[Healeys] Healey sound

[BJ8 Healeys]

I don't usually read Road & Track, but was browsing the May 2006 issue in the dentist's office recently.  Peter Egan's article was about a visit he made to the Jaguar factory and how they were investing so much effort in their  sound lab to get the sounds of the new XK just right.  
Of course, that made me think of the sound of a Healey and I wondered if any mention would be made of that.  Well, there it was in the second column on page 48:  "On the plane home I got thinking about a passage I'd read in Geoffrey Healey's memoirs about the developmnent of the early Austin-Healey sports cars.  He said that he and his father, Donald, had spent a long weekend at the factory garage, installing different combinations of mufflers, resonators and exhaust pipes on a Healey 100 protoype, trying to get the sound just right.  They finally found the magical combination and his father approved it for production."
"How different an approach this was.  Very seat-of-the pants (appropriate for a former World War I aviator like Donald Healey).  Listen to what you like and then bolt it on there.  No fake heads, microphones, computers or sound-wave printouts.
On the other hand...the Healey 100-4 exhaust note probably could have been improved.  I spent about 2500 miles touring in one with my buddy Chris Beebe a few years back and I found the sound pleasant, but a bit droning and flat on the highway, missing some sonorous element."
"Chris, who still owns the car, agrees.  We had lunch the other day and he said, 'The Healey that really got it right was the 3000.  Beautiful sound, one of the best ever.  But the 100-4 isn't quite in the same league.'"

I agree, but that might be my BJ8 bias.  It's good to know that Peter Egan's standard for the right sound is the Healey, though.

Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
Havelock, NC  USA