Beautiful tri -carb ! Best looking of all the Austin-Healeys

I only had the opportunity of driving a 3000 once but I have to say that this was a memorable experience which has stood out for me over almost 55 years of driving. Such a delight, such an elegant thing of beauty so much pure fun.

When I was 21 back in 1963 and in the Air Force I bought a 1959 Austin Healey100-6 for $800.00...Got orders to ship out to Turkey and sold it.Thank God the orders were cancelled. Then bought a 1964 TR 4 IRS for $1400.....I still miss them and will be 79 in October of this year.

The first time I saw an Austin Healey was in 1958, I was 16 years old and I had just started to work. It became my dream car then and at the age of almost 78 it is still my dream car. Had many other cars but the Healey remains the dream. Terrific sound. I envy you guys very much. Enjoy the ride.Regards from South Africa

I bought my 1960 3000 Austin Healey Mark I while stationed in Iceland in late 1959. It was a 2 seater with road speed tires, Le Mans headlights, wire wheels, 2 gear overdrive, and a radio equipped with short-wave. My 2-seater had more room in the truck than the 4-seater because the spare tire was located right behind the front seats. The side windows were plastic and were hard to open while driving. It also took me awhile to master getting the thing in to reverse gear. I brought the car back to the USA in Jan 1960 and kept it until just before my marriage in the summer of 1961 when I traded it in for - would you believe - a 1961 4-door Nash Rambler. (What we do for love.)

@terryallen9546

4 жыл бұрын

I bought my 1960 about 8 years later in high school. My first car.

@clb3775

4 жыл бұрын

Nice. I actually got two Healeys when I made this purchase...this 62 tri-carb and a 63 bring back from Germany with the euro lights. Both were stored in a building for about 12 years. This car took 6 years since then to get into the shape it's in...I gave the 63 to my friend for him to restore.

While in the Navy stationed out of Norfolk, VA I bought my first Healey, a 1958 100/6. Sold it a few years later and bought a 1964 3000 with roll up windows and an attached top. When our daughter was born, I sold it and bought a new 1968 VW bug. I tried to buy another Healey after the kids were out of college, but the prices were made it untouchable. I bought a Miata instead.

@curbozerboomer1773

4 ай бұрын

IMO, you did the right thing...Those big Healeys were lovable, but just typically British--poor reliability. Miatas are excellent overall--the only thing you miss with that car, is the forbidding sound of that Healey 6 cylinder!...I think the Healeys, along with the XKEs, had the most enjoyable, "macho" sounding exhaust notes of any foreign sports car! BTW, my favorite big Healey would be the 1963 model, roll-up windows, but retaining that older-style, classic dash set up. I thought the fake wood-grain of the last gen Healeys did not do the car justice.

what a nice drive! thanks mate!

I had a '67 BJ8. Drove it all across the US and Canada when I owned it. Had a real love affair with that car! Some unsolicited advice: Pull it into 2nd gear before snicking it into 1st gear. When selecting OD, push in the clutch just like you are shifting a gear. It will go into OD immediately and save the OD clutches. :)

@clb3775

4 жыл бұрын

Nice tips...thanks.

@PaulRentz

4 жыл бұрын

My '59 3000 wasn't synchro in first, is that what you're referring to? No OD on that one either.

@xKmotx

4 жыл бұрын

@@PaulRentz Yes, that is the reason. Pulling into 2nd gear stops things from rotating and when you then push into 1st gear there is no gnashing of the gear teeth. 🙂

The clacky electric fuel pump sound at start-up is normal, my 106 sounded exactly the same. You're gonna love the electric over drive in 3rd and 4th. I expect you'll learn to gear match soon enough. They are surprisingly fast, an honest 140 mph with thrilling handling in the twisties & good road feel. May I suggest that you be very careful in first, the gear chips easily. Beautiful restoration BTW. Green with envy! Thanks for sharing.

Why did the Healey 3-carb disappear after that one year, 1962? Were those carbs all that difficult?

My best friend's parents bought him a '62 triple carb 4 seater in Healey Blue over blue interior, for his 16th birthday in 1967. We were cruising along, as he told me that his parents had warned him against 'speeding'. We come to a stop sign, as he pulls away he floors it through 1st, then 2nd- the car roars. I yelled over the din "Thought you weren't going to speed." He yells back: "I'm not, just getting up to the speed limit."

@clb3775

4 жыл бұрын

I had several Porsches before this car..."getting up to the speed limit" very quickly was the thing that brought me great joy...besides the cornering and the braking (lol).

I drove my 66 Healey everyday for about 2 years, and I did not use 1st gear very often.

Dream car

@clb3775

4 жыл бұрын

Soon to be for sale...

