That toothy grin looks a little battered…
We know a lot of readers are huge fans of the Austin-Healey 3000. They’re icons of an era when British roadsters were some of the most desirable rides among youthful Americans. And as they say, the cars that were cool when you were young stir a lot of emotion in your heart later in life because they make you feel young again. That might be why when Dennis Collins rescued this ride he was a little more chipper than usual.
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That’s right, this is yet another Collins rescue documented on YouTube. But to start off, he visits a guy’s house to check out his beautiful MGA. While it looks like a proper British roadster from the outside, under the hood he has hidden a Ford 302 V8 for extra hard-hitting performance. Sure, our friends on the other side of the pond might find that a little blasphemous, but we like these sorts of builds.
To accommodate the extra power, the guy had to widen the MGA and honestly it looks better. Again, not everyone is going to be a fan of this build but we like it.
Collins claims to have restored over 350 Austin-Healeys, so the man is definitely a fan. He also owns Goldie, which literally features 24 karat gold plating, an ivory steering wheel, and other over-the-top features from the factory.
After admiring the guy’s restored MGA and Collins talks about how much he loves these little British roadsters, they go out to outside a barn where the Austin-Healey 3000 that’s to be rescued is kept. Dragging it out in to the open with a tractor, the owner gives Collins and crew a good look at the battered little thing.
Yeah, she’s rough, with the windshield mostly gone, dents in the body, one cracked headlight, and the toothy grille looking like it went a few rounds with Mike Tyson, but we think she’s in good hands. After all, Collins has restored hundreds of similar rides so this one should be looking great in short order.
Check out the rescue and the V8-powered MGA in the video.
Images via YouTube
