First Healey ever built??

[MAD]

Dear Healey drivers

In switzerland I've found this car for sale:
http://www.autoscout24.ch/Search/Detail ... hid=956727
It is mentioned that this car is the first ever built with chassis no. 10001..... maybe LHD.

Healeys are not my pint of ale but maybe a specialist can judge whether this statement is true or not.

Regards
Martin

[ajm541s]

I am pretty sure that this is chassis number 10001, the LHD car which was used for display at the 1972 Geneva show and technically the first production car, following pre-production prototypes. Swiss importer Edgar Schwyn went to see the car some four or five years ago and told me that the owner had painted the stainless windscreen surround red and also the chrome windows on the doors, as you can see in the picture. Edgar also reported that the car was in pretty bad condition, so I would recommend a very thorough examination if you are interested in buying it, preferably by one of the Swiss JOC experts. At that time the owner would have sold it for SF 13K, in Edgar's opinion much too much for the condition, despite being an historic car.

I drove the car to Switzerland some time after the Geneva show for testing by the type approval authorities in Zuerich and then drove back to England for some modifications and preparation for sale to Edgar Schwyn. Apart from many such journeys in Interceptors, that drive in the J-H was one of the best I ever had in any car!

[MAD]

Thanks Tony for this very interesting information.

Regards
Martin

[ajm541s]

I have just remembered that when one of our Engineering Department staff and I were returning from the type approval test, we had caught the last ferry from Ostende and were therefore driving through London in the early hours of the morning. We had reached Swiss Cottage when we were faced with a police road block where they had decided to check all vehicles. We were asked for the registration number, which neither of us could remember, and then the make of car. When we told the policemen what it was, he replied that he had never heard of such a car. "No problem, Officer, this is number 1!" "Good night, gentlemen, drive carefully" was the reply.

[PaulMcElhinney]

Unlike the car Tony your story is priceless...

[Torquemada]

It says that the JH is in top condition, and at that price it wants to be!

[MikeWilliams]

Tony,

Just interested - when you drove on these trips was it on trade plates or was the car registered by then? And overseas trips?

Mike

[ajm541s]

The first J-H was uk registered despite being lhd. Uk trade plates are not valid for overseas use. With Interceptors, they were registered using export home delivery numbers, which is why all the cars I used had Birmingham numbers and not West Brom ones. If I was delivering a car to one of the dealers, not a very common event other than to Switzerland. it had been known for me to use the same number more than once! The annoying thing is that I cannot remember the number on the Healey, and I doubt that the present owner has any idea.

[felixkk]

That car has once again come up for sale (thank you, John, for the info):

https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/jensen-heal ... 181915076/

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[felixkk]

And pictures of the Healey at the Geneva Salon 1972.

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[Frankoid]

The first J-H was uk registered despite being lhd. Uk trade plates are not valid for overseas use. With Interceptors, they were registered using export home delivery numbers, which is why all the cars I used had Birmingham numbers and not West Brom ones. If I was delivering a car to one of the dealers, not a very common event other than to Switzerland. it had been known for me to use the same number more than once! The annoying thing is that I cannot remember the number on the Healey, and I doubt that the present owner has any idea.

Maybe the first Jensen Healey was the 541S V8 Donald Healey had delivered to his workshop and re-engineered with a Chevrolet 327. It was not sold until March 1964 so presumably all the time Donald used it on the roads it was on trade plates. Do you remember anything of this car Tony?

[ajm541s]

Regarding the J-H, I have found the original UK Reg No: AOE 813K, which is one of the Birmingham Export Home Delivery series, and the date was the 29th February 1972.

i have always thought that Jensen fitted the Chevy engine in Donald's 541S, but could be wrong, and it was well before my time. I assume the car is still with a club member?

[Chris_R]

Current bidding 11'026 CHF (approx £8,700).

[ajm541s]

I am in the last photo of the car on the Geneva Show stand. Note the white fencing surround. The evening before the Press Day I was on my own waiting for Edgar to come and fetch me when I noticed three very serious looking gentlemen looking rather disconcerted at the fencing. I went over and found them to be members of the show management committee who were very unhappy with Edgar's design for the stand, which was laid out to resemble part of a golf club. "Mr Marshall, this is not correct for the Geneva Salon, it looks like a place to keep cows in'". Ah well, said I, you are nearly correct, but as this is Switzerland the stand was designed to keep the cows out! They departed without further comment with much shaking of heads. One nil!

[felixkk]

That's so funny, Tony. My parents together with our neighbor did not want a fence around their property up in the mountains, but the village authorities made them put one up to keep the cows out...

Francis, the 541S you mentioned is your other one with the Chrysler plate in the engine bay?