Mille Miglia Retrospective entrant and eligible for a multitude of historic events
This handsomely presented example of the rare and highly desirable sports-racing Austin-Healey 100S is the 18th car of the total production run of only fifty completed vehicles – plus an additional five works and special test cars – that were hand-built by the Donald Healey Motor Company. In the 1950s, the 100S was the most accessible, appealing and – in many cases – successful club racing car available to any aspiring racing driver.
For its price, it offered more power than almost any other sports car on the market and proved highly successful in national and international road and track racing. This versatility can still be seen today at events such as Le Mans Classic, Monaco Historique, Goodwood Revival, Monterey Historics, Mille Miglia Retrospective, Tour Auto and many more. The ‘S’ stands for ‘Sebring’ to honour the works racing vehicle and special test car based on the Austin-Healey 100 that achieved success with Lance Macklin and George Huntoon at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1954.
| Cylinders | 4 |
| Mileage (km) | 82'000 |
| Engine size | 2660 cc |
| Performance (kW/hp) | 134 |
| First registration date | 1955 |
| Vehicle condition | 2 |
The AHS 3608 chassis was supplied new from the British Healey factory to BMC Distribution in San Francisco, California, in 1955. We understand that this particular example was likely purchased from the showroom for road use, as one of its first owners replaced the original Plexiglas windscreen with a normal fold-down one from its sister model, the Austin-Healey 100. It then made its way to Ohio, where it found its calling and became an active racing machine on the circuits of the USA.
After a long life as a club racing car in the USA, it was finally sold by Healey fan Bill Wood to a like-minded buyer, Jerry Leonard, in 1986. This particularly active 100S was subsequently the first to be restored by Fourintune, the respected US-based marque specialist restoration company. The car was then shown alongside Fred Hunter’s familiar red-liveried 100S at the AHCA Conclave held in Oklahoma in 1988 and won the Concours at the event. Carroll Shelby was the guest of honour at the Conclave.
He sat in this car and told typical tales of bravado and his own racing experiences with a 100S at events such as the mighty 1954 Carrera Panamericana through Mexico. Concours honours continued with ‘3608’ winning the Chicago Historic Races Concours at Elkhart Lake, the Vintage Sports Car Show competition at the Brooks Stevens Museum and the title of ‘Best in Show’ at the AHCA HealeyFest IV event. The restoration work completed on this car was reported in detail in two publications: ‘Carrozzeria 9’ and the Pacific Centre’s Austin-Healey magazine. This car was featured on the front cover of the February 1988 issue of Healey magazine – while a complete account of the car’s restoration by specialist Tom Kovacs of Fourintune followed in the April and May issues of that year.
The wonderfully detailed account of the car’s restoration tells how the chassis and bodies for these fine cars were produced in batches of ten by the Jensen works in West Bromwich, England, alongside all the standard Healey 100 models. Each batch was then shipped to the Healey Motor Company’s Warwick works where the uprated and competition-derived drivetrain would be installed and final assembly completed. Hand-finishing was very much the order of the day, and each batch of 100S cars was likely to emerge with its own particular characteristics. The description of this rare Healey’s restoration explains how it was fitted from new with a plastic-rimmed ‘banjo’ steering wheel. The chassis is to factory specification with lightweight-alloy wheels. A rare treasure from bygone eras and racetracks, which could grace your collection in the future.
