Austin Healey
Donald Healey had moved from Riley, where he had assisted with their MPH model, and on to Triumph. Post war to set up his own company in 1946. In the early 1950's it was known that Lord Nuffield was looking for a cost effective mass production sportier car to offer the public, something different to the post war "A to B bread and butter" stodge that the post war market catered for after the hostilities. Frazer-Nash had built a car using Austin components to entice Austin and hoped their recipe would bag the project, but Leonard Lord was blown away with the Healey he saw at the preview of Motor Show at Earls Court. Donald Healey had hated the folding windscreen so much that he had already dismissed the young designer responsible for it, Gerry Coker, but it was Roger Menadue (Donalds long time engineer from prewar Cornwall days) who took the car to the show without Healeys knowledge and had to squeeze it against a wall due to lack of space. Afterwards Roger insisted that the young designer be reinstated! And this is what became the Austin-Healey 100/4 BN1 , leading to it's future variation on the same theme, the 6 cylinder version 100/6 and eventually the bigger engined 3000 of which some 43,000 were made.
The Healeys were incredibly popular in the US and did their bit in the UK drive for exports and the UK's need for foreign currency.
A smaller Austin-Healey Sprite was later produced, known here as the Frogeye, or in the USA as the Bugeye, the headlight position being stipulated by The USA minimum height requirements. After the Healey arrangement with Austin came to an end, this is what evolved into the MG Midget.
