1958 Austin Healey 100/6 BN6

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Lot 396

1958 Austin Healey 100/6 BN6

Lot Number: 396

Result inc Premium: £38,880

V5 Present
MoT Exempt
Chassis number: BN63093

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‘Big Healeys’ are among the most desirable of all British classic sports cars, but for the vendor of this 100/6 model, it was pretty much love at first sight.. and pretty much every day since then. When the vendor started employment, he would cycle past a BMC dealership every day, which would occasionally have an Austin‑Healey its showroom. He promised himself that, one day, he’d own one himself. It just took a few years for it to happen. In the meantime, this example was prepared as a Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kit in September 1958 and sent to Cape Town in South Africa the following month to be fully built ‑ although it seems it wasn’t actually put together until 1960. Registered TJ 50385, it was finished in two‑tone white‑over‑red with blue interior

‘Big Healeys’ are among the most desirable of all British classic sports cars, but for the vendor of this 100/6 model, it was pretty much love at first sight.. and pretty much every day since then. When the vendor started employment, he would cycle past a BMC dealership every day, which would occasionally have an Austin-Healey its showroom. He promised himself that, one day, he’d own one himself. It just took a few years for it to happen. In the meantime, this example was prepared as a Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kit in September 1958 and sent to Cape Town in South Africa the following month to be fully built - although it seems it wasn’t actually put together until 1960. Registered TJ 50385, it was finished in two-tone white-over-red with blue interior

V5 Present
Chassis number: BN63093

Result inc Premium: £38,880

and hood. The vendor saw it in July 1976 while working in South Africa and bought it from its farmer owner. It needed restoration, which he started while in South Africa, but it was still ongoing when he returned to the UK in 1980. However, he brought the car with him and finally finished it off here in August 1986, at which point it was registered DSU 711. Since then, the vendor has carefully looked after the car, and informs us it had an engine rebuild in May 2003, a respray in July 2008 - in all-over red - and a reconditioned gearbox in April 2017.
The paperwork includes the V5, a 1983 letter from the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust confirming the original details of the car, the South African registration document, a Austin-Healey Club valuation showing it considered the car as worth £65,000 in June 2018 (calling it ‘a very good car that is in remarkable condition for its age’) and a record of the mileage from 1989 through to 2019. The odometer reading in 1989 was 5856 miles - it’s unclear if the mileage was reset when the car was restored - with 10,980 miles recorded when the engine was rebuilt during 2003 and 15,884 when repainted in 2008. The current reading is 22,440 miles. Over the past 30 years, there has not been one year in which over 2000 miles were covered between MoTs (the certificates for which are in the history folder). There’s also a lot of invoices, including one for the restoration of the SU carburettors in 2017 by noted specialist Burlen Ltd at a cost of £800. Other bills testify to the other major jobs done such as the gearbox rebuild (£1433), repaint and engine rebuild (£2159.17). A new starter motor and alternator were fitted by specialist Denis Welch in April 2003, and there were new front brake discs, calipers and a servo in July 2008.

Also included with the car are the driver's handbook and a photography album with images of both its South African and British lives, plus a spare set of keys. Both the VIN number (BN 63093) and engine number (26D RU H69564) are matching, as shown in the original records letter from the BMIHT, although the V5 does state that the car is '3000cc' instead of the correct 2639cc. This error seems to date back to the car's South African days when, presumably, it was misidentified as a 2912cc Austin-Healey 3000 Mk1 rather than the almost identical 100/6 it actually is.
The car is in excellent condition throughout, with great chrome, and features silver-painted 72-spoke wire wheels shod in Michelin 180x15 XAS tyres, and a black leather with red piping interior that shows minimal wear. The vendor tells us that it drives extremely well, with the bonus of overdrive fitted to the manual four-speed transmission. This is a fine example of its kind with a fascinating history.

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