One look at the 1950 Healey Silverstone, and you know it was made for speed, not comfort. That’s especially true if you’re checking it out from the back. The spare tire is tucked into a compartment in the back of the car, sticking out just enough to double as the rear bumper, saving metal and making the car that much lighter.
If you’re as interested in clever ways to save weight as you are in driving fast and feeling the road, gather up your spare cash and head to England, where this cigar on wheels will cross the auction block at the Silverstone Classic Sale on July 26.
The Healey Silverstone and the better known Austin-Healey roadster were both the work of the brand founded in 1945 by veteran race driver Donald Healey. Only 105 examples of the Silverstone were produced, from 1949 to 1950. The car was made for going fast, but with a civilian driver in mind. It came with safety features like twin headlights mounted behind the radiator grill. Under the long hood, its 2.5-liter Riley engine makes 104 horsepower, enough to get its just over 2,000 pounds of weight past 100 mph.
Less than wealthy drivers need not apply, then or now. The handmade Silverstones sold for £975 (a little over $48,000 today) back in the day, and this one is expected to go for £160,000 to £180,000 ($274,430 to $308,730) at auction.
All that money gets you a fairy tale story to go along with the open roof racer. The car---an especially rare model from the “E-Type” generation of the production run---was rescued after sitting under a pile of trash in a garage for 30 years (see the depressing photo in the gallery above). It was restored from the ground up by Hennessy Motorsport (not the Texas folks with the speed record). They soda-blasted the body down to the bare alloy, re-welded cracks, and punched out the dents. Now it looks fantastic.
That story and the low production run are what will make this Silverstone sell for over an estimated $270,000, but we want it because in an era of automatic braking and adaptive cruise control, it's a vehicle that reconnects us to the way our grandparents drove. Plus, there's that sweet tire bumper.
