AUSTIN-HEALEY

100

A total of 14,634 AUSTIN-HEALEY 100 have been produced on earth in United Kingdom between 1953 and 1956. The Austin-Healey 100 is the car that created the Big Healey. Donald Healey built the prototype — the Healey Hundred — in 1952 to fill the gap between the ageing MG T-types and the expensive Jaguar XK120, and unveiled it on his own stand at the 1952 London Motor Show. Leonard Lord of Austin saw it, did the deal overnight, and the car was rebadged Austin-Healey 100 before the show closed. The name came from its guaranteed 100 mph top speed, delivered by the 2,660 cc Austin A90 four-cylinder engine in a low, wide, Gerry Coker-styled body with a windscreen that folded flat for competition. Production of the Austin-Healey 100 ran from May 1953 to July 1956: 10,030 BN1 cars with a three-speed gearbox, then 4,604 BN2 cars from August 1955 with a four-speed box and larger drums, for a total of 14,634 Austin-Healey 100 built at Longbridge and later Abingdon. Two competition-derived versions became legend: the 100M Le Mans, with a hotter cam, twin SUs, a louvred bonnet and 110 hp, and the aluminium-bodied 100S, of which only around 50 were built, the first production car in the world with four-wheel disc brakes. The Austin-Healey 100 took class honours at Sebring and set records at Bonneville, and the shape — long bonnet, cut-down doors, wraparound tail — remains one of the defining British sports car silhouettes of the 1950s. The four-cylinder cars have long been overshadowed by the later 3000, but the market has been correcting that: a well-sorted Austin-Healey 100 now regularly outruns a comparable 3000 at auction. Upgrades & evolutions during the Austin-Healey 100 production: AUSTIN-HEALEY - 100 BN1 (2.7 four, 3-speed, 10,030 built) : 1953 - 1955 AUSTIN-HEALEY - 100 BN2 (4-speed, 4,604 built) : 1955 - 1956 AUSTIN-HEALEY - 100M Le Mans (110 hp) : 1955 - 1956 AUSTIN-HEALEY - 100S (alloy body, ~50 built, 4-wheel discs) : 1955 - 1956 Average quotation for the Austin-Healey 100: cheapest US$25,000, average US$83,000, most expensive US$702,500 (listings and auction results, 2021-2026). CLASSIC.COM averages US$78,616 for the BN1 and US$89,386 for the BN2; highest recorded sale US$702,500 for a 1955 Austin-Healey 100S (17 Sep 2021) and US$198,000 for a 1956 100M (07 Jan 2023).