Shelby Healey Cobra?

[Tomcomm]

Shelby wanted Donald Healey to install an American small block V8 into his Healey 100-4 roadster. Donald was all for the proposition but British Motors killed the whole idea. So Shelby went to AC Ace and they enthusiastically agreed, so the story goes. I have been running a big block Olds 348ci in my '54 Healey since '57. It ran the quarter in 12.5 sec at 112 mph. In '64 I wiped out the Healey's front end and when I found out what it would cost for repairs I decided to rebuild it to resemble the 427ci Cobra. I also installed a newer 418ci Olds to achieve the Cobra's performance. It weighed 2486# vs the Cobra's 2526# did 0-60 in 3.8sec vs Cobra's 4.3sec, and both ran 118mph quarters. In '99 I brought the "OldsHealey" out of retirement and did a '64 period restoration. I also added replica kit bumpers. And so it is today. I would respect the car as a piece of early Healey history and just make it run well.

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv134/tomcomm/5c70fa20-7865-4e0f-a968-a535070aa43b_zpsd82d97d4.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv134/tomcomm/2f57b6cd-4d6f-424b-a5b6-710fdd87ff29_zpsbcefed1a.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv134/tomcomm/8b15877c-e885-48e7-9457-a700dc3789d2_zps04a30117.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv134/tomcomm/92e53d3c-ca99-40e9-bfdd-940fb0bfe348_zpsdf8f9ea5.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv134/tomcomm/95c6bcba-740e-426a-834d-be9d5d5ac29e_zps6972fc72.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv134/tomcomm/7f0a87b0-a709-4fba-bd7f-b33642078cd3_zps8cff931c.jpg

http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/vv134/tomcomm/002eb623-aacc-4608-819d-de11f01aee85_zps12fe12ed.jpg

[bwwooster]

It's giving me a mental short-circuit every time I look at it, but it really does look oddly good!

HTH do you change the spark plugs in that thing?!

[MPTech]

Nice job! I like the wire wheels and under-car exhaust.
Is the engine setback an optical illusion, do to the extended cowl?

[Tomcomm]

Since the entire toe box structure was rebuilt, enough room was provided to replace the spark plugs without heroics.

[Tomcomm]

The firewall was cut out and the engine moved 13 inches back under the original cowl. This was done to provide the near perfect 48/52% FB weight distribution of the 427 Cobra. The V8 conversion is described in these links:

http://www.acmefluid.com.au/larry/oldshealey.html

http://www.britishv8.org/Other/TomSchnerk.htm

[skullandbones]

I like it! I would love to watch the expressions of the guys trying to figure out what iteration of cobra replica this was. It's confusing enough but this would really cause them to scratch their heads. Thanks for sharing, WEK.