British Classic Cars- Austin-Healey 3000 MK III

Here is a short post about a small car:

To the casual car enthusiast, the name Austin-Healey may not mean anything.  Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston-Martin, Jaguar, Bentley, and Rolls-Royce are "household" names, if you will.  But to the petrolhead, there are few cars with more elegance and understated style than the Austin-Healey 3000 MK III.

The main reason why Austin-Healey is not as well known is because the "company" only produced cars for twenty years!  Austin-Healey was a joint venture between two car designers: Leonard Lord of the Austin division in the British Motor Company and Donald Healey.  Those guys just sound British!  They produced cars from 1952-1972 and the 3000 series cars are the most popular models that they produced.  The 3000 MK III is known as a "big" Healey model and the bodywork was constructed at Jensen Motors.  Donald Healey would later go to work for Jensen Motors and design another phenomenal car, the Jensen-Healey.  This car will be discussed later.  Now, back to the 3000 MK III.

The 3000 MK III was built from 1963-1967.  It was the most powerful of the 3000 models, producing 150 bhp.  The straight six took the MK III to a top speed of 115 mph and the 0-60 mph time is just under 10 seconds.  Now that may not seem very fast, but... well, actually it really isn't that quick.  However, the 3000 MK III isn't a car collector's dream today because of its speed.  It is the looks of this car that make it a winner.

Two MK III's side-by-side at Cars and Coffee in Irvine

It is a great two-seater roadster.  Last weekend, I actually had the opportunity to see one up close and personal.  It is smaller than a TR6, but it truly is a sight to behold.  It has the curves of a DB5 and the stance of Triumph TR3.  It balances the sports car edginess with the refined sensibility of a luxury car.  To sum up, it has the size of a sports car and the features of a hyper-luxury car.

To the classic car guy, there are few roadsters that garner as much attention as the 3000 MK III.  The corvette of the 60's was built for speed.  Yes, it is a good-looking car, but it's features cannot be compared to the features of the MK III.  The only car that comes to mind is the Jag E-type (discussed in the previous post).

An MK III ready to compete at the Monte Carlo Rally

 As with most sports cars, the 3000 MK III has a racing pedigree.  It certainly earned the title of sports car by competing in rally races and the 24 hour races at Le Mans.  It's racing history is largely overshadowed by another classic British car: the Mini.  Produced by BMC, the Mini surpassed the abilities of the BMC produced Austin-Healey.  And so, as happens in life, the beautiful Austin-Healey was replaced by a younger, faster, and smaller model.

In conclusion, this car is small and nice to look at for long periods of time.  It won't get you where you are going very quickly, but you would be hard-pressed to find a better looking car of that size.  I hope that you get the chance to see one up close.  It is another quintessentially British car that has somehow fallen through the cracks.  So if you ever find yourself looking at a tiny two-seater roadster and you are thinking, "wow, nice car," you might just be looking at an Austin-Healey.