The Restoration of the First Production Austin Healey 100
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Update October 2001
Mike Lewis has found this project to be a real challenge that took more time than expected once he got into the fitting of panels on this car.  To no one’s surprise there are many parts of the inner and outer panel fit-up that are not symmetrical from one side of the car to the other.  It took an enormous amount of work, and was a major challenge  to turn the new reproduction wings into faithful replacements of the originals. The right rear corner of the car had lateral misalignment that was either caused by wear on the chassis, or was there from day one. All wings had to be re-shaped to be more rounded as with the original.  It was fortunate that AHX 14 was available for comparison and pattern making. The pictures show the parking and headlight areas, the doors, rear wings, and other areas that Mike has restored.  He has done a magnificent job and the fit-up is now perfect.  Mike prefers to get things as close as possible in parent metal, and minimize further filling requirements.


The image above shows work progressing on the alloy front wings. Note on the left image (right wing) that the profile of the wing toward the bottom has been modified to match that of the original wing shown on page two. While the right image shows the left wing before the profile has been modified. Also note in both images, the misalignment of the raised area for the side lights with the corresponding area on the shroud.


Note that the door frames are steel like later cars, unlike 100S alloy doors with alloy frames



The alloy skin reinstalled on the door frame, the process of aligning the door gaps being carried out to an exacting standard. The original door skins were removed, repaired in their lower sections and refitted


Work in progress on the rear end of the car, note that the rear right wing has now been reworked to match the rear shroud, for those familiar with Healey wings, also note the wider contour.


The backing on the new armacord is shown above being carefully trimmed back to the same thickness as the original. A long and tedious task!


Note the misalignment between the windscreen post and wing, another area requiring rework to make later parts fit this early car.


One of the many interesting differences on this car is that the swage line is a convex radius rather than the usual concave.


After completion of the wing modifications, the gravel tray fitted, and trial installation of headlamps and parking lamps. To correctly align the latter, a new raised base had to be fabricated on the wings.


The panel work completed by Mike Lewis, On Sept 20th 2001, the car was trailered to Quality Restoration Services, to continue the body and frame restoration.

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