The Restoration of the First Production Austin Healey 100
Page 4
Updated January 2002


When the panels were returned from Mike Lewis, They only required a small amount of glazing putty to be used, the body was built up with primer and sanded three times in order to achieve surface smoothness.  All surfaces of the body panels and chassis have been treated in this way.




The final primer (a darker Blue tint) that was put on the outside of all of the body panels, and the medium gloss black paint that was applied to the underside of all body panels with the exception of the boot and the bonnet.


The chassis was given a final sanding before it was re-primed  and then painted its final colour.  (Ice Blue Metallic)
              The paint colour for this car is the same as was used on and matched to an original panel on AHX-14 .



Above and below, the panels re installed onto the chassis for final fit-up prior to sending away the cockpit extrusion for anodizing, and other parts for chrome plating.




The  chassis back into the rotating cradle for final painting in base/clear coat.


Some parts ready to be painted in the paint booth.


Show the chassis and all body parts being loaded onto blairs trailer ready to take them back to his own shop


The flat shock mount perches at the front are shown above that don’t have a weldment spacer (an aluminium casting is used under the shocks and the stop bumper. The one piece inner fender is also shown


The small triangular gussets behind the door strikers are shown with a lightening hole in the centre

The flat inner panels over the rear bulkhead and front spring hangers( the only embossing is in the floor)


The rear axle has been rebuilt by Jim Sebert at Sebert Motors in Millbrook, Ontario. Jim has been busy since last summer, trying to keep all things on track with this restoration.   He has been working on the original engine for this car, and he will be running it in on a test stand prior to shipping it back to Blair.  He has also rebuilt the transmission and the extremely rare 32% overdrive that will be in this car.
Other activities in the works
Ted Sapieja of Alfa Instruments in Toronto, Ontario, is restoring all of the gauges and instruments for the car. They will be finished soon.
Most of the chrome plating is done, but the remainder is in process.
The convertible top and other materials are on their way from Heritage Upholstery and Trim in Vancouver, and this will be sent to John Smyth at Heritage Coach Trimming in Brampton Ontario to be fitted.  John will start on the leather seats later this month.  Blair has finally finished the long job of cutting down the backing on the armacord, and it will make a big difference.
A friend of Blairs who has his own dentist shop is taking on the task of restoring the Longbridge plastic serial number plate for this car.  He apparently has had a lot of experience in restoring miniatures for train buffs and medals for other collectors when he was in England.  It will be shown later how it compares to the before picture on page 1 of this restoration. In the mean time, every nut, bolt and washer from this car has been gently glass bead shot to remove all debris and rust.   They will be Zinc plated and polished before being used for re-assembly.  Almost all of the bolts and nuts are BSF and are not similar to any replacement fasteners you find today.  Blair is going to use only original nuts, bolts, and washers wherever possible