The brand Austin Healey is the result of a historical cooperation between Leonard Lord of Austin and Donald Healey.  

The first Austin Healey was the model 100 which was built from 1953 till 1956. As the sports car could reach a top speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) this Healey was named “100”. 

The 1st series of 100s (BN1) were equipped with a 3-speed gearbox with optional double overdrive. Later came the updated 100 series (BN2). Those Healeys were fitted with a real four-speed manual transmission, still with overdrive on the top two gears. In 1955 a special Austin Healey 100/M version was made available to the public.