Dear Healey friends,
Dear Josef,
Interesting to see that every now and then there are heavily modified Healeys
popping up that were unknown to us before. We all know the period Nasty Boys,
but every time that there is one with some "competing" British heritage
components as mechanical surrogate for what is unfriendly called a taxi engine,
there is an immediate discussion coming up.
Living in Switzerland and having owned, but happily departed with, a Jaguar
XK120 and 150, my experience is that with any of the 2 unmodified Jags one
would be much slower on it's way on the winding roads of Switzerland. If you
make it up the pass without overheating, your (standard) Jag brakes would cook
coming down the pass and so would you as driver having slid all the way on the
car bench called drivers'seat. Not mentioning the clutch and gear box.
Having experienced this just 2 weeks ago on the British classic car meeting
driving up the Stelvio pass, I've witnessed this again. Healeys leave maybe
starting last but always finish first...
Jaguar XK's (and in particular the XK120) are almost as nice to look at in the
garage as a Healey, but on the bending roads, you can propose me to swap any of
the above XK's with a Healey, I would happily refuse.
Long live our taxi engines and nimble cars jumping up and down the mountain
passes with an ability to enjoy it along the way. Nothing beats a 3speed Healey
gearbox flicking the overdrive in 2nd!
But then again, I might not be the most objective person on the planet when
Healeys are involved ;-)!
Happy Healeying to you all!
Bruno Verstraete
President Austin-Healey Club Switzerland
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