The Other Project

The Other project has been going on for 23 years (and counting).

This is what it looked like the day I acquired it. An Austin-Healey 3000 MkII (BT7). Clearly before the days of digital cameras.

The Healey arrives home in 1991

But it all started a few years prior to that.

I had three months off between finishing university and starting work, so I decided to put my engineering degree to good use and build myself a car, which resulted in me paying £645 for a Dutton Phaeton kit (don't ask me how I remember the amount, I sometimes have difficulty remembering who I am these days). It was finally registered the day I had to drive down to London to start work. I finally sold it hours before I had to leave for the airport when I emigrated to Canada.

The Dutton at Kingswood Common

Building the Dutton had given me the bug, so when the need for a second car arose, for some reason I decided the perfect solution would be a classic car, and by chance I saw an ad in the Montreal Gazette for a partially restored 1961Triumph TR3A (which made sense to me, as my first car prior to the Dutton had been a Triumph Herald, called Henrietta, though my father, Bill, still thinks it was called "Hark" - that's his twisted sense of humor at play).

The owner of the TR3A had either run out of money or patience (probably both), and the car was sitting in pieces (and boxes) in his mother's barn (yes, seriously). He assured me everything was there, so the deal was struck, and 18 months later (I was studying for actuarial exams at the same time), the TR3A was reborn. The seller was true to his word, all the bits were there (and a few that weren't needed, and some that didn't even belong to the Triumph). The only part I needed to buy was a battery.

The TR3A sitting outside the house in Brossard in 1988

I happily used the car as a daily driver (in the summer - Montreal winters are not exactly ideal for driving a British roadster). When the birth of our second son, Alex, was imminent in 1991, I started looking for another car to restore. I had decided that the TR3A was for Max (the eldest) when he got older, and the next one would be for Alex. My intention was to give them each a fully restored classic car on their 21st birthday. Well, life doesn't exactly work out as you plan sometimes, and I am currently looking after the TR3A in Scottsdale, until Max feels the time is right to take ownership, at which time I have promised to drive it across the continent to deliver it (seemed like a good idea after a bottle of nice wine). I think one of Max's earliest memories is driving to the hospital in the TR3A to greet the arrival of his brother - what he actually remembers is dropping his little toy penguin under the seat and losing it (he was very sad). We found it years later.

So after passing on a nice TR250, because the oil pressure was non-existent (and nearly killing myself on the test drive due to a lack of brakes) a friend told me her father had an old car in his garage that he might be wanting to get rid of. That was when the Healey and I started our relationship. I took a friend along who owned a restoration shop, and we looked it over and agreed it needed a lot of work, but just the engine was worth the asking price. Well it turned out that the engine was just about the only part I didn't replace! It did drive the day I bought it. The next day, I took it apart and it didn't move under its own power for another 23 years or so.

Oh I wish I had bought that TR250. A brake job and an engine rebuild and I would have been done. One of my biggest car regrets. But of course, had I bought it, I wouldn't have the Healey today.

Dismantling the Healey showed that it was in a far worse state of repairs than I had imagined - the dreaded tinworm had got everywhere. The floors turned out to have been replaced with hardwood flooring (some nice oak) and liberally gooped with underseal. The outriggers were gone and had been replaced with angle iron (we saw this on the inspection), and somebody along the line had been a dab hand with tin, a riveter, glassfibre and Bondo. What a sad state of affairs.

When all was said and done, this is what I had left. This picture was actually taken in 2004 - you can see the rear crossmember has been replaced, along with one of the outriggers. Not much to show for 13 years of work!

There is a car in there somewhere. The Healey at its worst.

Life had got in the way. Alex arrived. We bought a house and I single-handedly restored it from top to bottom, there was work, a major upheaval in family status, the boys growing up, rugby, it all got in the way. And quite frankly, the job just seemed too big. I had finally bitten off more than I could chew.

Getting parts wasn't that easy. The inter web was in its infancy. E-mail was uncommon - communication was by fax. Somehow, I had found a supplier in the UK who mailed me their catalogue of panels to rebuild the chassis and superstructure. So I ordered what seemed to be an entirely new car, and my friend John kindly had all the parts brought in with a shipment of skis for his company - so no shipping costs and no import duty or taxes. Thanks John.

Alex grew up wondering if his car would ever be finished. Everybody wondered if it would ever be finished. I wondered if it would ever be finished. In 2004 I finally decided that it was time to really bite the bullet and get down to work - I was still cutting rotten pieces out at that point and was getting a little disheartened. Really I have Alex to thank for pushing me on. He would keep asking me when we would work on his car, and although too young to really help, was very keen to get involved. I did show him how to weld!

A welding genius

Ned Kelly lives!

Alex cleans Max's car in April 2004 - coming out of winter storage

Then in the winter of 2004-2005, a work opportunity came up that meant a move to Connecticut. I had to make progress. I had six months to get the car into shape to move it. I built an insulated room in the unheated garage so I could make progress and spent hours in there cutting and welding. No pictures at this point, I didn't have time! Needless to say, it still looked much the same when we moved and all the pieces were loaded up in the moving van, hidden behind the furniture. That's the best way to get a car into the country!

