Monday, October 1, 2012

The Austin Healey boat.

Donald Healey didn't just produce exceptional sports cars. The production of the Healey "Sports Boats" by Donald Healey Marine was not exactly insignificant.
First produced in 1956, they built 1750 examples over the next 6 years.
This is the cover of a comprehensive 1957 brochure.
These all-wood speed boats were pretty classy.
Take a look at the dashboards.
The most powerful was the Healey Marine 707, a 15' 9" boat powered by a triple carburetered  Austin-Healey six cylinder engine good for 118 hp. There was also the Healey Marine 75 and 55 which were powered by 1500cc MGA marine engines with twin SU H4 carburetors developing 80 hp.
There were outboards as well. Here is a 1956 ski-master all-wood boat designed specifically to tow 2 skiers and provide seating for up to 5 including the pilot.
Outboard motors included Scott-Atwater, Evinrude, Johnson and Mercury.
There was also a small boat called the Sprite (of course) which was constructed of fibreglass.
Each boat came with a trailer made at the Donald Healey Motor Company with chassis number on an ID plate.
Dinky model no.796 is a Healey boat and trailer.
I know of at least one Healey boat in Australia, a 1959 "75" sports boat which was imported from Canada in 1996. It is hull number 1144 and has its Healey Marine trailer with original mechanical brakes and DHMC I.D. plate. It has the Healey Marine forward/reverse/neutral transmission and the Healey Marine inlet and exhaust manifolds and twin SU carbies on its BMC 4-cylinder motor. Until about a month ago it was owned by Melbourne Austin Healey stalwart, John Gray.








1 comment:

JRA said...

Does this mean that he has sold this wonderful boat?

Kind regards
Julian Aubanel
From a snow covered England