1947 Healey Elliott Coupe

Donald Healey, a former RFC pilot and 1931 Monte Carlo Rally winner, is best known for the Austin-Healey 100 and 3000 of the 1950s and 1960s. Right after World War II, he began to manufacture his own automobiles based on his designs at Warwick, near Coventry. His first model featured a single steel chassis that carried a variety of coach-built bodies including saloons, convertible coupes, and roadsters.

The front suspension was inspired by the Auto Union Grand Prix cars of the late 1930s. The rear included a Riley rear axle with a Panhard rod and coil springs. Under the bonnet was a modified 2443cc Riley engine featuring dual camshafts. The engine was mated to a Riley four-speed gearbox. The roadsters were known as Westlands while the two-door saloon coachwork was called Elliott. These touring cars were capable of exceeding 100 miles per hour and accelerating from zero-to-sixty mph in as little as 12 seconds. Braking was provided by Lockheed drums.

Elliotts were used extensively in rally and race competitions in the UK and abroad from 1947 to 1952. Elliotts were also driven to class wins in rallies like the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, and Alpine, as well as in race events at Le Mans and Silverstone, among others.

This Elliott was originally shipped to the United States as a backup car for Donald and Geoff Healey to drive from New York to Hollywood while they were organizing an American dealer network. The Elliott was later sold by dealer J.S. Inskip to Dr. Floyd McRae, of Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. McRae used the car extensively for years before donating it to the Protsman family's museum at Stone Mountain, Georgia. In the mid-1980s, it was offered for sale and acquired by the present owner.

The car has been extensively restored for vintage racing. It ran at the Vintage Fall Festival in 1990 and in the second Colorado Grand that same year. It raced in the SVRA, VSCCA, and VRG events. It has also appeared at the Baltimore Burn Prevention Foundation and the Radnor Hunt Concours.

The car is powered by a Riley RM overhead-valve four-cylinder engine with dual SU carburetors. It produces 104 horsepower which is sent to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual transmission.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2014