From the estate of the late Roy Jackson 1960 Austin-Healey...

1960 Austin-Healey 3000 MkI BT7 Roadster
Registration no. 829 UYS
Chassis no. H-BT7-L/6584
• Delivered new to the USA
• Imported in 2016
• Restored by the vendor and Seb Morgan
• Converted to Right hand drive
• Bills for over £25,000 for parts alone

"A classic competition car among the all-time greats in motoring history," was how The Autocar magazine summed up the works Austin-Healey 3000 in 1963. Yet at the time of its arrival in 1959, few would have guessed that the low-slung 'Big Healey' would triumph over its apparent shortcomings so effectively that it now rates as one of the most successful rally cars of the 1960s.
A development of the preceding 100/6 rather than a genuinely new model, the Austin-Healey 3000 was launched in March 1959. The two cars looked virtually identical and under the skin was the same separate ladder-type chassis and independent front/live rear axle suspension. Improvements to the 3000 included a slightly enlarged (to 2,912cc) version of the C-Series six-cylinder engine and Girling disc brakes up front, a development greeted with enthusiasm by devotees of this muscular British sports car. Breathing through twin SU carburettors, the revised power unit produced 124bhp at 4,600rpm; top speed - with the optional hardtop fitted - increased to 115mph, with 60mph reachable in a little over 11 seconds. Like the 100/6, the 3000 was available in two-seater (BN7) and 2+2 (BT7) guises and came with wire wheels and adjustable front seats as standard.

A BT7 four-seater model, this Austin-Healey 3000 MkI comes with a Heritage Certificate confirming that it was built on built 5/6th January 1960 and dispatched on 15th January that year to Hambro Trading Inc of Chicago, Illinois. The original colour scheme was Colorado Red with matching interior.

The Healey was imported by the late Mr Jackson in 2016 for complete restoration (UK taxes paid). There is correspondence between him and the Beverley Hills Car Club on file together with photographs of the car, which at time of importation had an Illinois title. Undertaken by the late owner and his son-in-law Sebastian Morgan , the restoration commenced in 2017. The car was repainted British racing green and converted from left- to right-hand drive. There are bills totalling over £25,000 for parts alone on file. Last MoT'd in 2017 and offered from a period of storage since the restoration's completion; an inspection is recommended before road use. Accompanying documentation includes a driver's handbook, assorted correspondence, numerous bills, and a UK V5C.

Roy Jackson was born in the middle of WW2 in the North West of England near Lancaster. He spent his boyhood fishing the local rivers and lakes and shooting. His father was also a car enthusiast and Roy's formative years were spent watching him race his Triumph and Lagonda in local races such as the Barbon Hill-Climb. He was always involved in his dad's motoring escapades, learning to drive in cars considered classics today on the driveway of the family home. Roy's first car restoral was a 1932 Alvis Firefly which he worked on in his father's building yard when he was a teenager. This project ignited in him an ambition to become a fully-fledged mechanic. However, his father had other ideas and wanted him to enter the family construction business, so Roy went and studied Civil Engineering. This was a profession he grew to love and he became managing director of the company at a young age, successfully running it until his retirement in 2013.

Since 2013 Roy had no wish to live the life of a regular retiree. Rather he saw this as the opportunity to resurrect the dreams of his youth and to start to restore classic cars as he had wanted to in his younger days. His home, a converted Cumbrian farm, was the perfect venue for his new career and these restorations became his life. Working together with his son-in-law Seb Morgan, what started as a dream quickly evolved. The workshop they built together became renowned locally and further afield. Roy and Seb rebuilt 26 classic cars and military vehicles over the 11 years they were working together, including the vehicles listed by Bonhams in this auction which are offered from his estate.