My Austin Healy 1962 MkII BT3000 '7
Here's how former engineer Keith Bailey chose to mark the occasion. Bailey came to Australia in 1964 and worked at South Australia's Woomera Missile Range, which is the largest land defense and aerospace test site in the world and roughly the size of Bailey's home country of England. “Until 1972, I was a Rollls-Royce turbine engine engineer,” he said.
Despite living in Australia since then, Bailey has a keen sense of English beauty like this model. It is powered by a 2912cc inline-six engine capable of a top speed of 112.9 mph (181.7 km/h), a 0 to 100 km/h acceleration of 10.9 seconds and fuel consumption of 23.5 mpg (12 l/100 km). ). This is the only Austin Healey 3000 with triple SU HS4 carburetors.
The body of the British sports car was produced by Jensen Motors, and the cars were assembled at the British Motor Corporation plant in Abingdon. 11,564 MkII models were built, of which 5096 were BT7 MkIIs. Many have raced all over the world and even competed in Bathurst. They cost $1362 new, but Bailey bought his in $1994 for $17,500.
The car was imported from the US along with two other Brisbane collectors. “The US is the best place to buy them because most of them went there,” Bailey said. “He was in the right state. It was left hand drive and I had to convert it which wasn't that hard since it's all bolted on. Because it is English, all the holes and fittings are already there for the right steering wheel, but the dashboard will have to be changed.”
Bailey boasts that he did most of the work himself. However, the gorgeous two-tone paint and paneling was done by Sleeping Beauty's Brisbane remodelers. The restoration is correct down to the original Luca magneto, wipers, horn, lighting and generator. The Birmingham motor electronics company has often been called the Prince of Darkness due to its high failure rate, but Bailey remains true.
“It hasn’t let me down so far,” he says. “People tend to berate Lucas – for good reason I guess – but a lot of planes have used them. "I'm not sure about these days."
