Austin-Healey * Bill Piggott

A celebration of the fabulous 'Big' Healey. This extensively illustrated automotive monograph chronicles the complete, year-by-year design history, mechanical specifications, and legendary racing exploits of the iconic British "Big" Healey sports cars from their 1952 debut to the final roll-out in 1967.

The Story: Written by prominent classic car historian, archivist, and legal authority Bill Piggott, this beautifully produced commemorative volume serves as an ultimate reference archive for British motoring enthusiasts. Piggott completely bypasses the generic descriptions of standard automotive lists. Instead, drawing from meticulous factory records, he establishes a thorough, research-heavy framework that documents the development of one of the world's most masculine, universally recognizable open-top sports cars.

The narrative takes automotive and design lovers through a versatile landscape of post-war European engineering, sorting the car's legacy into precise mechanical milestones. The book reviews all variations of the "Big" Healey line - meticulously detailing the four-cylinder 100 models, the sleek 2.6-liter 100-Six versions, and the final, powerful three-liter 3000 Mark III models that verged on luxury cabriolets. The text charts the precise parameters of how these cars were built, tracking the reality that over 73,000 examples left the factory line, with a staggering seventy-five percent exported straight to American showrooms.

Rather than delivering a dry list of production numbers, the work breathes life into the era by compiling a sumptuous collection of archival and specially commissioned color photographs. Piggott captures the vehicle's legendary racing and rallying triumphs - including the rare 100S racing variants - while sharing historical anecdotes, performance statistics, and period press reviews. Published as an elegant, heavy-weight hardcover by Haynes Publishing, this definitive collector's item remains a centerpiece for garage workshop shelves and design libraries alike.

Perfect For: Classic car owners, restorers, and automotive historians looking for an objective, data-dense textbook to verify factory-original details and model variants; fans of vintage British engineering and European sports car racing lore; and library curators archiving the celebrated volumes of the Haynes Great Cars series.

Published by Haynes Publications.

Automotive History & Monographs / Classic British Sports Cars / Vintage Racing & Rallying Chronicles / Production Specifications & Reference Guides / Coffee Table Photo Books