The Austin Healey 100/4
Well if this isn't a beautiful car, I don't know what is. These are the kinds of cars that dreams are made out of to me. Well, this was the first Austin Healey to come on the market. Not this single one, the series of 100/4's. If Chevy tells you that America built the sports car, and the first sports car was the Corvette, they are wrong. If I'm not mistaken, the Corvette was built around 1953, while this little car was out at about the same time, 1953. Well, this one didn't have a giant gas guzzling engine, but it still did pretty good. It had a 2.66 liter straight four engine, which got it from 0-60 in 11.5 seconds, and up to a pretty good speed of 105 mph. Not quite as good as the Vette, but still I think this one had more style. In case you're wondering, this car had no roll-up windows, but in fact had sort of snap-ons. You might think that's pretty stupid, but if you look at the winshield, you might notice that it folds down to allow better areo-dynamics. Also, notice the rear view mirror. Its on the dash, one of my favorite things about Austin Healeys. The engine of this monster roars like an eight cylndar when you start it up, another one of my favorite things about Austin Healeys. There are a few bad sides to this car for wimps though. The thing handles bumps like a go-cart, so if you don't like being jostled... Also, the steering takes a bit getting used to, but since most people today are babied by power steering, they'll never be satisfied. Well, for us common people, the price is a bit steep. I've only seen three or four of these cars in real life, and all of them were at a British car meet. As for the price? Well, a good running one is in the price range of a camaro or a mustang, say 20-25 thousand. If you want the best, you'll be paying about 30-40 thousand dollars depending on where you get it. There ARE a few bargains out there, where you can get them for as low as $10,000, but I'd stay away from those, they might be good, but they need a good examination before you buy this car.