Healey built a single 'Healey Hundred' for the 1952 London Motor Show and the design impressed Leonard Lord, Managing Director of Austin so much that a deal was struck with Healey to build it in quantity at Austin's Longbridge factory. The car was renamed the Austin Healey 100. The '100' name comes from Donald Healey, who selected the name from the car's ability to reach 100mph as opposed to the Austin Healey 3000, which is named for its 3000cc engine. The final '100' models, 1956's 'BN4' (2+2 seats) and 1958's 'BN6' (two seats) were six-cylinder 100/6 cars. To make room for the occasional seats the wheelbase was increased by two inches. The bonnet had a built-in air scoop and the windscreen could no longer be folded down. The cars used a tuned version of the BMC C-Series engine previously fitted to Austin Westminster which at first produced 102bhp increasing to 117bhp in 1957 by fitting a revised manifold and cylinder head. The overdrive unit became an option rather than a standard fitting. In late 1957 production was transferred from Longbridge to the MG plant at Abingdon. A 117bhp BN6 tested by The Motor magazine in 1959 had a top speed of 103.9mph and could accelerate from 0-60mph in 10.7 seconds - a real performance car in their day.

This excellent 1958 Austin Healey 100/6 BN4 with overdrive has been subject to a ground-up restoration costing about £45,000 and has only driven 300 miles since. Purchased by the vendors father, Mr Anthony McQueenie in February 1967, she remembers, as a child, being taken in the car under the tonneau cover behind the seats. In the 1970's this Healey was dismantled with a view to carrying out a rebuild which did not get started. In 2012, our vendor was given the car and for the next two years her father had it completely rebuilt by marque specialists, Peter Ellis of Northampton. The colour was changed from the original blue to white. This Austin Healey has just been taken out of storage and given to Bowron Motorcare, classic car specialists, for recommissioning and detailing. This 100/6 BN4 has the original buff logbook showing all the owner's right up to when Mr. McQueenie purchased it, a V5 registration document showing the transfer to his daughter in June 2012 and a file of invoices from Peter Ellis and the part suppliers for the extensive restoration. This is a quintessence of a British sportscar from the 1950's/60's which will never date or look out of place driving around the country in the summer. Consigned by John Tomlin

Lot details
Year: 1958
Make: Austin Healey
Model: 100/6 BN4
Registration: LPR 414
Chassis No: BN4/051656
Engine No: 26C/0/H5165
Odometer: 300

* Complete ownership history from new
* Recently fully recommissioned