[Healeys] Goldie again

[Peter Svilans]

While I'm of the opinion that concours cars should be driven as DMH intended,
maybe Goldie should have been an exception and coddled just a bit more than it
was.

The gold plating, ivory hardware, and delicate pale brown suede and white mink
interior trim were not materials intended to stand up to a life of hard use.
She was built to be a princess, and should have perhaps been treated more like
one.

The car was found in a derelict state in 1983 with the interior literally
hanging in shreds, water-soaked and blackened with age and exposure.  To the
Philipses' enormous credit,  they restored the car to its original appearance
with lots of help from Geoff Healey and Roger Menadue.

The car was brought up to Martin MacGregor's shop here in Canada where it
spent several months being retrimmed to its exact original specs.  We took
great pains in choosing the correct (read expen$ive) materials in a proper
shade of thin suede glove leather, and strips of mink fur stitched together
using the same technique that a mink coat is done in. Carpet was Wilton wool.

The radio was enclosed in a special box, the heater box had a highly polished
brass face plate, the steering wheel was a heavy-spoke type with a large hub
area (not the standard Austin pattern), and the entire area behind the seats
was enclosed by a large trimmed thin ply panel.  All normal BN 6 parts- the
spare tire,  rear quarter boxes, battery cover panel and folded top were
hidden behind this panel.  The gold-plated speaker enclosures and special
latches were let into the top face of the encxlosure, making for a very tidy
look.

The delicate suede material was much thinner and was made up of smaller hides
than the normal Healey spec Connolly leather.  It was very prone to marking
and fingerprints, so we wore white cotton gloves the entire time.  The
interior was absulutely pristeen, there wasn't a scuff mark on it anywhere. So
we at MacGregor's were somewhat taken aback when the Philipses picked it up.
They casually tossed in their luggage, jumped in, and roared off- top down-
into a looming thunderstorm.

 Next time I saw the car was at Encounter/  Conclave where Goldie was entered
in a gymkhana.  I could hear the brittle gold-plated spokes pinging and
snapping .  I mentioned it to Bruce, who replied "I know. We keep a box of
spares".

Best
Peter