Shelby-Nasty
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NOVEMBER 2020 WWW.HEALEYCLUB.ORG 1 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AUSTIN-HEALEY CLUB OF AMERICA, INC. EDITOR FEATURES Reid Trummel 6 The Shelby-Healey: The Cobra That Carroll Tried to Build First 3145 NE Rocky Butte Road Portland OR 97220 by Russ Keep (503) 753-3700 • [email protected] 12 The Austin-Healey Trident V8, Another lovely could-have-been CORRESPONDENTS by Ian Grainger Ralf Berthiez 17 Healeys Make Friends by Mark Musumeci [email protected] 18 My 1962 Austin-Healey 3000 Mark II, some thoughts Nicholas Maltby and reminiscences by Don McDonald Jr. Charles Matthews [email protected] 20 Guilding the Lilly, Attempts to restyle the iconic Big Healey by John Nikas Bill Meade 24 Donald Healey Scrapbook by John Nikas (831) 722-3253 • [email protected] 26 Auction Report by Rick Neville Rick Neville [email protected] 28 The tale of my first Austin-Healey… a roller coaster initiation John Nikas by Bill Piggott Patrick Quinn 31 Membership Renewal Reminder [email protected] 38 US Postal Service Statement of Ownership Albert Voogd The Healey Museum 39 Conclave 2021 Big Bear COLUMNISTS Steve Bell – The Sprite Guy COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS (508) 947-6499 • [email protected] 3 Marque Matters 43 Healey Calendar Greg Lauser – Healey Chatter (715) 262-9813 • [email protected] 5 President’s Byline 44 Healey Marketplace Michael Oritt – The Manic Mechanic 32 Healey Chatter 46 Technical Service Bulletin [email protected] Ron Swiger – Healey Calendar [email protected] COVER Bill Young - Technical Service Bulletin Take a close look at our cover car and note the unusual [email protected] bonnet with a custom scoop, thoughtfully trimmed in chrome and looking pretty stock. There’s a reason for it. BUSINESS STAFF See Russ Keep’s report that begins on page 6. Classified Ad Manager – Bill Schellhaas 6521 Debbie Lane S • South Pasadena FL 33707 (727) 344-1323 • [email protected] Commercial Ad Manager - Laurie Wilford 11 Lee Court • Cambridge, Ontario N1T 1K1 (519) 624-0861 • [email protected] Back Issues Sales – Peter Borrone 209 Mt Delight Rd • Deerfield NH 03037 In Italy, 1937. Details in the center spread. (603) 490-7170 • [email protected] 2 WWW.HEALEYCLUB.ORG HEALEY MARQUE MARQUE MATTERS Reid Trummel Editor Page 31 But before we discuss page 31, I know it may seem a little early to be offering Happy Holidays greetings, but with magazine Then in the back half of the issue we have an unusual and production schedules being what they are, and there being thought-provoking auction report from Rick Neville. Almost no December issue (the Austin-Healey Calendar replaces it), everyone reading this already owns at least one Austin-Healey, now’s the time. Actually it’s very possible that you’ll receive the and it might be wise to consider what will become of them when January issue before Christmas, but saying “Merry Christmas” in their ownership next changes. the January issue of a magazine just seems wrong. Bill Piggott is back in this issue with the tale of his Sprite In any case, this expanded issue of your club magazine, plus the ownership, and that is never boring. I’m sure that many of you calendar, comprise our gifts to you to help get you through the reading this remember buying a Healey for only a few hundred end of the year that has seen fewer “activities” than just about dollars (I myself paid $152 for a running 100-Six in 1971 or so, any year since Austin and Healey became a hyphenated marque and that was from a car dealer), and hilarity is almost sure to name. ensue! We start off this issue with a couple of fascinating reviews Then all the way in the back, Bill Young’s “Technical Service of some could-have-beens. Russ Keep, the keeper (no pun Bulletin” is another comment on estate planning, and perhaps intended) of the Modified Healeys Registry (a.k.a. the “Nasty the coming holidays will present opportunities for you to reflect Boys” – see page 43) ruminates on the engine choices for Healeys and plan for the future of your cars and Healey-related items. and how a certain Carroll Shelby went to Austin before he went to AC to find a platform for big American engines, and Austin’s Now then, about page 31 … perhaps you can begin to imagine rebuffing Shelby may rank right up there in the pantheon of the magnitude of the job of conducting the annual membership Great Missed Opportunities. renewal process for our 3,000-member club. Each year, Membership Director Mike Schneider handles this huge and Then Ian Grainger recounts another missed opportunity with complex process (think 40-some chapters, each with its own a car called the Trident. Never heard of it? Me neither, but as a chapter dues of various amounts, and 40-some