> My point exactly. Just like with the "M" conversions. I remember speaking
> once with a fairly prominent member of the Healey community about his
> decision to convert his beautiful 100 BN2 to "M" specs when he also owned
> an original factory "M". I asked why? "Because I have the parts" was his
> reply.
>
> Doug
> '56 BN2
Doug,
You have brought up this M conversion subject a number of times, but
actually this is hardly a good argument and is an entirely different
subject.
Long before there ever was a separate M model, one could go into your local
BMC agent and order any or all of the parts over the counter to "improve"
the BN1. This practice continued until all stocks were eventually sold off.
The factory booklet listing and illustrating these parts was printed in
1954, a year and a half before the introduction of the 100M.
Therefore it was quite correct for an owner to begin with his standard BN1
or BN2 and either have Warwick install the bits, have them bought over your
neighbourhood BMC dealer's counter and install them yourself, or have your
dealer install them. Today we refer to such a car as being not an M but a
standard car fitted with (some or all of) a Lemans kit.
Some people today still don't "get it".
A number of years ago I installed most of the Lemans kit into my October /54
BN1. They were genuine original parts gathered painstakingly over a number
of years. I did not at first have the bonnet strap though, and drove the car
most of the first season without it. Folks would often come up and say that
that stuff either wasn't "right" for a '54 BN1 or, point and say it wasn't
right not having the strap! Heck, some people way back when, would order and
install only the engine improvement parts, or the suspension parts, or only
the louvered bonnet and strap, 'cause that's all that showed on the
exterior.
Of course the introduction of the M as a separate model was the most
effective way of doing two things:
1. use up all these left over performance and improvement bits (Lemans kit
if you will)
2. help the sales of a model which was about to become an orphan with the
introduction of the 100/6.
The only way your point would be well taken is if the owner fitted all the
Lemans bits to a car and tried to pass it off as a "factory M" which we all
know demands ridiculously higher prices. Today that could be substantiated
with the Heritage certificate stating that the car had been fitted from the
works with the louvered bonnet.
Of course if somebody got the numbers from a dead M..........
Rich Chrysler
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