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At 15 years old I had a paper route I’d been working since I was 12, so I had a little money in the bank. In a local PennySaver I found an ad for a 1962 Austin-Healey Mark II Tri Carb Roadster. The asking price was $900, so I talked my mother into taking me to look at it while my father was at work. We liked it, and I ended up paying full price for this car. Then drove it home 10 miles with no license which infuriated my father when he got home.
The car needed work but it was all there. It had been repainted green, which looked horrible, and someone installed a saddle interior. This was my first car and I had it for three years before I sold it for $1,200.
When I started my family some time later, I asked my wife if I could buy another one. This time I got a 1967 Mark III green with black interior, and it only had 35,000 miles on it in 1982. This second Healey cost me $20,000, a bit of a price increase from $900. I had this one for 10 years before I sold it. I’ve had tons of cars over the years including Corvettes which I still own and Shelbys, you name it and I’ve had it.
I love all vintage automobiles, but have a special place for the Austin-Healeys. My third Healey was a 1963 Mark II. Hindsight is 20/20, and I really should have just kept the ’62.
-Neil B., Pennsylvania
First Big Healey was a ’65 MkIII (series 1),2nd.was a ’61 that I bought from a yard for $150… took the girlfriend’s bobby pin, poked the lime out of the float chamber screens and drove it home…then after a multi-year hiatus, got the ’60 BT-7 I have now. frame up and lovely, but that ’65 and I had many memories, from Guam Island (where I got it), to multiple trips on Route 66 in the 70s. Ahhh, a big Healey, a pretty blonde, and a working fuel pump… what more does one ask for?
This brought back memories of my first car …It was 1970,I was 15 years old and bought a late 50’s Austin Healey 100-6 for $600,from a rich kid in the Hamptons,in NY. I would drive it up and down a small street I lived on every day, and
learned how to shift .Being a boat builder’s son,I grabbed a quart of blue boat paint and a used paint brush off the shelf, and brushed on a fresh coat of light blue! sold that and got an MGA from the local area. Still too young for a license,sold it and bought my first, of several VW bugs to drive.I learned how to use a spray gun and would change the Bugs colors a lot,everyone thought I got a new car! Now I am a Mustang guy, owning many late 60’s verts,fastbacks,and mach’s.
I have a good running Healy with many upgrades. It needs a good home.
in 1964 when I got out of the service a VW dealer had a 58 AH on their lot. Black with red insert, red leather interior. tri carb. they wanted $1200.00 and I only had $700.00. Couldn’t get a loan yet as I had no job yet being home only 5 days.
Sure wish I had that car but ended up 3 months later getting a 57 Belaire from a guy who was drafted. $500.00. Complete 2drHT, Was 327 with new tranny.
I bought a new ’66 Austin Healey in ’66 and that summer drove to Calif. from NY Unfortunately that fall I was rear ended bad enough that I sold the car in ’68 .Boy do I miss it today. As a British automobile enthusiast I have a ’89 Sterling (Rover) 827SLi fastback,’95Jag XJ6 and a ’96Jag XJS convertible.,but I tell you none of the above mentioned cars can compete with the fun I had with the Healey MK111. I wish I could get another but now there out of range for my pocket book.
I’ve owned my 60 BT7 for 37 years. I am currently restoring it for the second time, this time correctly, as a rally replica. Healey blue with a factory hardtop. I’ve driven it over 200K miles.