Some unique details,

Another work week has come and gone, and this past Saturday showed some more great progress on my BN1 Healey.
I had my good friend and fellow Healey owner Trevor Parker over in the afternoon to help me out with a few things. Trevor has a very original BN1 that's been in his family since the 70's and also owns a beautifully restored BN2/M, so he's been a great friend to help lend a hand, answer questions and generally 'talk Healey's with' - something I find myself doing a lot these days!
Trevor recently found a copy of the book "Healey 100 Profile" by John Wheatley. - A book
I distinctly remember looking through as a kid when my Dad owned it. In it, I was reviewing the Evolution pages of the Healey 100, where it actually lists dates and car numbers with the various subsequent changes.
I noticed that it would appear my car (chassis #150244, body 1221) was actually built in December of 1953 -  not '54 like it's registered!

Also, if you notice the many changes happening at that time, it all makes sense!
- I have the earlier flat floor in the rear over the leaf springs
-one of my leaf springs is still the earlier and very thin/flimsy style!
-I have the unique 2 piece dash, but it's After they had made the change to a non-adjustable steering wheel, so the slot for the steering column was made narrower when they removed the adjustable column. In fact my style of dash would have only been seen on a few hundred cars between Dec '53- early spring '54 - when they introduced the single piece dash.
-my car would have been one of the first to get the revised hand brake lever assembly too.
-and was also of the first to have the redesigned (style 2) side curtains with the hand signalling flaps.

Neat stuff! It's so fun to research and notice these details on earlier cars as the marque evolved through the years!
I have yet to send away for my Heritage certificate from the UK to verify some of these dates, but I did get this bit of info through Randy Hicks - the Healey 100 registrar, (who took over from my Dad, Richard Chrysler when he passed away.):

It's nice to know Dad at least knew of this car at one point!

Getting back to the work we got done on Saturday, I removed the "revised" emergency brake handle and cable assembly. Interesting to find big flat head screws holding the handle in place..

I also removed all the brake and fuel lines that were left along the chassis, saving all the little clips that hold them in place..

Next, with Trevor's help and the use of some of his Whitworth tools, I unbolted the pan hard rod, the U bolts, and removed the rear axle assembly...

With the axle out, it's clear to see the inner frame work and the noticeable undercoating on the rear boot bulkhead and boot floor..

Finally I removed the rear leaf springs, as you can see I still had an early original one on the right side. It's no wonder the factory beefed them up soon after...

here you can see the earlier flat floor above the spring hanger. Later cars had a small step in the floor here to provide better clearance...

While I was busy working on the rear of the car, Trevor helped out with removing the front coil springs. He used a series of long threaded rods through the spring pan mounting holes with nuts and washers. He'd simply replace each original bolt one by one with a threaded rod and 2 nuts done up tight. Then just backed the nuts off evenly to extract the spring safely.

We finished the day by hoisting my engine up onto a proper rotisserie engine stand that Trevor let me borrow. Thanks again Trevor!
- If there's one thing I'm Thankful for, it's the friends I'm finding in the Healey community.  It feels much like a family, full of good friends who genuinely seem to want to help each other out with these old cars. It's nice to be a part of, and I'm very grateful!