The Austin Healey 3000 is Fifty Years Old! – Classic Car Insurance
Austin Healey Celebrates Fifty Years
Donald Healey the designer of the Austin Healey range led an amazing life.
He was born in Perranporth in Cornwall in 1898 and worked for a while with Tommy Sopwith on early aircraft development such as the Sopwith Pup. During the First World War, he became one of the first pilots to join the newly formed Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the present day RAF, and immediately saw action over France.
He became the first person to make a wireless broadcast from a plane and later designed the first aircraft radio made by his own Perraphone Company. Between the wars he returned to his beloved Cornwall and started to develop hand built cars in his Perranporth garage, before moving up to new premises in Warwick in the heart of the UK car manufacturing region, The West Midlands, where 20 hand built cars were produced. Donald became a prolific racing driver and in 1931 he won the Monte Carlo Rally.
He took a prototype of what was to become Austin Healey 100 to the 1952 London Motor Show in Earls Court where Leonard Lord the then boss at Austin Motors, took one look at the beautiful Austin Healey 100, and said to Healey, “We can make them!” The rest is history and the Austin Healey 100 was born. They were called 100′s because they could exceed 100mph and a six cylinder version was produced – the Austin Healey 100/6s.
Austin started production of the first Austin Healey 3000 with their distinctive grills, exactly fifty years ago in 1959. They were sleeker and much more powerful than the 100’s and became an immediate hit with UK sports car fans and became a best seller.
The 3000 eventually became the MkIII which had the luxury of wind-up windows, a convertible top, 124 bhp and was capable of 120mph.
The Healey 3000 became world famous as a competition car, and two women drivers, Pat Moss and Anne Wisdom were amongst those who won many trophies driving them.
The Austin Healey 3000 was produced from 1959 up until the model being discontinued in 1967, Over 40,000 cars were made with the cost of the final production car in 1967 being GBP 1,106. today a similar car in good condition will set you back in excess of GBP 35,000!
Car-Insurance.TV is honoured to be able to offer the cheapest Austin Healey Car Insurance available in the UK through the official Austin Healey Classic Car Insurance Scheme. We are proud to help keep this car on the road for at least another fifty years!
For more information on the excellent insurance covers offered for classic Healeys visit:
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