True British 🇬🇧

I have a white truck me with red interior. A 63. Is that paint the way the factory did it. I wanted to keep it white but a little flare like that would be great. Beauty. And the sound of that straight 6 is like nothing else in VW heard it when it’s working.

holy brick mailboxes batman

@clb3775

4 жыл бұрын

Just keep it between the mayo and mustard and you'll be fine, boy wonder.

So the BT7s had tri-carb? I have a 63 BJ7 with duals. Did you get the valves done for our unleaded? Beautiful car, the red really makes it sharp to an otherwise underwhelming white like I have. Red interior like yours. Fun little cars, Big Healey's. Mine is a bit louder from a few gashes at steeper gas stations, so I can only hear the pump before starting. 😁 I use the same up and down trick for the eleronic overdrive. Sometimes seems to engage early, and I get a bit of a click in 3rd and reverse too. Probably need a new master cylinder

@clb3775

5 жыл бұрын

BT7s from mid 1961 to early 1962 had triple SU carbs with a total of 5096 BT7 2+2 cars built...after that, they went back to dual carbs. I did not do the hardened valve seats for unleaded gas...it may have been done by the previous owner. I changed the clutch master cylinder...I believe in these crashbox transmissions that the gears are syncroed going up...not so much downshifting...just have to find the sweet spot in rpm to downshift! The white I went with is Glacier white...an early 1970's color from British Leyland Motor Company. I imagined that as a 10 year old car it may have needed a repaint and the owner went with that color...works for me.

@alexgreen1559

4 жыл бұрын

@@clb3775It is not a crash box. Providing the workings aren't worn, you will have synchromesh on all gears bar 1st.

Steven McCullough said his Austin Healey did 140mph? I find that hard to believe..Your thoughts CLB.

@curbozerboomer1773

4 ай бұрын

No Healy could hit that speed!...although there was a Rootes-modified special edition Healey, that was extensively tweaked to 250hp, better suspension and gearbox, etc. It was a real track monster, and could likely hit 140 without falling apart!

Does it take premium gas? What oil does it take?

@stevenpdxedu

3 жыл бұрын

In it's day it would run on regular (it basically has a truck engine) but now days it would struggle (ping). The real issue would be ethanol. The original rubber wouldn't have been ethanol friendly. This car being as valuable as it is has most likely been converted to tolerate ethanol. I owned mine in the1970's and it did just fine on regular. During the late 1960's and early 1970's, premium pump gas had octanes of 98-102, regular 97-93. The downdraft SUs and timing could be tuned for less but at a loss in performance. So, my guess is that it just depends on what you want and your budget. These cars were designed to run on leaded gasoline and to use a quart of oil every 2000 miles (at least) so, there's more to it than one might think if you want to keep them running. A puff of smoke at start-up is normal. Originally they took standard 30 wt. in summer. Many ran heaver oil (a mistake) to stop the car smoking. I would run a led additive and octane booster nowadays. Hope this helps.

Well, it's for sale on Bring A Trailer bringatrailer.com/listing/1962-austin-healey-3000-bt7-4-seat-roadster-18/

Side pipes is nicer👍🇳🇱😉

Too bad you don't have some tight tracks thru the wine country to take. I used to really thow my 3000 around.

@clb3775

4 жыл бұрын

I know, right? Only thing I have here in Cajun Country (south Louisiana) is country roads thru the swamp...

@terryallen9546

4 жыл бұрын

Ha! Banking off a gator, works!

@PaulRentz

4 жыл бұрын

Storm King Highway along the Hudson was my favorite drive with my 1959 3000! This isn't me but you get the idea! kzread.info/dash/bejne/nqR50baYodDfc7g.html

I came here for tanks, i got cars

I don’t like the gearbox noice???😢🇳🇱😉

@clb3775

4 жыл бұрын

It drives fine as is, but it's probably time for a transmission rebuild with new syncros...something for the next owner to have done.

Back when us Brits made real cars....

@clb3775

5 жыл бұрын

Right, then. I have a mate here who's chuffed that I have a British icon sitting in the middle of Cajun Country, south Louisiana...as he drives his new MINI...not to be confused with a real mini (Brit made). But these old cars...brilliant!

That is not a crash box, it is a three synchro.. no synchro on first. No offense here, but there is limited interest in watching someone drive a car with a back mounted, forward positioned camera. . Show me the car in action.

@clb3775

2 жыл бұрын

No offense taken. You are pretty late to the party tho...as I replied elsewhere in this video that the car was for sale and was sold a year and a half ago. Where is your video of your tri-carb "in action"?

@curbozerboomer1773

4 ай бұрын

I found the vid to be very sufficient. It took me back 55 years, when I drove a 1959 100-6 model. The sound of that engine is sublime--even better than a V8 burble!...but I think the Jag XKE exhaust sounded even better than the Healey.

@jeffhildreth9244

4 ай бұрын

@@curbozerboomer1773 "very sufficient", are you serious? Very sufficient?