Donald Healey Motor Company

Donald Healey Motor Company
Donald Healey Motor Company
Fate Sold
Founded 1945
Headquarters Warwick
United Kingdom
Key people Donald Healey - founder

The Donald Healey Motor Company Ltd was a British car company.

Contents

History

It was formed in 1945 by Donald Healey, a renowned auto engineer and successful racing driver. It was formed after Healey discussed sports car design with Achille Sampietro, a chassis specialist for high performance cars and Ben Bowden, a body engineer, when all three worked at Humber during World War II.

The company was based in an old aircraft components factory off Miller Road in Warwick. Healey was joined by Roger Menadue from Armstrong Whitworth to run the experimental workshop. In later years the company also had a now-demolished showroom (formerly a cinema) on Emscote Road, Warwick, commemorated by a new block of flats called Healey Court. The cars mainly used a tuned version of the proven Riley twin cam 2.4 litre four cylinder engine in a light steel box section chassis of their own design using independent front suspension by coil springs and alloy trailing arms with Girling dampers. The rear suspension used a Riley live axle with coil springs again. Advanced design allowed soft springing to be combined with excellent road holding. Lockheed hydraulic brakes were used. When it was introduced in 1948 the Elliott saloon was claimed to be the fastest production closed car in the world and was timed at 104.7 mph over a mile. Unusually for the time the body was tested in a wind tunnel to refine its aerodynamics. They also had a 34ft. turning circle[1]. In 1949 the most sporting of all the Healeys, the Silverstone, was announced. It had a shorter chassis and stiffer springing and was capable of 107 mph. It is now a highly sought after car and many of the other Healeys have been converted into Silverstone replicas. The cars had numerous competition successes including class wins in the 1947 and 1948 Alpine rallies and the 1949 Mille Miglia. To enter the export market, in 1950 the company built the Nash-Healey using a Nash Ambassador engine with SU carburettors and Nash gearbox. Initially the 3848 cc unit was used but when in 1952 body construction was transferred from Healey to Pininfarina the larger 4138 cc engine was fitted. The final car was the G-Type using an Alvis TB21 engine and gearbox. This was more luxurious and heavier than the Riley engined models and performance suffered.

In 1952, a joint venture with the British Motor Corporation created the Austin-Healey marque and later on the Austin-Healey Sprite.

Donald Healey became a director of Jensen Motors in the late 1960s and a result of this was the Lotus-engined Jensen-Healey which appeared in 1972.

The Donald Healey Motor Company was finally sold to the Hamblin Group, although Healey Automobile Consultants and the engineering parts of the company remained in the hands of Geoffrey and Donald Healey.

Models

1949 Healey Westland Roadster
Type Engine Approx Production Year
Healey Westland Roadster 2443 cc Riley 4 cylinder 64 1946-50
Healey Elliott Saloon 2443 cc Riley 4 cylinder 101 1946-50
Healey Sportsmobile 2443 cc Riley 4 cylinder 23 1948-50
Healey Silverstone 2443 cc Riley 4 cylinder 104 1949-50
Healey Tickford Saloon 2443 cc Riley 4 cylinder 222 1950-54
Healey Abbott Drophead Coupe 2443 cc Riley 4 cylinder 77 1950-54
Nash-Healey 3848 or 4138 cc Nash 6 cylinder 506 1950-54
Healey G-Type Roadster 2993 cc Alvis 6 cylinder 25 1951-53

References

External links

There is one club worldwide who cater for (pre Austin) Healey cars - The Association Of Healey Owners


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Donald Healey Motor Company — Heck eines Healey von 1949 Front eines Healey Silverstone von 1950 Die Do …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Donald Healey — Donald Mitchell Healey CBE (3 July 1898 13 January 1988) was a noted English rally driver, automobile engineer, and speed record holder. Contents 1 Early life 2 Automotive achievements 3 Later life 4 …   Wikipedia

  • Donald Healey — Donald Mitchell Healey (* 3. Juli 1898; † 13. Januar 1988) war ein englischer Rallyefahrer und Automobilingenieur. Donald Healey Memorial in Trebah Gardens Healey interessierte sich früh für technische Dinge, insbesondere Flugzeuge. Nachdem er… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Donald Healey — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Healey. Donald Healey Mitchell, né le 3 juillet 1898 et décédé le 13 janvier 1988 (à 89 ans), était un pilote de rallye anglais, ingénieur automobile, président de sociétés, et détenteur de… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Donald Mitchell Healey — (* 3. Juli 1898; † 13. Januar 1988) war ein englischer Rallyefahrer und Automobilingenieur. Donald Healey Memorial in Trebah Gardens Healey interessierte sich früh für technische Dinge, insbesondere Flugzeuge. Nachdem er die Schule verlassen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Healey Silverstone — Heck …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Healey — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Denis Healey (* 1917), britischer Politiker Dick Healey (1923 2000), australischer Politiker Donald Mitchell Healey (1898–1988), britischer Automobilingenieur Dorothy Ray Healey (1914 2006), US… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ford Motor Company — Ford redirects here. For other uses, see Ford (disambiguation). Ford Motor Company …   Wikipedia

  • Daimler Motor Company — This article is about the Daimler brand and its owner the British automobile manufacturer Daimler Motor Company. See Daimler for other uses derived from the German engineer and inventor Gottlieb Daimler. For the two direct descendants of Daimler… …   Wikipedia

  • Morris Motor Company — See also: Morris Commercial Cars See also: MG Morris Motor Company Industry Automotive Fate Merged …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”