Few shapes capture the spirit of early postwar British motoring quite like the original Austin-Healey 100. When the car first broke cover as a preproduction roadster at the 1952 London Motor Show, it signaled a new direction for affordable sports cars on both sides of the Atlantic. Its name was a promise as much as a badge: the 100 could reach 100 mph, a genuinely thrilling figure for a budget-friendly two-seater of the era. This particular example, a 1955 100 BN1 finished in Spruce Green, is currently up for auction and carries the kind of hands-on refurbishment history that driving enthusiasts tend to appreciate.
Built to U.S.-market specifications and assembled in January 1955, this BN1 left the factory wearing the same Spruce Green it shows today. Under the long, louvered bonnet sits the car's signature powerplant, a 2.7-liter inline-four derived from the Austin A90. In the BN1, that engine pairs with a manual gearbox and overdrive, a combination that made the 100 an easy companion for long stretches of open road as well as spirited back-road runs.
The story behind this roadster is one of patient revival. According to the listing, the current seller bought the car in Northern California in 2015 from an owner who had begun a frame-off restoration roughly a decade earlier. That earlier work reportedly included a rebuild of the inline-four and gearbox, a new clutch, and a fresh wiring harness before health issues forced the project to stall. The car then sat covered in a garage for years until the present seller took it on and saw the job through.
During the seller's ownership, the dual SU side-draft carburetors were rebuilt and fitted, the Smiths gauges were gone through, and the braking system was renewed. The overdrive is said to work well, and the fold-down windshield, a classic period touch, can still be lowered for that wind-in-the-face, race-ready stance the 100 is famous for.
Visually, the car leans into its sporting character. It rides on silver-painted 15-inch knock-off wire wheels and wears vertical bumperette-style bars in place of the stock bumpers, while the cabin features bucket seats trimmed in black, a banjo-style three-spoke steering wheel, and lap belts. The seller is honest about the car's character as a driver rather than a concours trailer queen: there is some orange-peel texture in the older paint, the interior trim shows wear, and no soft top is currently fitted.
For the new owner, the paperwork is reassuringly complete. The roadster comes with a Heritage Trust certificate, a tonneau cover, a top frame, a knock-off hammer, and even a wood trunk organizer, all backed by a clean California title in the seller's name. It is the sort of well-sorted, documented British sports car that invites you to fold down the windshield and simply go for a drive.
The auction is live now on Hagerty Marketplace, where the listing and full photo gallery can be viewed in detail. See it here.
