A tribute to Britain’s heritage of beefy sports cars, the Austin-Healey 3000 roots were founded in the low-volume sports car company headed by Donald Healey.

A collaboration with Austin not only provided Healey with a series of proven engines but also shifted production volumes into the thousands.

The basic design was released in 1953, but had evolved into a six-cylinder roadster within 3 years.

It found favour as a car that didn’t compromise anything and expected command and commitment from the driver, earning satisfaction by mastering its talent.

By no means a difficult car to drive, its non-nonsense 1950s roots still had huge appeal by the time the 3000 appeared in 1959.

By this time, exports were booming, and took precedence over the home market, which, helped by its impressive competition history, created a legend out of the Big Healey.

One of the few cars that actually became better as production continued, the BJ7 models of 1962 added concessions such as a new wrap-around ...