3000 (Big Healey (3000, Mk I to Mk III))

From 100-Six to Three Litres The Austin-Healey 3000 was announced on 1 July 1959, replacing the 100-Six's 2.6-litre unit with BMC's 2,912 cc C-Series six and adding disc brakes at the front. Little else changed: the wheelbase, the Jensen-built bodywork and the two body styles carried over, the two-seat BN7 and the 2+2 BT7, and assembly continued at BMC's MG works at Abingdon. Weather equipment stayed rudimentary: a folding hood on a light demountable frame and detachable side screens holding sliding Perspex panels. BMC claimed 60 mph in 11 seconds and 100 mph in 31. The Motor tested a hardtop BT7 with overdrive in 1960 at 115 mph and 11.7 seconds to 60 mph, at £1,326 including tax. Mark I production ran to 13,650 cars, 2,825 of them BN7s and 10,825 BT7s.

Three Carburettors, and the Retreat From Them At the end of May 1961 BMC announced the Mark II, its engine now carrying three SU carburettors and a revised camshaft behind a vertical-barred grille. The triple layout is the odd episode in the car's development. The gain over the twin-carburettor Mark I was modest, and against it stood the difficulty of keeping three constant-depression instruments balanced on a long six. When the BJ7 arrived in 1962 the triples went and twin SU HS6s took their place with no material loss of output; the club literature is blunt that the third carburettor had simply proved troublesome to keep in tune. The Mark III's answer was fewer and larger still, twin SU HD8s with two-inch chokes for a total area of 6.3 square inches, a 30.6 per cent increase, together with a higher-lift camshaft.

Side Screens to Wind-Up Windows The change that redefined the car came at the end of August 1962 with the BJ7 sports convertible. It brought a wrap-around windscreen, wind-up side windows, swivelling quarter lights and a quick-action folding hood,. The BN7 two-seater had already been discontinued in March 1962 and the BT7 followed in June, so the side-screen Big Healey ended there; every subsequent 3000 was a 2+2 convertible. The Mark III BJ8 that followed added servo brakes as standard, a walnut-veneered fascia with the instruments moved in front of the driver, a centre console and Ambla upholstery. By 1963, 91.5 per cent of 3000 production was exported, overwhelmingly to North America, and the car's specification followed that market rather than the British one.

Abingdon's Rally Weapon BMC's competitions department rallied the 3000 from its introduction, and the car's size and torque suited the long road events of the period better than its ground clearance did. Pat Moss and Ann Wisdom won the 1960 Liège-Rome-Liège outright in URX 727, the first all-woman crew to do so, from a field in which only 13 of 90 starters finished and the first three places all went to Healeys. The Morley brothers took the Alpine Rally, Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon won the 1964 Austrian Alpine, and Rauno Aaltonen won the Spa-Sofia-Liège the same year. Works development effectively stopped in 1965, largely because the Mini Cooper S had become the better tool. Works cars were built to a distinct specification, with aluminium panels, reinforced frames, triple Weber carburettors and outputs approaching 210 bhp by the mid-1960s.

Low Slung, Hot, and Legislated Out Ground clearance was the car's structural weakness, and Motor Sport was recording sump damage on privately entered Healeys as early as 1961. The May 1964 Phase II Mark III addressed it with reshaped rear chassis rails, radius arms in place of the Panhard rod and an exhaust system tucked higher into the floor. That exhaust, running beneath the cabin, is also why the car is remembered for its heat: owners report the footwells and transmission tunnel becoming genuinely uncomfortable, and heat-shielding and insulation are among the most common retro-fits. The end came from Washington rather than Abingdon. The 3000 could not be made to meet the United States federal safety and emissions requirements taking effect for 1968, and with roughly nine cars in ten going to America there was no case for a redesign. The 4000 Mark IV prototypes with Rolls-Royce power went no further than three cars.

Corrosion is the dominant problem and the expensive one. Aluminium shrouds corrode electrolytically where they meet steel, steel wings rot, inner sills, footwells, boot floor and chassis outriggers all trap moisture, and the ladder frame itself distorts easily; restoration costs on a rotten shell routinely exceed the finished value. Mechanically the C-Series six is durable but not tight. Coolant weeps between head and block are normal and there are known modifications to cure them. Oil consumption of up to a pint every 250 miles is within expectation. The four-speed gearbox has no synchromesh on first, and worn or missing first-gear teeth follow from being forced. Overdrive faults are usually electrical, with the solenoid the common culprit. Brake-light pressure switches degrade so that ever-harder pedal pressure is needed to light the lamps, and the rear brakes should be checked annually for leaks. Wire wheel splines and knock-offs need periodic attention. The car runs hot by design, both mechanically, with normal operating temperatures around 190 degrees Fahrenheit under a seven-pound cap, and in the cabin: the exhaust runs beneath the floor, and owners describe footwells and transmission tunnel hot enough to melt shoe heels through carpet on a long run. American-market survivors often have sun-damaged dashboards and seats, and trim is expensive and not interchangeable between models.

The body shell is what separates a good car from a bad one, and the two places to start are the aluminium front and rear shrouds and the sills. The shrouds sit against steel and are prone to electrolytic corrosion where the two meet; they also dent from little more than being leaned on, and replacement panels, though available, are hand-made and expensive. The inner sills are structural and awkward to repair properly, and a car with covered or patched rockers should be treated as an unknown until the covering comes off. Doors that sag are the usual symptom of sill or A- and B-post rot, or of structural repairs already done badly. Below that, check the floorpans, scuttle footwells, boot floor and the chassis outriggers, where mud packs between the outrigger and the main rail and destroys both. The bottom nine inches of the car are the vulnerable zone. Underneath, look for a bent or kinked ladder frame and for exhaust damage, both of which follow from the low stance. Establish whether the car is a Phase I or Phase II Mark III, since the reshaped rear rails and radius arms change how usable it is on ordinary roads. On the engine, look for coolant weeping between head and block, expect 45-50 psi of oil pressure running and 10-15 psi at idle, and treat oil consumption approaching a pint every 250 miles as normal rather than alarming. Check that overdrive engages, and confirm the car's original specification and colours against a British Motor Industry Heritage Trust certificate.

As of August 2026, classic.com records a CLASSIC.COM Market Benchmark of $50,331 for the Mark III BJ8 on a downward trend, with an average recorded sale of $52,161 for that variant and $47,224 across all 3000 variants. Tracked results for the BJ8 run from $5,175 in November 2024 to $135,981 in May 2025; across the wider 3000 listing the recorded low is $1,500 in February 2025, for a project-grade 1963 BJ7. Auction evidence sits in the same band: RM Sotheby's sold a restored, numbers-matching 1965 BJ8, chassis H-BJ8-L/27938, for $67,200 at its Arizona sale in 2026, and a concours-restored 1967 BJ8, chassis H-BJ8-L/40531, for $85,000 from the Dare to Dream Collection in 2024. Worldwide Auctioneers sold a 1966 Mark III at Tempe, Arizona on 26 January 2024 at $62,500 hammer, $70,000 with buyer's premium; Sports Car Market graded that as fair both ways and noted prices trending gently downward. UK trade guidance published by Hagerty UK and Motorious, both undated and not a live August 2026 read, places good cars at £45,000-75,000 and concours examples at £80,000-96,500. Works competition cars are a separate market: URX 727 made $323,380 including premium at Christie's London on 7 June 2004, and Bonhams estimated it at £350,000-450,000 at the Goodwood Members' Meeting on 16 April 2023.