2007-03-27 16:46:10 | Lofty writes:

From the original austinhealey.com web site. Owner Mike Lawn:

"As briefly as possible, I'll give a shot to the entire saga. Luke AFB AZ., 1984, owned a '60 Sunbeam Alpine. Pretty well convinced by the (growing) family situation, and intrigued at the thought of equipping my 81 Citation X-11 for more serious SCCA autocross competition, I decided to stop doing the Brit thing, and the 'Beam went up for sale. That very day, a waving acquaintance, an MGA owner living on the next block, had either traded his sad yellow car for a beautiful black one, or repainted the yellow black. Curiosity taking over, I pulled up to the house and introduced myself. After some conversation over the newly painted MGA, I stated that I liked them, but that my ideal was an Austin Healey. "Oh, there's a guy that owns a Healey down the block, it's unrestored, and I'm sure he could be talked out of it." "Ooh!" I said. "What year?" "I dunno. Let's go see it."
Walking about six houses down the street, under the carport, was a '54 100-4. I think it moved when I walked in the drive. Looking very complete, except for the dash (which was in the middle of a bad wooden replacement attempt), and very unrestored. I asked: "Is he home, I wonder?" "I think he is on leave". I could wait.

Checking every day for 30 painful days paid off with the acquisition of my Healey for $500.00. Needless to say, autocrossing suffered for the Brit "thing". Almost immediately, I was transferred to New Mexico, where the restoration began. The frame is now structurally complete with help from Moss and a buddy in the flight line welding shop. The motor has been boiled out, and the (cracked) cylinder head has been replaced with a rebuilt from Norman Nock. All engine parts are on hand, as is carb kits and a body rubber kit. A new windshield and all necessary folding hardware had been acquired. All gauges cleaned and checked for operation, and the original (rescued) dash restored.

At this point, it's 1987, and we're off to Japan. The Healey rests in dry storage in New Mexico, until'91 when we return, and move to Florida. Not much has been done with the 100-4 since purchasing a house, (funny how that happens) and I look forward to being able to proceed with the restoration now that I'm retired."