The front end of a 1963 Austin Healey 3000 Mk II at Scituate on Friday.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

Stephen Bell sitting in his 1960 Austin Healey "Bugeye" Sprite in Scituate last Friday. Bell was the event coordinator for a rally to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

The Providence journal / Ruben W. Perez

Two Austin Healey 100-6 models from the 1950s. The cars, one of which has the British righthand drive, were a part of a group of 15 Healeys parked at the Gazebo in Scituate Friday.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

SCITUATE

It’s the bark that gets them.

“It’s a distinct sound,” said Ted Goodman of Charlestown who owns a 1963 Austin Healey 3000 Mk II, the first with roll-up windows. “I love the looks of the car, but the sound – it’s beautiful and mellow and unique. I can be standing with my back to the road and hear it and know (it’s an Austin Healey).”

Frank P. Motta, the president of the Austin Healey Club of New England, agreed. “It was love at first sight,” he said. “I heard it start and said, ‘Oh Wow!’ ”

Motta said he bought his first Austin Healey in 1967 right after graduating college. “I was in the showroom and the man said, ‘You better buy one now because it’s being discontinued,” he said. “I’d just got a job that paid $7,000 a year and the car cost $3,500. I went home and came back the next day and (put some money down on it).”

“And I still have it!” he added, noting that it has only 73,000 on the clock.

“It’s the long-stroke, six-cylinder motor,” said Bob Bender of Dalton, Mass., who owns a 1956 Austin Healey 100. “It’s the long stroke that gives it the bark.”

The Austin Healey, a classic British roadster manufactured between 1953 and 1971, was produced in four main styles over the years, although diehard fans like Goodman can – and do – cite myriad variations. The original Austin Healey 100 was a 4-cylinder car named for its top speed of 100 mph. When the 6-cylinder version was introduced in 1956, it became known as the Austin Healey 100-6. In 1959, that car was replaced by the Austin Healey 3000, which was produced in various editions through 1967.

All three models became known as the Big Healeys, as opposed to the Austin Healey Sprite, a smaller car known as the “Bugeye Sprite” for the headlights mounted on top of its hood, which was produced between 1958 and 1971. Overall production of the Sprite – at 130,000 – was almost double all other Austin Healeys combined.

About 15 Austin Healeys and their owners stopped by the Gazebo in Scituate last Friday evening at the invitation of British Motor Cars of New England, a local auto club that meets regularly on Friday evenings through the summer. The focus of the event was a rally to raise money for cancer research. A couple of the cars had driven down from Maine that day, with others joining en route.

“We’ve lost some members to cancer recently, and we thought we’d do something and figured cancer research was the place to put our money,” said Steve Bell, event coordinator of the event for the Austin Healey Club of New England. “It’s the first time we’ve done this.”

The American Cancer Fund Run passed through all six New England states plus New York in a “Pass the Torch-type marathon,” according to Bell. The rally started in South Portland, Maine, Friday morning and snaked through New Hampshire and Massachusetts before arriving in Scituate around 5 pm. The following day, the cars headed back into Massachusetts and on up to Vermont for the night. On Sunday, the route took them into New York and then back into New England for the final stop at Suffield, Conn., at around 2 pm. There were various stops to raise money along the way and members joined and left the rally with only two cars completing the entire tour.

“People came out and made donations,” said Paul Dunnell from Rowe, Mass., who owns a brown-and-cream 1967 Healey 3000 Mk III, and was one of the two members who drove the entire rally. “We’re the stupid ones,” he said of himself and Bender and his red 1956 Healey 100. “There were about 50 cars in the whole array,” he said. “Some came early and spun off as others joined and left us later.”

“I was flabbergasted at how much money we raised and how we did it,” Dunnell said. He cited one stopover where the group got talking to some Harley-Davidson riders who promptly passed a hat and handed over $150. He said the entire rally raised more than $6,200 for the American Cancer Society.

Bell, a big man in height, girth and personality, was driving a 1960 Austin Healey Sprite that he has owned since 1991. The little white car has 179,000 miles on it, he said, although the engine was rebuilt at 149,000 miles. “It’s like a regular car to us,” he said, referring to his wife Susan, who shares his enthusiasm and the driving. “I came home from work, threw in the luggage and off we went.” Bell is a high school teacher in Middlebury, Mass.

In 2001, Bell and his wife shipped the car to Europe for more than seven weeks of driving with 13 other cars and couples. They drove through Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco and Switzerland – although not in that order.

“We had gourmet meals every night and the landscapes were absolutely amazing,” he said, adding, “It’s a crazy car that makes you do things you would never to. What else would entice you to go to Europe and drive a 45-year-old car for seven weeks? It was absolutely the tour of a lifetime.”

“The Healey 100 was designed to fill the gap between the MG and the Jaguar,” said Dunnell, who said he was introduced to them at college. “A friend had one and we used to beat on it and chase girls around,” he said, adding, “The harder you drive these cars, the better they run.”

“I’ve had the sickness since I was 14 years old,” said Goodman, a retired banker, looking over his blood-red Healey 3000 as though it was a favorite dog. He said it had been his wife’s father’s car and that he had met his wife and her family when he “came up from New York to buy a 1959 TR3A to race.” He added that while he bought the car, he never raced it. “We got married,” he said by way of explanation, “and started a family.”

“We kid him that he married Sandy to get his hands on that (Healey),” joked Dunnell.

“Unless you’re a car person, you can’t understand what you feel when you see one,” said Bender, a software engineer. “It’s hard to explain, you become one with the car,” he added, noting that he enjoyed working on it. “I also have a Mazda Miata, but I can’t work on that, it’s too complicated,” he said.

“(Healey’s have) personality, they enjoy being driven. If it sits in the driveway, it’s not going to be happy,” he said, adding, “Unless you missed it, I’m pretty passionate about these things.”

“And then there are the people in the club,” he said. “I call them my family.”

Indeed, many emphasized how much the social aspect of the club meant to them. “We are very close,” said Dunnell. “Some of us become very cliquey as we grow up belonging to this foolish club.” He said the club has about 400 members and he is good friends with about 30 of them.

“Some are my closest friends,” he said, noting that one of the reasons that he and Bender had driven the entire rally was the recent death from stomach cancer of fellow club member Charlie Krut.

“He was my best friend,” he said, “and a best friend to Bob.”

For more information, see

www.ahca-northeast.com/

www.healey.org/index.shtml

www.bmcne.com/