What makes a classic motorcar so irresistibly fascinating? We forgive nearly all its blemishes and we goodnaturedly put up with its idiosyncrasies, even though we would never dream of being so lenient with a modern car. Why do we voluntarily climb aboard a historic vehicle and pilot it through traffic, even though it lacks every comfort, convenience and safety feature of a contemporary automobile? Why do we forget all about icy winds and inclement weather while we blithely cruise across the landscape with our classic car's top down? The reasons are irrational. It's a passion, and you either have it or you don't. A wristwatch can also be worn merely to tell the time, just as a car can be used simply to convey us from point A to point B. These are both possibilities. Alternatively, rather than simply wearing a watch on one's wrist, one can be actively and profoundly interested in it and especially its inner life. Analogously, one can enthusiastically derive pleasure from one's automobile and from driving it, sometimes passionately and sometimes speedily, in harmony with the doctrine that the path is the goal. These are the other options. Passion frequently plays a major role here, so it cannot be merely coincidental that the ardor for automobiles and the fervor for mechanical wristwatches meet each other eye to eye. Whether it's a contemporary car or a historical automobile, the two worlds simply fit together perfectly. An Austin Healey motorcar is one such mythical and simultaneously irrational vehicle that's guaranteed to stop us in our tracks whenever we see one. We gladly twist our necks to prolong the view whenever one speeds past. We should also not forget to mention the joy we feel when we're an “earwitness” to the grandiose sound of an Austin Healey at close range. The roar of its exhaust system is certain to elicit paroxysms of delight from every automobile enthusiast. Nowadays, a wellorganized and globetrotting coterie of AustinHealey owners keeps this myth alive. Members hold meetings, organize excursions and races, participate in one or another concours d'lgance, and display their AustinHealey motorcars at every appropriate occasion. Incidentally, this brand takes its name from a Briton Donald Mitchell Healey, who in 1945 founded the Donald Healey Motor Company, which first called admiring attention to itself as an automobile manufacturer with the debut of the Healey 100. Leonard Lord, the president of the British Motor Company, likewise noticed the new roadster and, on the evening before the public presentation of the Healey 100 in 1952, Lord and Healey agreed to closely collaborate under the aegis of the British Motor Company. The first twenty Austin Healey motorcars were built in Warwick, before production was relocated to Abingdon in 1957. Serial manufacturing of the brand's cars in the USA was suspended in 1967, in the wake of stricter safety and exhaust regulations, but production continued in smaller numbers until 1972. Austin Healey first achieved widespread fame thanks to the rally driver Pat Moss, the sister of motorsport legend Stirling Moss. She drove a factorymade vehicle which she nicknamed “The Pig” because it was always unpredictable and temperamental, and because its rear end had a latent tendency to swerve. This character flaw was also one of the reasons why so many Austin Healey cars, which were never manufactured in very large numbers to begin with, landed in ditches alongside roadways. Then as now, the driver of an Austin Healey always had to steer his classic vehicle with liberal sensitivity and without an unduly heavy foot on the accelerator pedal.
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