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Derek and his sons stripped the shell of its outer panels and transported it to a well
known Healey specialist for repairs and painting. Every weekend saw Derek ot his son
Scott at the workshops overseeing the work, even ensuring that the main chassis was
lead-filled to achieve absolute straightness, which the factory never managed, Before
spraying, it was built up with the outer panels, bumpers, lights and dashboard to ensure
that everything fitted perfectly.
The car was sprayed in two pack - the concours judges don't mark a car down for using
modern paints - meeting even Derek's high standards at the the first attempt.
Meanwhile, Derek and his sons were preparing the mechanical parts. The engine had to be
professionally rebored and balanced but otherwise everything was done in the workshop
area of Derek's garage. After four Healey restorations, he's blase about the work but,
when pushed, will admit to struggling with some parts.
'Fitting the engine is a nightmare with concours cars,' he says, 'because if you catch
the paint you've got to start all over again. Things like brake pipes have to be made so
carefully - I put rubber in the pipe bending tool so as not to mark the metal.
'The windscreen surround is screwed together, and trying to line up the various
parts and get the glass and seal in is very difficult.'
'It took two days to get it right and then, when it was finished, I noticed a mark in the
chrome in one corner of the frame. It must have been a fault in the polishing, before it
was plated. I had to strip it down and have it rechromed.'
Perhaps realising that this might sound incredible to those less patient than himself he
adds: 'The secret is if you're struggling with something then you should leave it for a
day, or even a week. It's always much easier when you go back.'
His search for parts was just as meticulous but you only realise just what he has
achieved when you speak to other Healey restorers. They home in on the tiny sticker on
the relay in the engine bay and swoon over the hood-lowering instruction label hanging
inside the car.
'Some people knew there should be a label there but no-one knew what was on it,' Derek
says, 'Eventually we found out and the Austin Healey Club of America had some made.
'This orginality research side to it is really interesting and it's such a challenge:
there are people out there who talk a lot of rubbish but I've found people who really
know. I've spoken to people who built Healeys at Longbridge - to be able to say that this
car is exactly as it was when it left the factory is quite something.'
But such claims raise another question - surely Healeys were never so highly poslished?
'It is easy to over-restore a car,' Derek agrees, 'but the secret is to strike a happy
balance. Lots of people try to polish up the carburettor bodies but they were never
polished originally.
'On the other hand, you can get away with polishing the brass cooling pipe on the engine
because it was bare metal as original, not painted. This is another example [he gestures
towards the bonnet-release mechanism]: the spring is painted but the end of the catch and
the slider are bare metal. And the brass clips in the engine bay - they always go missing
and people replace them with steel clips. That's wrong. This is why I restored three
Healeys just for practice.
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