The Abbott was introduced in late 1950 - along with the Tickford - as the second generation of Healey cars. While the steering was heavy, they were otherwise pleasant enough to drive and sportier than their appearance might lead you to believe. However, the handling was exceptional for the era, and they would cruise at 80 mph all day long. The cars they built in these post-war years - and this is before the Austin connection that resulted in the Austin-Healey going into production in 1953 - were, by today’s standards, heavy, lumbering projectiles whose sheer kinetic energy at speed outclassed the brakes and the heart of most drivers. How much market could there have been for such cars at that time, especially considering the well-established competition in the market segment? However, while Healey’s company didn’t exactly flourish, it did survive. Parts of his cars may have been shot down by the Luftwaffe - and even common hardware wasn’t common. The Donald Healey Motor Company built cars in Quonset huts that had been an old aircraft components factory, and recycling war surplus was a necessity. His business model seemed unlikely to succeed in Britain in the aftermath of a war that had consumed so much of the country’s human and material resources.īritain’s post-war economy was in dire condition. Only this time he founded his own company and began the challenging task of building expensive, limited-production, coachbuilt cars. Immediately after World War II, Donald Healey returned to what he loved: sporting cars. This car, Lot 65, sold for $47,707, including buyer’s premium, at H&H Auctions’ Rockingham, U.K., sale on June 21, 2014. Stamped on the same brass plaque as chassis number. Also stamped on the chassis next to the right-hand engine mount Stamped on brass plaque riveted to firewall. The engine overhaul referred to in the catalog description included the fitting of a replacement engine and clutch by marque specialists Classic Restorations Ltd.ħ7 (also variously reported as 88 and 91) MoT-exempt, the most recent certificate with no advisories expired on 15 May, 2014. The most recent service was carried out by Speedweld of Farley Hill in April 2014.įinished most attractively in red with beige interior, she is described as being in “good” condition as regards bodywork, paintwork, interior, engine and transmission, and is offered with Swansea V5 document, history file of invoices and correspondence and road-fund license to March 31, 2015. Invoices for the work carried out are contained in the car’s accompanying history file. in 2009 to carry out soda blasting of the body and a bare-metal respray, followed by a thorough engine overhaul in 2010.Īll five wheels were also blasted, powder-coated and painted. In the current ownership since 2007, the car was entrusted to marque specialists Classic Restorations Ltd. One of just 91 examples produced with coachwork by Abbott of Farnham during a four-year production run, OLY136 was first registered on March 25, 1954.
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