How about converting it simply for the performance? My '53 BN1 has a Le
Mans kit that was installed in 1954 by the original owner. All the
performance mods were used but the louvered bonnet was not. To quote
the PO: "Why buy a heavy steel hood when I can use the original
aluminum one?" The car was 1st in class at SCCA's inaugural Road
America at Elkhart Lake in 1954. In fact, most people don't even
realize I have the conversion until they try to keep up with me. :-)
Bill Barnett
'53 BN1 #663 two-owner
Rich C wrote:
>> 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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