Autocar Top Gear Performance Car Country Life
HMC combines traditional British sports car styling with civilised road manners
Brothers Peter and Graham Holmes built their first Healey replica in 1984. Geoffrey Healey, son of the marque's founder, subsequently gave HMC his endorsement. Healey died before a planned joint project was floated, but the brothers Holmes carried on, exclusively supplying the German market until 1995, when All Electric Garages became sole UK distributor. Last year, it sold about 65 cars.
John Leek, owner and managing director of the All Electric Garages retailing chain, is the driving force behind HMC in Britain. Peter and Graham Holmes employ about 20 people at the HMC works at Stroud in Gloucestershire.
The HMC is an evocative replica with modern underpinnings. It uses a zinc-coated chassis with double wishbone front suspension and a semi-trailing rear. Purists may scorn the Rover V8 engine - in standard or tweaked form - but it serves the car well, dynamically and aurally. Prices range from £26,500 for the blistering Lightweight to £43,500 for the most popular model, a fully loaded Mk IV convertible. Eight UK dealers and 15 service agents are being recruited.
The HMC doesn't debase the original so much as honour its legacy. Building on the 3000's strengths - looks, grunt and snarl - the Mk IV HMC impresses with its integrity, handling, comfort and finish. - Roger Bell
When we first came up with the idea for this feature we wanted to get together five replicas that at least offered all the entertainment of the originals. The HMC MkIV does a lot more than that - it's a replica Austin Healey 3000 purely in the way it looks, but moves the game way on in all other respects.
That becomes obvious before even sitting in the car. The paintwork has a deep, iridescent shine. The walnut dash looks as though it's been polished for a fortnight. The mohair hood just needs two latches flicking forwards before closing to a draught-free seal. And if I were a cow, I'd donate my own hide if it were to end up on seats as beautifully finished as these.
But then let's face it, for this top-spec HMC MkIV SE's steep £43,500 asking price - far more than a pristine original big Healey will set you back - it needs to be very good indeed. No, in fact it needs to be bloody brilliant.
Thankfully the depth of engineering is clearly evident in the way the HMC drives as well as it looks. Where the 3000 was always a big, primitive brute, this car offers a near-perfect blend of excitement and utter refinement exactly when it's called for.
You don't even need to drive it before the enjoyment begins. Squeeze into the cabin, hit the ignition and a beautiful bellowing wall of noise is the reward. With a long but easy throw the five-speed gearbox engages first and that classic fuel-injected Rover V8 is ready to let rumble.
With a near four-litre capacity to play with this car surfs on a big wave of torque. At a fast motorway cruise it's utterly docile yet there's always the sort of addictive acceleration available that can get you from nought to magistrate's court before you realise it. The figures quoted are 0-62mph in 6.1 secs with 140mph flat-out.
Again unlike the original Healey, the HMC's tubular chassis has sophisticated independent suspension, with wish- bones all round. The car rides smoothly when you want, but grippy 205-section tyres and a limited-slip diff help give progressive rear-end breakaway when it all gets a bit exciting. The result is grins aplenty along any twisty back road.
Ultimately, I can't help thinking that the HMC deserves a personality - and therefore a body - all of its own. In fact its makers are already considering adding their own original styling. With that in place, thc HMC could even stand to better the best that Marcos and TVR have to offer us.
HEALEY OR NOT HEALEY?
Classic cars? Just love 'em, especially the quickies. Trouble is, they have this irritating habit of malfunctioning and disintegrating. You spend more time recumbent beneath the things than seated inside them having fun. Fine if you enjoy tinkering. If driving's your addiction, though, the attraction of the HMC Mk IV - in all but name a Big Healey for the Nineties - will not need spelling out.
All right, so it's an impostor, a composite facsimile of a Sixties icon. Who cares? Ther's much to be said for modern underpinnings in period dress. Costume drama is not a BBC exclusive. Here, for the nostalgic rich is a steed that captures the flavour of motoring's Golden Age with all the exciting assets and few of the grim snags. You can totally consign to history the body shake of the original. Ditto the elbows-out driving position, bum-numbing seats and wheezing truck engine and clumsy gearbox. No need to tip-toe over sleeping bobbies for fear of severing the exhaust, either. There's ground clearance to spare. Quality also comes in an abundance denied the tacky original.
What hasn't changed are the evocative looks, the leering bulldog gnashers. the chrome embellishment, the cosy cockpit and the surfeit of grunt over grip. You want whoopee oversteer? You've got it. Just boot the throttle in second - third if you're brave - flick the wheel onto opposite lock and you can impersonate Timo Makinen on every wet roundabout, though I wouldn't recommend it. To anyone weaned on front- drive hatches programmed for push understeer, a tail-happy snorter like the MkIV is a wonderful tonic.
Although Healey buffs will spot the forgery from twenty paces, the HMC doesn't debase the original so much as honour its legacy. There's nothing wrong in updating a legend. provided it's done with sensitivity. Toffee-nosed purists may scorn, but I see the HMC, denied the Healey badge it ought to wear (and which Geoffrey Healey had sanctioned before his death), as a flavoursome Old Master with a modern makeover, a fine antidote to road tedium. No driver worth his stringbacks could resist a repro that builds so appealingly, not least with refinement and reliability, on the original's three great strengths; classic looks, stonking performance and (suitably piped) rich vocals.
