The Donald Healey Motor Company completed its first car in 1945, going into full-time production in a disused RAF hangar in Warwick the following year.

Given Donald Healey’s background, it was inevitable that his firm’s first products would be cast in the sporting mould.

An ex-RFC fighter pilot and many times Monte Carlo Rally competitor during the 1930s, Healey had won the ’31 event for Invicta and later that year joined the Triumph Motor Company, where he went on to develop the Dolomite Eight and Southern Cross sports cars.

Healey’s first offerings as an independent producer were the Elliott sports saloon and Westland roadster, each taking its name from the coachbuilder responsible for the body.

Both models were 2.4-litre Riley-powered and constructed on a welded-up X-braced chassis featuring Healey’s own trailing arm independent front suspension.

For a time the Elliott was the world’s fastest closed four-seater production car, clocking 110mph at Jabbeke, Belgium in 1947.

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