chapter contacts possible continuation of the marque it had some potential once that Mike deals with, etc., etc., etc.), and this year, in order to upon a time. It’s just another of the many could-have-beens, and save Mike many, many hours of work, and to save a very, very one that I doubt you’ve seen before. considerable amount of club funds, we are trying something Then on pages 16-17 we have what I believe is a first. That story different. The details are on page 31, and you can do Mike and was composed many years ago, but not submitted until this year, the club’s bank balance a big favor by renewing by mail (or following the passing of the author. Mark Musumeci of the online at www.healeyclub.org) now without receiving an invoice Golden Gate Austin-Healey Club wrote that timeless story a long in the mail (printing and postage aren’t free). time ago, and we’re happy to print it now, although sad that it’s The last word this month is from the man whom we have to too late for Mark to see it in print. Thanks to Sydney Musumeci thank for the cars that play such a large and important role in for sending it. It’s a powerful comment on the important role our lives: that these cars play in our lives, and beyond. Following that, Don McDonald recounts how much fun he has had over the years with his tri-carb Healey. Not surprisingly, one of his fondest memories involves three girls riding in the back of his four-seat roadster, and almost getting a ticket in the process! I think the cop was probably just jealous, but his pre- law friend helped get him out of it. Don never did say what became of those girls. Then we have a look at still more could-have-beens, only these are of the body, not the engine choice. John Nikas breaks out some never-before-published sketches for a real behind-the- scenes look deep into Healey history on pages 20-23. Our center spread is once again a never-before-published photo of Donald Healey and some friends, this one taken before the Donald Healey Motor Company was formed and even before World War II. Dig those matching plaid jackets! This photo comes to us from the Donald Healey Collection, courtesy of John Nikas. NOVEMBER 2020 WWW.HEALEYCLUB.ORG 3 The Shelby-Healey: The Cobra That Carroll Tried To Build First Russ Keep Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Low Country Austin-Healey Club ® Carroll Shelby created the hood scoop, and was Cobra by combining an initially slower than its AC body and chassis with 4-cylinder predecessor. a Ford engine and it beat In 1952, Donald Healey everything in sight back had set his eyes on in the ‘60s. The author the huge surplus tells how close the Austin- of Atlantic motors, Healey came to being transmissions and a world-beating car, a suspensions left over “Shelby-Healey Cobra.” from Austin’s abortive Why is a ratty, beat-up A90 Atlantic, a flop on 289 Shelby Cobra worth the American market. a million while someone Donald employed his is struggling to sell his tried-and-true Healey concours Austin-Healey philosophy, designing for 60 grand? Or, to the chassis and body put it another way, and employing mass- why did the Cobras produced (by British beat Ferrari for the standards) Austin World Manufacturers suspension and Championship in 1965, running gear. The but 55 years later a result was the stunning concours showboat Austin-Healey 100, a Austin-Healey can’t bastard offspring of a even beat a Miata in a shotgun marriage that stoplight showdown? was to last until 1967. The Healey and the Donald did not make Cobra handle about the production Austin- same, and both are good The author’s own Healeys. He got a looking. The answer to “Nasty Boy” variously known royalty from Austin for the above questions is as Frankenstein and Diablo every Austin-Healey within the heart of the at the Hilton Head Island manufactured. Big Healey: its engine. Concours in South Carolina. Donald’s Faustian bargain with the “Gutless Wonder” 6-cylinder devil at Austin eventually forced on him not only a thick-wall casting, 700-pound boat anchor of a 6-cylinder motor (which he Basically a chassis and body panel maker, the Donald Healey hated), but also an aluminum but non-posi rear end, a horrible Motor Company was established in 1945, using a Riley and heavy transmission with a complicated but “quaint” powertrain and his special bodies and chassis. Like small overdrive, cam and peg steering, and lever shocks – all antique manufacturer Peter Morgan, whose Morgan has been powered even in 1952! (and underpowered!) by a variety of motors, Healey was When Carroll Shelby raced the then-new Austin-Healey 100 totally dependent on the kindness of strangers in providing in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana Road Race through Mexico, power for his creations.