Austin-Healey 100 In Detail: BN1, BN2, 100M & 100S 1953-56 USEDLN USED

When Donald Healey displayed a new sports two-seater on his firm's stand at the 1952 motor show he cannot possibly have been envisaging the extraordinary success that it was to enjoy. Yet the reasons for that success are not hard to define today: the car's gorgeous, ageless looks; its mechanical simplicity; its very keen price; the effortless torque of its big four-cylinder engine; its roomy cockpit. The top speed was 100mph and the car was easy to drive: almost everything about it seemed to have fallen neatly into place, though the three-speed gearchange, despite its overdrive, was a less-than-ideal solution, and because the body sat so low on the road owners had to get used to damaged exhaust systems. The BN1 model - the one with the three-speed gearbox and dual overdrive - was replaced by the four-speed BN2, also with overdrive. The other models in the range were the 100M, which had a high-compression cylinder head and an output of 110bhp compared with the standard engine's 90bhp,