Everything about Donald Healey totally explained
Donald Mitchell Healey CBE (
3 July 1898 -
13 January 1988) was a noted
English rally driver, automobile engineer, and speed record holder.
Early life
Born in
Perranporth,
Cornwall, Healey became interested in all things mechanical at an early age, most particularly aircraft. After leaving school he joined
Sopwith Aviation Company from where he volunteered for the
Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and earned his "wings" in 1916. During the
First World War, he served on anti-
Zeppelin patrols and also as a flying instructor.
Shot down by
British anti-aircraft fire on one of the first night bomber missions of the war, he was invalided out of the RFC at the age of 18. He returned to Cornwall and took a correspondence course in automobile engineering. After the war, he opened a garage in
Perranporth.
Automotive achievements
In 1931, Donald Healey won the
Monte Carlo Rally driving an
Invicta. He competed in the
Monte Carlo Rally in 1929 (Times:1929) and was in the top eight places in 1932, 1934 and 1936.
He gained a reputation as a consultant engineer and designer and was appointed General Manager of the
Triumph Motor Company in 1931. He went on to create the renowned
Southern Cross and
Dolomite 8 models.
During the
Second World War, Healey was in charge of developing an aircraft
carburettor for the Ministry of Supply and also worked with
Humber on armoured cars.
In 1945, he formed the
Donald Healey Motor Company Ltd, based in an old
RAF hangar at
Warwick. The company developed the
Austin-Healey and
Austin-Healey Sprite motor cars in licensing arrangement with
British Motor Corporation in 1952 and 1959.
In 1949, Healey established an agreement with
George W. Mason, the president of
Nash Motors to build Nash-engined Healey sports cars. The first series of the 2-seaters were built in 1951 and they were designed by Healey. The
Nash-Healey's engine was a
Nash Ambassador 6-cylinder, the body was aluminum, and the chassis was a
Healey Silverstone. However,
Pininfarina restyled the bodywork for 1952 and took over the production of its new steel body.
Later life
When BMC was taken over by British Leyland in 1966, Donald Healey became chairman of
Jensen Motors and was made a
CBE
Donald Healey died at the age of 89.
Recognitions
In 1962 he received the Médaille de l’Éducation Physique et des Sports (1ère Cl.) in
Monaco.
In 1996, he was inducted into the
International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Family life
In 1921, Donald Healey married Ivy Maud James and they'd three sons.
He bought the 27 acre
Trebah Estate, near Falmouth, Cornwall in 1961 and carried out many ambitious projects there, including the building of commercial greenhouses to grow orchids and a project to build air/sea rescue inflatables. He demolished the concrete covering of the beach of
Polgwidden Cove (a D-Day invasion launch-pad) and used the salvaged material to surface a steep track from the house to the beach. (Hibbert, 2005). He sold Trebah in 1971.
His son,
Geoffrey, born in 1922 and a former pupil of
Warwick School, wrote several books about the cars and one about their partnership (see below).
Memorial at Trebah
The Austin Healey Club has placed a small monument, in the form of a sports car, and an inscribed plaque, as a memorial to Donald Healey in the garden of Trebah, which is now open to the public, next to the Visitor Centre.
Further Information
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