I wish to thank Roger, Curt, Rich, Gary and others for a careful, nuanced
set of concours judgments balancing originality with practicality. I applaud
the Healy community for its 'responsible' concours standards and its
willingness to accept that each car and each car owner is unique and can and
should form his own opinion about how to maintain, modify, drive and enjoy
his Healy. I appreciate the group's tolerance to a variety of opinions.
While I'm thanking people, I also wish to thank those who bring technical
and practical expertise to the group. Your wisdom is most helpful.
I have the joy of being involved with Healeys since my father bought my
Healey in 1956. It has been fun to watch the Healy go from a simple, light,
playful, hot-rod car, through 'hey, it's a great start for a modified", back
to "you know, Donald Healey was a practical genius. Don't muck around with
his cars." And, "as they were built, they are unsafe today." Having driven a
Healy for 40,000 miles as a daily driver mostly at higher than legal speeds
with RoadSpeed bias ply quality retreads and later Pirelli Cinturatos, I am
somewhat amused about current understandable unsafe comments. To me the
Healey was not unsafe, but instead an adventure. The clutch linkage broke
many miles from home three separate times. The fuel pump points stuck twice.
I had one engine fire, rear carb packing gland, while in the left lane on a
freeway. And had unintended drifts because of water in the corner more times
than I could count. Such fun.
I fall in the "The best Healy is the Healy Donald would have made if he was
not subject to so many parts bin, labor standards, and cost constraints"
camp. Better, but sensitive to what he intended. As such, I would not win a
concours, but I would enjoy the car. But I am not pure. The less visible the
"improvement", the more likely I would employ it. As I am getting to the age
where the Healey would pass to my kids, reducing the "adventure" becomes
more desirable. Reliability and less reliance upon an understanding of and
sensitivity to the analog mechanicals and the balancing of fluid flows that
the Healey deserves to be its best becomes a more important issue for me.
So, for example, I am in favor of electronic ignition. I am in favor of a
thermostatically controlled electric radiator fan, etc. To my mind
maintaining a Healey well requires the mechanical sensitivity of a steam
locomotive engineer. But today's generation expects diesel-electric with
drive-by-wire controls.
Hap Polk
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