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Austin-Healey 100M - Le Mans equipment for the sports driver

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Created on June 6, 2019

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard - Courtesy Bonhams

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Daniel Reinhard - Courtesy Bonhams

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - the windshield can ...

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - Jerry Coker developed the shape of the sports car in close collaboration with Donald Healey

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - ... can be folded down in a few simple steps

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - the additional air outlets on the hood belonged to the 100 M

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - also attractive with an extended folding roof

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - roadster roof fitted

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - compact and weighing just under 900 kg

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - elegant design without frippery

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - pretty flat with a flat windshield

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - only 152 cm wide

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - the "100 M" patch on the radiator grille

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - an external door opener was only available on later versions

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - the gearshift is easy to hold

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - little comfort, but at least a heater

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - large wooden steering wheel

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - simple dashboard

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - fully instrumented

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - the engine from the Austin A90

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - the 100 M version was upgraded to 111 hp

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - Mechanics of the swivel-down windshield

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - the famous fluted hood

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - Radiator grille

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - the tension belt was just as much a part of it as the ribbed hood

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - only by using mass-produced parts was it possible to offer the sports car so cheaply

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Austin-Healey 100 M (1955) - the body rests on an "underslung" box frame

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Austin-Healey Hundred (1952) - Leonard Lord and Donald Healey with the newly presented sports car

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Austin Healey 100 (1952) - Leonard Lord and Donald Healey sit happily in the new sports car at the 1952 London Motor Show

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Austin Healey 100 (1952) - note that the front of the car is still labeled Healey Hundred, but the rear is already labeled Austin-Healey 100

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Austin Healey 100 (1952) - Leonard Lord has Donald Healey explain the car to him at the London Motor Show

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Austin Healey Hundred (1953) - Interior

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Austin Healey Hundred (1953) - rear close-up damping

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Austin Healey 100 (1953) - at the Geneva Motor Show, before the start of the visit

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Austin Healey 100 (1953) - early model

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Austin Healey 100 (1954) - at the 1954 Geneva Motor Show, with the roof up

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Austin-Healey 100 (1954) - a flap on the side panels can be lifted to open the door and to make a mark - Geneva Motor Show 1954

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Austin-Healey 100 (1954) - Third overall Austin-Healey 100 from the Donald Healey Team (12 Hours of Sebring 1954)

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Austin Healey 100 (1953) - with Zurich license plates

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Austin Healey 100 (1953) - detail view, taken at the London Motor Show

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Austin Healey 100 (1954) - at the London Motor Show with hardtop, in the background the new 100 S, which did not go into production until 1955

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Austin Healey 100 (1954) - Interior, probably taken in Paris or Turin

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Austin Healey 100 (1955) - View of the four-cylinder BN2, the predecessor of the BN4, at the 1955 London Motor Show

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Austin-Healey 100 (1954) - Advertising in Switzerland

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Austin-Healey 100 (1954) - Advertising in Switzerland

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Austin-Healey 100 Six (1956) - the six-cylinder succeeded the quaint four-cylinder engine

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Summary

When the Austin-Healey 100 was shown for the first time at the Earls Court Motor Show in London in October 1952, it aroused enormous interest. With speed records and racing successes, it proved its sportiness, while at the same time being inexpensive. And anyone who wanted to be a little faster could get help from the factory. This is how the 100 M was created to Le Mans specification. This report summarizes the history of the four-cylinder Austin-Healey and shows a factory 100M in many pictures.

This article contains the following chapters

The most affordable 100-mile sports car
Records for the debut
Also inexpensive in this country
Le Mans success and tuning kit
Standard version in the BN2
Replacement by the six-cylinder
Sold primarily in the USA
Further information

Estimated reading time: 8min

Preview (beginning of the article)

When the Austin-Healey 100 was first shown at the Earls Court Motor Show in London in October 1952, it aroused enormous interest. The press reported extensively on the appearance of the new sports car. Automobil Revue wrote at the time: "With the new sports type, which only received its combined name during the first days of the London exhibition and of which only a few prototypes exist at the moment, England has a new high-performance vehicle whose low price of 850 pounds (excluding VAT) has caused surprise. This was mainly due to the simple basic design and the use of unchanged Austin series parts such as the A90 engine and gearbox, steering and front suspension. The chassis, consisting of welded longitudinal beams and reinforced with a cross brace, is particularly torsionally rigid thanks to an associated torpedo .

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