As Jerry Garcia once said "What a long strange trip it's been" ….

My wife, Judy, and I agreed to buy this car over dinner in the spring of 1982. Actually I had already agreed to buy it , I simply needed to bring her into the idea gently. My plan was to restore it to be HER "Healey".

As I began to research what we'd purchased I found out that the car was not, in fact, a 2 seater Tri-Carb as originally thought, but a 59' 3000 MK I BN6 with a Tri-Carb engine installed. The idea began to form about doing a rally replica with it.

During the first few months we had the car we were busy finishing up our '66 BJ8 for Snowmass, so not much was done.

I was traveling to Chicago and the Twin Cities and after discussing the project with my brother, he called me to let me know that he'd come across some critical parts for the project. A 2 seater hard top, Minilite wheels, and a complete, original, factory option rear disc brake set up .

Upon inspection of these little treasures on my next trip to the cities a deal was struck and they were mine. I had bought a lot of parts for my '66 BJ8 from Julian Aubanel then of Southern Carburetters in Gatwick England. During his next trip to the States, he came by Dallas and we discussed the Rally car.

He told me that his company had just developed a copy of the triple Weber carburetter set-up from the '61 and '62 factory cars and that I could buy for a reasonable cost. I did.

Well... It didn't take to long to figure out that fitting the Weber set up to a Left Hand Drive (LHD) car wasn't going to work.

One of the guys in the NTHAC told me of a shop in Dallas that had a Right Hand Drive (RHD) BJ8 with a collapsed frame. He also said that the owner would be happy to swap RHD front end components for LHD front end components.

We were on our way. Now we had concept and some cool basic parts. Now... How do I do the modifications to the frame and body panels? I didn't even begin to have the skill sets to tackle this.

Enter Eddie Miller......... He was the most incredibly talented fabricator I could have ever imagined meeting. He was enthusiastic about helping me do this project, but only if I helped. Here was an opportunity most guys don't ever get in a lifetime. I would end up with skills I could use over and over and a really high quality Healey too.

Through the late1980s and early 1990s, I worked with Eddie every chance I got. Sometimes even working around the clock from Saturday morning all the way through to Sunday afternoon. As you might imagine the first couple of times this happened I had some "explaining" to do to Judy. But once we got on the program she was OK with it.

Eddie and I kept moving forward. Finally Eddie's part of project came to a finish in mid 95' (I could write a book about the times I spent with Eddie but I'll save that for another day). Dick Solomon and I collected the car from Eddies shop and brought it back to my shop.

From late 95' until December, 2001, we worked making all sorts of bits and pieces. Tom Taff helped finish up sheet metal details, including the beautiful louvers on the lower left hand front fender. Eddie had given us the receipe for those louvers but no ingredients. Fortunately for me, Tom had "Studied" under Eddie too.

Don Koos made the exquisite carburetter access panel and Bret Blades made brake and engine parts, most of which you can't see, but delightful little bits just the same. Don Lenschow took my scribbles and sketches for throttle linkages, spindles, and more, and turned them into little pieces of jewelry.

One day in the fall of 2001, Tom came by the shop and suggested that we make a push to get the car ready for Open Roads 2002 in Lake Tahoe. Tom felt certain that with all the major components complete and the painting and interior work in process and/or almost finished, we could do it.

This time I sat down with Judy prior to doing the deal. Since we work together in business, I knew it would require a sacrifice on her part. It would take long days from BOTH of us to work the business AND the car.

She gave me the green light and we began the assembly.

I was able to work half days at the office and then full days in the shop for over 3 months. Tom Taff, Bret Blades, Don Koos, Ed Resh, and Bob O'Neil pitched in whenever they could.

On the evening of June 19, 2002 after a quiet moment to dedicate the car to the memory of Eddie and Mary Miller, we put "Annie" in the trailer with high hopes of being part of the 50th anniversary celebrations at Lake Tahoe.

What a wonderful surprise and an honor to have "Annie" selected as the most popular race car at the event ! I have seen it written that there is no such thing a self made man, in this case a self made car. Judy and I couldn't have done this project without out our many friends locally, nationally, and internationally. Many of these friends are our suppliers too.

Special thanks go to my friends in my local North Texas Austin Healey Club. There are so many guys in the club who helped us, but especially Eddie Miller. Without him, I wouldn't have known where to begin. Eddie's gone now, but for me and many others, he'll NEVER be forgotten.

Thanks to Healey Surgeons for their work on the front end components and especially Inan's cheerful assistance with many requests for obscure parts. She didn't miss many.

Thanks to Fourintune for support on the engine development and to Rhode Island Wiring Service for their wonderful looming of my hand built wiring harness. Thanks also to British Car Specialists, Denis Welch Motorsport, DMD of New Zealand, and John Chatham Cars of Bristol. Just a few among many.

In the end, life is always about relationships. Our relationships with all the wonderful people of the Healey world have a far deeper value than that of the car.

That little British sports car that brought us all together !

Thanks again, my friends..........

Chris & Judy