Comment on 1964-’67 Austin-Healey 3000 MK III Convertible by Chauncey O Johnstone

My first car was an Austin Healey 3000, bought new in the fall of 1959. I was able to get a good deal on it because my parents had purchased another foreign car from the same dealer, Blanchard in CT. I probably got a good deal also because the car was “Primrose” and Black. I drove the car in the snows of New Hampshire, the visits to Florida, the Rocky Mountains, Wyoming , well you name it. During that that time, lasting about 3 years, I managed to get about 3 speeding tickets, lost several mufflers, and experienced the loss of the fuel pump twice. I recall crossing the Rockies at Berthoud Pass, the carbs got so winded at the altitude I was not sure it would make it. I sold the car after about 3 years, and after that was able to afford a few more nice cars, the kind you wish you had today because they are worth a lot. When it came time to get serious and settle down the cars we had were wagons, sedans etc. I took a job with a company that offered a car with the package, so I was able every now and then to get something interesting but it was only in passing. Kids, college, weddings, grand children etc,all the expenses of living kept me under control. As life moved on,as it always does, I never had forgotten that Healey of over 50 plus years ago. One day I was driving by a gas station in Rowayton CT, and there was a BRG Healey with a for sale in the window. I thought “What the hell, why not take a look”. I called the phone number on the sign, the owner was home and lived only 5 minutes away. We met and talked about the car. It was one of four from the estate of a man out in California. He rebuilt some cars and three of them were left to heirs in Connecticut. Suddenly the nostalgia side of my brain took over the common sense side, and I gave the guy a deposit pending a review of the car, which was brief. In the interim I brought my wife over to see the car, she liked the looks, but thought I was a bit nuts, and reminded me I was a bit larger now. I bought the car, and since then have probably paid for it again fixing those many things that were not caught in the initial inspection. I had forgotten about those day’s of SU’s sucking wind in the Rockies, the lost mufflers, which probably have contributed to me being half deaf, beating my fist against the small back seat to keep the “Lucas” fuel pump ticking, trying to assemble the top in a rain storm, having a speedometer quit, making you judge speed by revs, frying your feet in the summer, freezing in the winter, and trying to see out of side curtains. I know the newer Healeys are more appealing to most, but to each their own. mine is just a summer car so the problems of the past are irrelevant. I realized how times have changed when my grandson sat in the car and asked what the third pedal is for!”The road in front is much shorter than the road behind”, just enjoy the ride.