars condition. There is no way this car has 7,000 miles, even if someone could produce iron clad proof, would it really matter based on its current sits.
Steve R
Did a frame on reincarnation of one of our ’55s and I can tell you that you don’t do this car over the winter. As rare as they are getting this is a great candidate for a full up restoration.
I heard that many 3 speed bn1s were actually 4speeds with 1st blocked off because the gearing was so low. This engine trans combination was used in a truck.
@Pat. Quite correct. 1st gear is blocked off as it’s the same gearbox that was used in the 4 on the tree Austin A 70. My friend used to race his but couldn’t stay with the TR ‘s off the line as the gearing was too high. When it came to overhaul the gearbox he discovered the blocked off first gear so removed it. The TR’s never saw him again!
I had a 54 and I unblocked the trans to give me 4 forward. The Laycock de Normanville electric overdrive was rewired so that I could flip the switch and have high/low in all gears…in theory that gives you 8 speeds forward and 2 in reverse. I ran the drags at Lion’s in Long Beach and could just hit the switch without taking my hand off the gearshift and get a chirp out of the tires going from 2 High to 3 low.
Had a red one in 1968 stuck engine no top no windscreen. Virginia no problem wedge in a 283 4 speed chevy drive train,pull on a pair of goggles and ride.very short drive shaft a little more than 24 inches.
Bottom line on these cars to me….I’ve always thought these were the very best looking of the group, Triumphs, MG’s,etc. Would love to have one. Wouldn’t have to be 100 point restoration by any means.Just safe,clean,sturdy and fun. Probably put a little Chevy iron duke and tranny in it for dependability and ease of working on it plus cheap parts at any auto store! Just have a blast driving atou d in the countryside with the top down!
I at times owned four of these. The most dependable parts are the engine and transmission. If you want to play with a Chevy engine, get a fiberglass replica. Converting the engine would lower the value by at least 50% no matter what the condition. I don not ever recall a blown up 100-4 engine. I remeber working on a 100-6 with a 3.4 L jaguar engine. It went well until you turned.
The undisputed Champ of the British roadgoing sports cars from the 1950s and as iconic as it gets! This is the true macho ur-Healey with the unforgettable folding windshield. But….
an educated guess says you will need to stuff $80-$100k plus into a top notch professional resto. Replacement frame from Kilmartin in Australia, sheetmetal from various sources such as Cape International in the UK, and Moss Motors is your new best friend. Don’t forget $10k+ for the obligatory faux Le Mans kit, which – for some strange reason – people seem to think will double the value of their Healey 100. Be sure to include the higher compression pistons and reprofiled cam when you rebuild the engine, and don’t forget to track down the elusive BN2 4 speed trans and bellhousing. Let us also remember that the only production 100Ms were the 640 built as such at birth and all of which were BN2 models – anything else is a Le Mans conversion whether in period or later.
Not for the faint of heart or shallow pocket book unless you have the requisite skills to do a lot of the work yourself. Current real world market value for the finished car (and I have looked at many in person over the past few years) seems to be $60-$80k, so you will likely be upside down going in.
Stuffing in a V8 will likely make the car less valuable than a full on restoration, no matter how well it is done, but does make for an exciting ride as an ersatz ‘Fauxbra’.
These are. simple cars that are complex to restore. I a good shop with 3 people it is a year restoration. At least to do it right. These are worth doing it right especially as they are so much fun when do right. To all those that say hidden parts rust, YES, this is especially true when the car has spent time near salt water.
You can get almost everything including all those hidden parts but the problem is installing them correctly. There is ABSOLUTELY NO PLAY IN A HEALEY BODY, NONE. you need to build jigs to make certain it will not move when you replace panels or do frame work. The engines are similar to the tractor engines used by the TR-3’s of the era. Bullet proof unless truly abused. Replace the electrical system, clean up, remove rust, paint, change all the fluids and take your time.
One big thing. The seats are extremely upright on all the big Healeys, If you get some aluminum blocks and put them between the seat and seat frame you can tilt the seat some and it will greatly improve comfort. I did this to a 100-6 I owned and it made a world of difference. Still working on my Lotus and 928 otherwise this would be in my garage.
You must admit, these are fine looking cars!
Just take it to my high school buddy Frank Wicker (https://www.wickerizedhealey.com/) small town best price Healey expert restorations, you’ll probably be on a long waiting list.