“THEY’RE PHYSICAL, MASCULINE CARS BUT THEY NEVER OVERPLAY THE HAND”

It starts on the button and the generous torque of the 2660cc over square four means you only need a tickle of throttle to get it rolling. It’s actually quite civilised for a 1954 car, although the driving position is cosy. The big wooden Moto-Lita steering wheel obscures the dials and the worm and peg system doesn’t offer much in the way of on-centre feel. You’ll drive in a straight line like Chadwick Gates in

Blue Hawaii, with plenty of wheel action. Carve a corner though and it feels really all of a piece, the steering weighting up very nicely and the suspension doing a manful job of soaking up road imperfections. The chassis of this one was designed with longitudinal members and cross bracing producing a comparatively stiff structure upon which to mount the body. In order to keep the overall vehicle height low, the rear axle was underslung, with the chassis frame passing under the rear axle assembly.

The gearchange takes a bit of care, with no synchro on first and the plane for third and fourth requiring a firm guiding hand. The pedal box isn’t too cramped and although there’s not a great deal of action in the top half of the brake pedal’s travel, the front discs come good with a respectable push. Like any characteristic of an old car, it’s something you soon learn to accommodate into the style of driving and after half an hour’s acclimatisation, the Healey really inspires confidence.

The engine is hilariously fruity for a four-pot, doesn’t really need to be given a stack of revs and it feels every bit as quick as the original 0-60mph time of 11.2 seconds. This one feels capable of dipping below ten seconds, although you really don’t buy a car like this for its numbers. This one’s all about soaking up the sun and throwing some juice down the twin SU carbs on a deserted country road. The exhaust has a barrel-chested baritone roar that never gets old. And that’s much of the appeal of these Healeys. They’re physical, masculine cars but they never overplay the hand; they don’t tip over into macho caricatures.

If a muscle car is a bit too mid-life crisis but you find some roadsters a bit fey, you’d like the Austin Healey 100. We do.