A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RESTORATION OF A RESTORATION (OR HOW TO RENOVATE 2 BATHROOMS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING)
I fell in love with Healeys at an early age when a scout master gave me a lift home from a camp. I think it was a 3000 but what I clearly remember is that it was freezing outside and I was snugged down beneath the tonneau cover, soaking up the warmth, the smell and the noise of it all. I was smitten.
My first Healey was a 100/6 that was only 14 years old when I bought it (with help from a doting mother) for $1,500.00. I stupidly swapped it and took over the repayments on a BDA Lotus Escort and spent many subsequent years wondering what had happened to my old car and how I would ever have another like it.
In January 2005 there was an ad in the Courier Mail for a BNI basket case. It was being offered for sale by the Rotary Club of Rocklea having been donated to the club by former AHOC member Nick K. Nick had taken on the restoration of a straight but seriously rusted out BN1, purchased from a NSW vendor. As Nick had (and has) a significant motor body building business, he apparently saw the Healey as a good in-house project which would have valuable training benefits for his younger staff. The project got off to a good start with a complete chassis being made by Nick's employees and the majority of the inner bodywork either renewed or repaired. The structure was powder-coated to a high standard and many parts were ordered or overhauled in anticipation of the ongoing restoration.
Life happens while you are making other plans and Nick relocated his business to different premises. The Healey, in pieces, was placed into a container and locked up. The container was moved to the new premises and the whole project then languished for many years. It appears that when the container was opened up around 2005 it was found that there had been water ingress and everything that could rust had rusted, severely. I guess Nick decided that it was not worth going back almost to square 1 and the philanthropic decision to donate the car to the Rotary Club as a money raising venture came about.
I persuaded the Club to give me a look at the vehicle as it was being unloaded from the container prior to taking it to a club member's home for storage pending sale. I told my wife Colleen that I was going out to look at a car. She reminded me she was going shopping and might be out when I got home.
My initial reaction to the car was pretty negative. Every single component of the car had been dismantled down to its last nut and bolt and everything was badly rusted.
I could see that under the rust streaks covering the chassis and inner body there appeared to be a sound unrusted structure and I gulped and made an offer.
An emergency meeting of the Rotary Club of Rocklea was convened behind the container. My offer was discussed for at least 60 seconds and accepted. That worried me just a little.
I suggested that I would arrange to pick up the car from its intended destination later in the week but the guys from Rotary generously said that as the car was virtually loaded for transport they would simply follow me home and offload it. I pointed out that I had not paid for it and could only give them a cheque when we arrived home. Someone gently suggested that I look around and confirm the size of the 7 or 8 individuals who would know where I lived. The transport proceeded and the last of 7 or 8 large gentlemen was leaving my home street as Colleen arrived home.
It was summer but airconditioning was not needed for a few days due to the frostiness of the atmosphere. I had managed to overlook the fact that, two weeks before, I had said to Colleen that I did not think we could really afford two bathroom renovations that were dear to her heart. Somehow I had managed to find room in my heart and wallet for a pile of apparent crap. The timing of my foray into automotive nostalgia was less than opportune and not met with universal enthusiasm.
The next few months were a combination of derusting of the entire componentry of the car and meetings with bathroom renovation firms. The atmosphere returned to normal because I actually have a wonderful and supportive wife (and the bathroom planning was coming together). Somewhere along the line the car acquired the nickname "baby" from Colleen as that was her stock answer to anyone ringing up looking for me. I was playing with "baby". The name has stuck of course.
I joined the club and received the selfless support and help that all of the members must have experienced from time to time. I don't know how I would have progressed without Alwyn being prepared to drive his car to my place so that I could spend an hour or two pulling strange pieces out of boxes and trying to identify what they were and where the bloody things went. The same goes for Rod Shepherd who always seemed to find an assembly or a part from his pending BN1 restoration for me to borrow, analyse, copy, whatever. Thank you so much guys.
I decided fairly early on that I could either spend 10 years restoring the car and developing the skill sets necessary to produce a nice looking car, or I could shorten the time frame and spend money to use tradespeople who would always be more competent than me no matter how long I plodded along.
I took most of the panels to a sand blasting firm in Sumner Park and discovered that I was just around the corner from Dave Moss & Sons. The day that I picked up the panels I dropped around to see Dave on spec. The panels did not make it home - I was convinced that Dave was the man to deal with sorting out the body and I am happy to say that I was right. A perfect illustration of Dave's capacities came when we were trying to get a good door fit. It turned out that one door, which had been made up and skinned, did not fit at all and the skin was way too small for any reasonable stretch and fit attempt. Dave made a compound curved door skin, with swage line, in one day - astonishing.
While Dave and his son Chris laboured over refitting and painting the body I tried to see what could be salvaged from the engine components. The cam was too rusted to be rebuilt properly and a new one was manufactured. The crankshaft proved to be cracked and was replaced with a second hand unit from the Healey Factory. Fortunately I was able to save the crankcase with its original serial number matching the body number. The head was recoverable but pretty much everything else was throw-away. Two totally seized gearboxes and overdrives came as part of the original purchase and I hoped that with a few bits it might be possible to make single good units out of these.
At around this time I had a client who owned a couple of MGBs. He recommended Greg Bray of Bray's Autos to me as being a thorough mechanic, specialising in Lotus and older English sports cars. Again I feel fortunate as Greg conducted the rebuild of the engine, gearbox and overdrive with meticulous professionalism.
The interior was beautifully recreated by Lance Todd at Walloon. Lance specialises in reupholstering vintage cars, particularly Rolls Royce and his craftsmanship and attention to detail has been superb and very fairly priced.
After 2 and a bit years, on Thursday 1st March 2007, 54-BNI ("baby") was registered and back on the road. I emailed Alwyn that day saying that I did not know quite what I felt but that it seemed a combination of happiness, satisfaction and extreme tiredness (not to mention the terror of finding myself sandwiched between B-doubles on Kessels Road in a vehicle that, with the best of good intentions, has the stopping capabilities of a sailor in a bordello).
There are still a few jobs to do (or redo) which brings me to the primary lesson I learned during this exercise. If you are going to take over a project started by someone else, take nothing on trust in terms of the apparent condition of components. This is not a reflection on the original restorer. No doubt the problems I encountered would have been part of his learning experience also. There were many frustrating days when one step forward involved three steps back.
I imagine that most of my experiences during the rebirth of "baby" are ones shared by the majority of my fellow Healey restorer/owners and I guess you are all nodding sagely and remembering.
Colleen had a smile on her face when I took her for her first outing around the back streets of Brookfield. The bathrooms are beautiful!
Chris Miles