The Austin-Healey story hardly needs introduction here. The joint venture of British Motor Corporation’s Austin division and the Donald Healey Motor Company proved to be one of the most important partnerships in the history of the sports car, and resulted in one of the most iconic, representative British automobiles of the postwar sports car craze. The Austin-Healey 3000, introduced in 1959, was the last, most refined, and arguably best known of the “Big Healeys”. This 1967 3000, a Mark III, is from the car’s last year of production and therefore the last batch of six-cylinder cars built by the Austin-Healey partnership. After Donald Healey went to join Jensen in 1972, the Austin-Healey name was a thing of the past.
The Mk. III, or BJ8 version of the popular 3000 was introduced in 1963 and had a longer production run than its Mk. I and Mk. II predecessors, with almost 18,000 made. Power was rated at around 150 from the venerable BMC C-Series straight-six. The Mk. III was also the most refined of the Healeys, with more standard luxurious creature comforts and 2+2 seating. This particular 3000 is really about as nice an example as one can expect to find. With a “believed” 18,053 actual miles and reportedly only one owner from new, this West Virginia-kept Big Healey was recently restored to its simply stunning present condition. With the blue on blue and excellent wooden dash, this car absolutely screams classic, open-top British motoring, and its condition, along with a clean history, will almost certainly bring pretty serious money. Find the 1967 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk. III here at the Mecum Kissimmee auction taking place between January 18 and 27, 2013.
- via sportscardigest.com
