Remember the Ward Special?

It was actually in our club when PR had it.

Fiberglass Spyder to Aluminum Coupe: 1955 Austin-Healey 100 Ward Special

This 1955 Austin Healey 100/4 BN1 “Ward Special” is described as a one-off build with some interesting Australian racing pedigree–the detailed add reveals quite a tale and is worth a read. The story goes that the coupe rolled off Healey’s production line in Longbridge on the 27th of January, 1955. From there, it was shipped to Sydney, where it was fitted with a fiberglass “Ausca” racer body in 1957. This body was one of seven built by legendary Australian gearhead Paul Englandand was a design he modeled directly after Maseratis A6GCS/53 Fantuzzi Spyder. After changing hands again it was registered in 1959 with plates that read “GTV 116” which can be seen in pictures below. This Healey chassis, Ausca bodied creation saw competition at many Australian circuits in the mid-1960s with “varying degrees of success.” In 1967 the Ausca body was removed and coachbuilder Sid Ward was commissioned to build a fully aluminum coupe body, which would come to be known as the “Ward Special race car.” The car still wears the aluminum body today and can be found here on Postwarclassic in the Netherlands for 85k euros (~$95k USD today.) Special thanks to BaT reader Kyle K. for this submission.

After the Ward Special body swap was completed the car is said to have sat in storage until 1980. Not too long after, it was built, raced, and painted in Holden Maranello Red. The description adds that the car has changed hands about a dozen times since being exported from England, and is now in peak form.

This cool piece of Australian motorsport history is described as “road ready and great to drive, very taught and ‘modern’ on the road.” We hope that it will be used as originally intended by the next owner, and feel that it would be a prime candidate to enter in a future California Mille.

Shots of the engine bay show what appears to be the four that would have come standard from Austin Healey in 1955. No engine upgrades or performance details are mentioned in the ad–unfortunately no front-on shots are provided either.

From the ad: “Although there were a few Australian-built Austin Healy coupe “specials” in the 1950s and ’60s, none of the others was as professionally built as a race car. This car has many fine fitments like the hand-made front and rear bumperettes that complete the look of the era and are the true mark of quality craftsmanship (look at the recessed rear lights as well). The car has an interesting race history that is very well known and documented, but its true appeal is the stunning styling that was way ahead of its time then and is still both interesting and attractive today.

"Bring-a-trailer"