The Fairford Classic Car Club

Graham Young’s ‘strange & amazing’ motoring facts, in this edition of the FCCC Newsletter, highlight’s the forthcoming auction of the 1955 Le Mans Healey 100 at Goodwood and its incredible expected bid price of £500,000. They say provenance is everything, but I think it is sad to think that this Healey’s high price is most likely due to its reputation in causing one of motor racings worst accidents, rather than for its racing history. During the race Pierre Levegh’s faster Mercedes 300 SLR flew into the crowd after glancing off the back of the Lance Macklin’s Healey, which swerved to miss Mike Hawthorn’s Jaguar D Type, which had suddenly braked to enter the pits. This resulted in motor racing being banned permanently in Switzerland (and temporarily in France, Germany & Spain) and led to a major review of spectator safety worldwide.

The reason I mention this event is that Bob, who is a fellow motoring enthusiast in Fairford, was asked in 1957 to accompany a friend to view a Healey 100 in Worksop which was reputedly the Le Mans car. The car had obviously been ‘well used’, had a repaired back end and had Weber carbs and other ‘works’ items. The garage owner selling the car confirmed it was the works Healey, but that it had a problem with the gearbox, which was special to this car. On hearing this, Bob’s friend reckoned that if the garage had not repaired the problem it was going to be expensive, so he walked away from the sale. The asking price at that time? – well Bob reckons it was @ £350!!!

This story reminded me of my own Healey 3000 Mk1 which I bought in 1970, also with a problem gearbox – but a standard one. Within a few months the 1st/reverse gears had gone altogether and I could not afford to replace it, having just got married. For a year we coped with it, but Jill did develop good arm muscles pushing me backwards! When I could afford a repair I found that the relevant gears/layshaft were not available, but by then I was working with Goodyear Tyre Co and I had a contact in BLMC, who eventually found not one, but a whole box of gears etc, at the back of the stores. Sadly I did not have the funds to buy them all, but having alerted one of the Healey restorers to the find, they bought them and I got a free repair.

The previous owner of my Healey had a collection of three grandfather clocks and during the test drive he told me that they all stopped when he was away for the night, and he could not identify the cause. At the same time, Jill was sitting having coffee with his wife whilst we were running around the local lanes and she complained that she could not stand the chiming of her husband’s clocks and when he went away she stopped them all. There must be a lesson in there somewhere!

When I went for my interview at Goodyear’s I put on my best suit and headed up the A6 in the Healey, to Wolverhampton. However, it rained ‘cats & dogs’ on the way there, which lifted the front of the hood and I arrived looking as if I had actually swum the whole way! The interview seemed to go OK, but when I left I was told I had parked in a private parking area. However, when I pointed out the Healey, my interviewer said he forgave me and two weeks later I received a offer of a job as development engineer, so maybe the ‘old’ Squealy played her part in the decision!

Jill would like to thank everybody who has wished her well with her hip replacement operation. She is now home, doing very well and being looked after by her personal servant and two lapdogs!

Malcolm Cutler – September 2011