So the frame was put on axle stands in Connecticut while I concentrated on the new house, the new job and the new country.

I was slowly getting things done on the car when a new opportunity came up in late 2010 which meant moving across the country to Scottsdale, Arizona in April 2011. That was my incentive to get stuff done. I set the objective of having a rolling chassis done by the time we left (that way it would be easier to get it into the container with the furniture). Many nights and weekends and days off were spent cutting and welding and getting it ready for the move. Eventually I had it in a good enough state to be painted. My brother, Tim, even came all the way from Trinidad to help with the assembly of the suspension and to get the engine in, but unfortunately, the frame didn't get back from the body shop before he had to go home, so this is all we had:

spot the missing item

 A real shame, but the visit was much appreciated.

I did get all the suspension in before we left. This is the car in April 2011, a couple of days before the moving van came:

A car!

Once in Scottsdale, I fitted the engine and transmission - not an easy task alone, without a hoist. Something about mothers of invention and necessity.

Now let's see . . 

Finally in

Nearly there . . 

After that it was just a matter of bolting everything in, more or less. Mostly everything important is new. I was able to salvage and recondition some components. By Christmas that year (2011), and the boys' visit it was really looking like a car. I wanted to show Alex it would be ready one day.

Racing their toys in the driveway

Boy, did the three of us  have fun fitting the exhaust system!

By February it was moving under its own power (just). Thanks to Julie for recording the momentous occasion for posterity.The timing was way off and it sounds very rough. It also leaves a nice trail behind so it can find its way home.

The Healey's first drive from Steve Kimpton on Vimeo.

Because I was traveling a lot for work, I didn't really get much more done other than temporarily fitting the bodywork, so it would look like a car again (it will all need to be replaced, but it has a nice patina, and I don't have to worry about where I park it). Alex actually drove it the following June with his friend Etienne, but the timing was still way off. He did get it further than the end of the driveway.

Things slowly progressed, then I hit a snag. I decided to take the distributor apart because I just couldn't get the timing right. After a rebuild it was no better. After much tinkering it decided not to start at all, So I did the grown-up thing and sulked. For a year.

I did get the rest of the bodywork on, the windscreen installed, the lights and all the other electrical doo-dads, along with the driver's seat.

Then along came the idea of the Westfield. Understandably, Julie's first reaction was "what about the Healey?". So that did it, one final push. I ordered an electronic ignition that looks like the original distributor, fitted new HT leads, and finally got my strobe light to work, so I could set the timing. It worked and the engine purred like a kitten. A very angry kitten, that spits oil everywhere, but it works.

Here is the first real drive so we could hear it as it is supposed to sound:



Austin Healey early morning run from Steve Kimpton on Vimeo.

From now on in it should be plain sailing. Getting it registered was a bit of an ordeal. It took three trips to the MVD and they made me chisel off the ID plate because it was not original. And I had to post a bond, because  now it didn't have a VIN number (it did until they made me chisel it off). When you are talking to a large man with a gun, my advice is do as he says and start chiseling. A small price to pay for a registered historic vehicle.

Currently I am doing longer and longer test drives, waiting for it to break down, to sort out all the niggles. When fitting the auxiliary fan I accidentally poked a hole in the radiator, which then magically fixed itself, but I will still have it recored. The wheels are approximations of roundness, like one of those fun cars you see at the circus (it's like driving a bouncy castle, which is actually a safety feature given the tires were made in 1986 - I checked!). I took it to the tire place, but they wouldn't balance the wheels because of the age of the tires, so I have to order new rims. I will do that while the radiator is being done. I will also upgrade to 60-spoke wheels to better withstand the forces applied on them by new radial tires.

From the outside it looks exactly the same as that day I brought it home in 1991 (actually worse, the bodywork has a few more bumps and bruises), underneath it is as good as (probably better than) the day it left the factory. I am going to take it to the valet at the golf club and tell them to be careful with it because all the body damage happened last time I left it with them. I know, not original, but I just can't resist it.

So that is (more or less) the end of the story. Alex has agreed to let me play with it for a while, but I know with his fondness for cars, he will soon be asking for it to be delivered, so probably another cross-continent drive. I couldn't think of anything that would give me greater pleasure, as it would give me time to reflect on what a long journey it has been. As Julie and I were driving it the other day, I asked her if she ever thought this moment would arrive. She smiled fondly and said no, but was happy that it had. So too am I, so too am I.

While waiting for Alex to claim his car I intend to enjoy every moment I can driving it. I am proud to say I literally rebuilt it from the ground up. I always had faith I could do it, but had many, many moments of doubt and desperation. It was worth it.

Mind you, perhaps I can find a nice TR250, and if I start now, it should be running by the time I am 76!