Donald Mitchell Healey CBE was born on July 3, 1898, and died on January 13, 1988. He was a well-known British car designer, rally driver, and holder of speed records. He was honored with the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his contributions.

Early life

Donald Healey was born in Perranporth, Cornwall, as the eldest son of Frederick (John Frederick) and Emma Healey (née Mitchell). At that time, his parents owned a general store in the town. From an early age, Donald became interested in mechanical things, especially airplanes. He studied engineering at Newquay College. After finishing school, his father paid for an expensive apprenticeship with Sopwith Aviation Company in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. Donald joined Sopwith in 1914 and continued his engineering studies at Kingston Technical College. Sopwith had buildings at the nearby Brooklands aerodrome and racing circuit.

When World War I began in 1914, Donald was barely 16 years old. In 1916, before completing his apprenticeship, he volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and became a pilot. He participated in night bombing missions, worked on patrols to defend against enemy airships called Zeppelins, and also taught other pilots. During one of the first night bombing missions of the war, he was shot down by British anti-aircraft fire. After several more crashes, he was discharged from the RFC in November 1917 and spent the rest of the war inspecting airplane parts for the Air Ministry. After the war ended in 1918, Donald returned to Cornwall, took a correspondence course in automobile engineering, and opened the first garage in Perranporth in 1920.

In 1921, Donald married Ivy Maud James (who died in 1980). Together, they had three sons.

Triumph

Donald Healey found rally driving and motor racing more interesting than managing his garage and car hire business. He used the garage to prepare cars for competitions. He first entered the Monte Carlo Rally in 1929, driving a Triumph 7. In 1931, Donald Healey won the Monte Carlo Rally in a 4½-litre Invicta and finished second overall the next year. Because of his success as a competition driver, he sold his garage business and moved to the Midlands to work for Riley. Soon after, he joined the Triumph Motor Company as experimental manager. The following year, he became technical director and was responsible for designing all Triumph cars. He created the Triumph Southern Cross and later designed the Triumph Dolomite 8 straight-eight sports car in 1935. This came after he won his class and finished third overall in the 1934 Monte Carlo Rally in a Triumph Gloria he designed himself. In 1933, a train struck the Dolomite on a foggy level crossing, but Healey and his co-driver were lucky to escape unharmed. Triumph went out of business in 1939, but Healey stayed at the premises as works manager for H M Hobson, making aircraft engine carburetors for the Ministry of Supply. Later in the war, he worked with Humber on designing armoured cars. After the war, Donald Healey wanted to build his own cars and planned post-war sports cars with colleague and chassis specialist Achille Sampietro.

Donald Healey Motor Company

In 1945, Donald Healey started the Donald Healey Motor Company Ltd with Sampietro and Ben Bowden. They began their business in an old RAF hangar in Warwick. Their first cars cost a lot of money but were very high quality.

In 1946, Healey introduced the Healey Elliot, a type of car called a saloon. It used a Riley engine designed by Dr. J.N.H. Tait. After winning races with Triumph cars, the Healey Elliot won the 1947 and 1948 Alpine Rallies and the touring class of the 1948 Mille Miglia.

Some of the car models created by Healey included the Elliott, Westland, Sportsmobile, Silverstone, and Tickford 2-door saloon.

In 1949, Healey created the Silverstone, a fast and powerful sports car. Its success led to a partnership with an American company called Nash Motors.

Nash

In 1949, Donald Healey made a deal with George W. Mason, the president of Nash Motors, to build sports cars powered by Nash engines. The first series of two-seater cars were made in 1951. Healey designed them, with help from Benjamin Bowden for the car’s appearance and shape. Bowden used a similar design for the Zethrin Rennsport the next year. The Nash-Healey had a six-cylinder engine from the Nash Ambassador, an aluminum body, and a chassis from the Healey Silverstone. In 1952, Pininfarina redesigned the car’s body using steel instead of aluminum.

In 1950, Donald Healey drove a Nash-Healey at Le Mans. Another car driven by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt finished 4th overall but suffered major damage after being hit by a car without brakes. Healey also drove a Nash-Healey in the Mille Miglia from 1950 to 1952. He won first place in his class for cars with over 2000cc engines and received the Franco Mazzotti Trophy Coppia Del Mille Miglia. He shared driving duties with someone named Nash during the race.

Austin-Healey

The Healeys had always been expensive. Donald Healey wanted to create a sports car that was less costly but still could reach speeds of 100 miles per hour. He designed the Austin-Healey 100 by using an Austin engine and gearbox instead of the Riley engine and gearbox. The car was first shown at the October 1952 Earls Court motor show in London. The merger of Morris and Austin led BMC to stop producing the Riley model. Because his new factory, Cape Works, could not make enough cars, the Austin-Healeys were built by British Motor Corporation at their Longbridge factory under an agreement. A total of 74,000 Austin Healey 100s were made, with more than 80% sold outside the United Kingdom. At that time, Nash and Austin were working together on a project that became the Metropolitan.

Healey Automotive Consultants

In 1955, Donald Healey started a design company. One of the cars created was the Austin-Healey Sprite, which began production in 1958.

Jensen-Healey

The production agreement with BMC ended in 1967. In 1970, Healey became chairman of Jensen Motors with strong support from key U.S.-based Austin-Healey distributors. This partnership proved long and successful for Healey, partly because Jensen had been manufacturing body shells for Austin-Healey since 1952, after the Austin A40 Sports was discontinued. Healey’s first project with Jensen involved redesigning the Jensen 541S with a V8 engine in 1961. This car became one of Healey’s personal favorites. Ten years later, Healey helped design the Jensen-Healey, which used a Lotus engine, alongside Lagonda designer William Towns. This car was created to replace the Austin-Healey, which BMC was ending production of.

He designed the Jensen-Healey using Vauxhall running gear and tested it with engines from Vauxhall and Ford. However, these engines lacked enough power, did not fit the car’s sloping hood, or failed to meet U.S. emission standards. In the end, Healey chose the all-aluminum 4-valve, twin overhead cam Lotus 907 engine.

He refused offers from Saab and Ford to produce a new sports car.

Later life

In 1961, he purchased the 27-acre (11-hectare) Trebah Estate near Falmouth, Cornwall. There, he completed many large projects, such as building greenhouses for growing orchids and creating inflatables for air and sea rescue. He removed the concrete covering from the beach at Polgwidden Cove, which was used as a D-Day invasion launch site, and used the materials to build a steep path from the house to the beach. (Hibbert, 2005) He sold Trebah in 1971. His son, Geoffrey, born in 1922 and a former student at Warwick School, wrote several books about cars and one about their partnership (see below).

Donald Healey died in Truro at the age of 89. A memorial window was added to St Michael’s Church in Perranporth by the Austin-Healey Club of America. The Austin Healey Club also placed a small monument shaped like a sports car and an inscribed plaque near the Visitor Centre in the garden of Trebah, which is now open to the public.

His obituary in The Times described him as a small, round-shaped man with a bright smile who remained very physically fit. It noted that he was once an expert water skier.

Recognitions

• In 1962, he was awarded the Medal for Physical Education and Sports (First Class) in Monaco.
• In 1973, Queen Elizabeth II honored Healey with the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his work helping to increase exports.
• In 1996, he was added to the list of members in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.