Registration No: 553 YUU
Chassis No: 14993SLM9
MOT: Exempt

Motor Car Location: Devon

• 1 of just 18 Big Healey based Lenham Six cars made
• Thought to be circa 5cwt lighter than a standard 3000
• Rarer than a Kougar or Teal
• Built in 1981 for the actor and screenwriter John Jeremy Lloyd OBE whose writing credits included 'Allo 'Allo and Are You Being Served

H&H are indebted to the vendor for the following information:

In June 2013 I was at Historics auctions at Brooklands. Unusually, I’d taken my partner Mary with me because history has taught me that some transactions are best kept to one’s self.

We were heading for the exit when I saw a small red sports car that I didn’t recognise. The front looked like an ERA and the back was pure Bugatti. The car was in the second tent rather than the main pavilion and this location suggested it wasn’t either an ERA or a Bugatti, so what on earth was it? Mary and I wandered over and were surprised to see an ‘Austin Healey’ badge on the nose, but it certainly wasn’t like any Healey I’d ever seen. It looked old, maybe pre-WW2 but it had a grp front and rear with aluminium bonnet and side panels and the oddest thing of all was that it was sitting on Wolfrace wheels which suggested 1970’s? Interesting.

Mary took one look and fell in love. “Oh she’s beautiful, we have to buy her”! I don’t often do things on a whim but equally I’m never one to look a gift horse in the mouth so we turned and walked back into the pavilion and estimated we had about an hour until the little red car came up. In the meantime I had a better look at the car. I already had a TR6 and a TR5 and compared to those this looked pretty basic. A tiny two seat cockpit with a steering wheel which meant your right elbow was going to get cold, external handbrake and basic instrumentation. Rev counter, speedo, dual water/oil pressure and a few switches. Fuel level was to be determined by opening the racing cap behind the cockpit and ‘dipping’ the tank with the bamboo cane stored behind the seat.

We won the auction and took “Lilly” home where I began researching the history. Lilly came with quite a file and the V5 stated that she was a 1961 Austin Healey 3000. In the documentation we found various press clippings, magazines from the early ‘80’s, assorted bills and receipts, a bill of sale to a Mr Jeremy Lloyd of Maida Vale, London and a page from a publication showing the career of Joanna Lumley, who it seemed had been married to Jeremy Lloyd, the quintessential English actor and playwright. A small plaque in Lilly’s engine bay helps to explain this mystery as the car was actually built for him in 1981.

It transpires that Lilly was in fact one of 18 cars built by the Lenham Motor Company in Kent, better known for their work on Sprites. The brainchild of Julian Booty and Peter Rix who founded Lenham in 1962. I tracked Peter down and he told me the story which began as an idle conversation over a pint, with a sketch on a beermat or two. A customer had approached them and asked them to build a special based on a TR6 chassis. However, this proved impractical as the TR has outriggers for rear suspension arms making it too wide. The original concept was to build their own sports car that looked like a typical post-war racer in the manner of H.W.M and Alta and having discounted the TR and also MGA they settled on the big Healey as it is very strong with a good scuttle assembly. Outriggers that support the body could be chopped off to leave a long, narrow chassis. The nose was actually inspired by the Delahaye and the design is very clever as the moulded light pods hide the independent front suspension units. The bonnet has a scoop rivetted on to provide clearance for the triple SU’s and also to improve cooling. The car is 5cwt lighter than a standard 3000 which combined with a tuned engine producing just over 145bhp means 0-60 is achieved in around 8 seconds and when flat out in 4^th gear (overdrive on 3^rd and 4^th) will top 115mph for anyone brave enough to try.

I remember taking her to the Silverstone Classic one year and had to drop a pal off in Woodstock before heading back to Berkhamsted where we lived at the time. The route would take me through Bicester and Aylesbury before picking up the A41 bypass just north west of Aston Clinton. For the past few miles someone spotty in a hot hatch had been driving what felt like six inches from the back of the car, now bear in mind that its fibre glass as is the fuel tank so I was a tad nervous to say the least. As we got to the bottom of the bypass I had two choices, let him go or get out of his way, I chose option B. Lilly pulled like a train and by the time I reached the top of the hill at Tring he was nowhere to be seen and I was just about still in contact with the road and travelling far too fast in a 55 year old car with no seat belts. A huge smile was plastered to my face as I took the left turn to Wiggington and Cholesbury

One of the first things I did when I bought her was to swap the alloy wheels for wires and Lilly now looks more like I think she should and with modern radial tyres the handling is surprisingly good. The steering is firm and very predictable, far better than a Morgan of the period or standard Healey with a very positive feel to its cornering ability.

Lilly turns heads wherever we go and there are very few people who actually know what she is. Most of the cars went to the continent. I know of two that went to France and one was being competed in Australia. I have only come across one other so far in the UK which lives in Kent, not far from Lenham itself and I think I once saw another heading west on the M4.

So what does the future hold for Lilly? A mechanic who used to look after her always urged me to have her put back to standard Big Healey MK 11 specification and I fully appreciate why a purist would say that. But Lilly is a little piece of motoring history in her own right and in my opinion should be remembered for what Julian and Peter set out to achieve.

Vendor Condition Ratings:

Bodywork: 'Excellent’
Engine: 'Very Good'
Electrical Equipment: 'Excellent'
Paintwork: 'Good'
Gearbox: 'Very Good'
Interior Trim: 'Very Good'

For more information, please contact:
John Markey
john.markey@handh.co.uk
01428 607899