This first post is going to be a potted history as he has had quite a full and interesting life.

Donald Mitchel Healey was born in Perranporth, Cornwall in 1898. In 1921 he married Ivy James and they had three sons, Geoffrey, Brian and John. Donald had opened his first garage in Perranporth in 1920 and became interested in car speed trials and rallying. He won the RAC Brighton rally in1929. In 1933 he moved from Cornwall to Warwickshire after being offered a job in the Triumph experimental department as manager, developing what was the Triumph Dolomite shown at the 1934 Motor Show.

In February 1946 the Donald Healey Motor Company was formed and the Healey Westland Roadster was partly produced from a rented building from Benfords off Cape Road, the body being produced by Westland Engineering Company of Hereford.

This Healey Elliot Saloon, body now made by Elliots of Reading, winning the 1947 and 1948 Alpine Rallies.

Then came the 1949 Healey Silverstone, a high-performance sports car, built using a Riley engine.

A better engine was needed and a trip to the USA and General motors to obtain the Cadillac engine, but fate had a hand and he met George Mason from Nash Kelvinator.

In 1951 the Nash Healey was produced which was mainly exported to the USA up until August 1954.

In the meantime, Donald’s son, Geoff and Barry Bilbie had been working in secret on a smaller sports car, the body design by Gerry Coker at his home.

The body was originally built by Tickfords and shown at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1952 as the Healey 100, it was spotted by Leonard Lord of the Austin Motor Company, and a licencing agreement was made for the car to be produced at the Austin works at Longbridge but with Jensen Brothers producing the Bodies. 74,000 Austin Healey’s were produced until 1956 with many going to the states. 1959 the Austin Healey 3000 was produced until 1967.

In 1957, the Cokers left England for life in America. Gerry worked at the Chrysler Corporation for about five years before a move to the Ford Motor Company, where he worked until 1987 when he retired as a Senior Product Design Engineer.
It was Gerry who designed the famous dual-action tailgate for station wagons he and Ford hold a patent on his ingenious design, which was also used on the first Ranger Rover.

By 1963 Donald Healey had moved from the Cape Works to the old Warwick Cinema which had become a Bingo hall by then.

It opened as the Warwick Donald Healey Motor Company “Healey International Sports Car Centre “ on Donald’s Birthday.

The Jensen Healey was developed and shown with a Lotus Engine at the 1972 Geneva Motor Show, but financial problems and other factors came into play and the Donald Healey went into receivership in 1975.

The company name existed until 18 Aug 1997 when the company name changed to Sytner Warwick Ltd, then to Damon Hill Performance Cars Ltd, and finally to Nick Whale Performance Cars Ltd until July 2007.