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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  Important Collectors' Cars
• Sale Date:
  28 May 2017 ~ 4pm
• Lot #:
  10
• Lot Description:
  1953 Alvis-Healey Three Litre Sports Convertible
  Chassis number: G-516; Engine number: 25316. This vehicle will be sold unregistered.
• Notes:
  Before Donald Healey achieved international renown with the highly successful Austin-Healey in the mid 1950s, the Donald Healey Motor Company had been producing a variety of cars with limited production runs. Once the cessation of hostilities after the second world war came about, the germ of the idea created during the latter part of the war, and the chassis formulated between 1943 and 1945, saw the light of day in 1946 with the launch of the Westland. The basis of all the Healey, Alvis-Healey and Nash-Healey cars was this chassis with minor modifications. According to Bill Emerson’s definitive marque history, ‘The Healey Book’, “The identification system for the changes in the chassis followed a letter sequence starting with ‘A’. Healey cars using the Riley 2.4 litre engine had chassis identification letters up to and including F. The Alvis-Healey used the chassis identification G....Although the bodies for all these cars were significantly different and showed a progression in style, the chassis remains essentially the same throughout...The chassis was made of 18-gauge steel forming a very light, yet extremely rigid, structure and weighed a mere 160 pounds.” One of the rarest of all the cars built by Healey between 1946 and the launch of the Austin-Healey was the Alvis-Healey with just 25 units built between late 1951 and 1953. The bodywork was designed by Gerry Coker whose pen would also be responsible for the Austin-Healey 100. At first glance the styling is reminiscent of the Nash-Healey built at the same time and indeed Panelcraft of Birmingham manufactured the aluminium bodies for both. However, the Alvis-Healey was more refined and subtle in its looks and featured an entirely new design for the grille and grille opening. Lighting was by the new Lucas long-distance driving lights were standard to the Alvis-Healey. Door-handle locks, still quite rare on British cars at the time, were fitted as was lockable glove box. Other standard equipment included both a radio and a heater which was also unusual for the period. The Alvis-Healey had wind-up windows, a full set of instruments including a tachometer and a simple switch for the reserve fuel tank, whilst it was possible to seat three people comfortably on its front bench seat. The new G chassis was required to accommodate the Alvis three litre in-line six-cylinder engine as opposed to the Riley engine/transmission set up. Chassis numbers G-501 to G-524 sported the Alvis engine/transmission which ran to a Hardy Spicer shaft linked to a Salisbury rear-axle. Power output from the 2,993 Alvis engine with twin SU H4 sidedraught carburetors was 106 bhp. This barn find condition matching numbers 1953 Alvis-Healey Three Litre Sports Convertible is chassis number G-516, number 16 of just 25 cars. Although right hand drive it was purchased new, as evidenced by its still existing bill of sale dated June 10 1953, by Leverett Saltonstall Miller from Brewsters of Long Island, New York. Indeed, it comes with its original key on a ring from Brewsters. Leverett Saltonstall Miller was a wealthy socialite polo player who was married to Hollywood acting starlet Ava Norring (1929 – 2016). He became a founder of the National Museum of Polo & Hall of Fame, whilst his grandmother was Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney who founded the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Norring’s best known film is The Snows of Kilimanjaro, of 1952, where she appeared alongside Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. Originally from Hungary she came to the USA with her first husband, Fred S. Norring. Plans to mould her into another Zsa Zsa Gabor apparently failed. She later appeared as a model in Esquire magazine. It is recorded that on 26th July 1957 Norring’s best friend, another film and TV actress, Barbara Nichols was injured in a car accident in Long Island, New York whilst being driven by Miller, which resulted in an enormous court case and heavy financial settlement. Was it possible that the car in which this occurred was this very Alvis-Healey? This car, with remarkable provenance has not been seen, except by a handful of people in the know, since it arrived in Australia with the current owner in 1988. Seemingly complete with all parts, G-516 is in need of a total restoration to its original grey (sample flakes of the original paint are still existent) with red interior. Original bill of sale denoting the price paid and recording the part exchange of a 1951 Singer Roadster, plus various correspondence between a subsequent owner, Dean H. Velsor of Long Island and the Donald Healey Motor Company in the early 1960s accompany the Alvis-Healey.
• Estimate:
  A$35,000 - 40,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Automobiles & Accessories

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.