Rover's BMW superiors, who have hinted at a Healey revival, should take a close look at the HMC MkIV. For a start, it is beautifully made, mostly in-house at Stroud, Gloucestershire, by the brothers Holmes, Peter and Graham, and a team of artisans working to aircraft standards. The Healey Motor Company was working on chassis number 67 when I called. Most of the previous 66, each a bespoke work of art, have gone to well-heeled enthusiasts in Germany, where Britain's sports car heritage is alive and well and worshipped in Deutschmarks. Now 50 HMCs a year are to be sold in Britain through John Leek's All Electric Rover franchise in Harborne, Birmingham. If only I had the funds - £43,500 with extras for the MkIV - to indulge.
Fears that Land Rover's ubiquitous V8 might sound an incongruous substitute for the original Healey's agricultural straight-six proved unfounded. With paired tailpipes, it doesn't so much waffle as purr. No, make that a discreet growl that's rich in quality but a tad short on volume. A couple more decibels wouldn't cause offence. Never mind the absence of overhead camshafts and multi-valve heads; for this romantic application, Rover's aluminium push rod V8 is all the better for being low in tech and long in tooth. Better, too, for being bigger. lighter, stronger and more powerful than the iron lump that whooshed the third iteration of the Healey 3000 to 120mph with barely the urgency of a modern warm hatch. If not as brutal as, say, Morgan's lighter Plus Eight, powered by the same geriatric engine, the MkIV is much quicker than its MklII precursor.
Despite a slightly stuttery idle, the engine's a gem, as docile when lugging in traffic as it is effortlessly virulent when extended to its modest five-five limit. That you're encouraged to use all five ratios when there's really no need says a lot for the quality of the Rover box's swift, short-throw shift and a clutch action that flatters the inept. Brakes? Gentle in feel but strong in action. What's more, stop and go pedals are perfectly placed for heel-and-toe shifts. It all adds to the fun.
HMC claims 140mph for the injected MkIV and a 0-60mph sprint in around six seconds. I can verify neither, though both feel plausible judging by lusty acceleration that belies considerable weight - 1200kg, or 23.6cwt in old money. Given the car's ripple-free composite skin (for those who insist, aluminium's an option) and relatively light powertrain (can't believe the Rover's five- speed gearbox weighs more than the Healey's four-plus-overdrive)' the poundage is surprising. It's down to over-engineering and design integrity, no-one parting with forty grand is going to complain. There's safety in mass.
The car's strength is concentrated in a deep zinc-coated backbone chassis, carried by HMC's own suspension; classic double wishbones at the front, a semi-trailing set-up, sandwiching a Ford Scorpio LS diff, behind. As you'd expect, the springs and (adjustable) dampers are pretty firm, so the spot-on ride is not exactly Jaguar-esque. Composed yes, supple no. Although rough-road tremors betray the car's open-plan structure, the MkIV's integrity is impressive. It doesn't shake, rattle or roll. Nor does it thump or rumble its big 205/60 boots. The separate chassis provides excellent insulation throughout.
Although limpy beanpoles can stretch out in comfort you need the adjustable wheel set fairly close to your chest, NASCAR style. Negotiating roundabouts hardly a limp wristed exercise. Power steering is available but really quite unnecessary. Who wants a Big Healey, macho symbol of hairy hot-rods, with featherweight controls? It's not so much the car's character that's changed for the better, as its behaviour and decorum. Although geared down in the quest for lightness, the well- judged steering is neither benign nor sluggish. You couldn't want for anything more communicative. Alright, so the MkIV doesn't zap into corners with the eagerness of, say, Rover's mid-engined MGF. C'mon. This is a refined and hefty sports tourer, remember, not a nervous rally replica. For those prepared to trade civility for thrills, HMC has the very thing in its ripsnorting Lightweight which is louder, lower, stiffer, gruntier and slimmer by 200kg. Much cheaper, too at £26,500. The in- between range of 5 models are from £26,500 to £43,500 for the `SE'.
I could have driven the MkIV the length of France, mon petite, without suffering discomfort. Its slimline bucket seats embrace well and the beautifully finished cockpit, richly embellished in hide and walnut, is as opulent as the intricate hood is snug. Irritations? Stiff doors, a speedo partially masked by the wheel's thick rim.., nothing you couldn't live with. Driving al fresco (how else?), hot air wafting up from the footwells, you stay warm and cosy even in winter's chill.
Burbling back to Harborne through Birmingham's suburbs, enjoying the air and unobstructed visibility, it occured to me that the MkIV handles and drives more like an E-type Jag than an original Healey 3000. Praise doesn't come much higher for a car that turns every journey into a memorable experience. I adore it.
THE badge is unfamiliar, but not the evocative lines. In all but name, the HMC MkIV is a born-again Austin Healey 3000 MkIII, cherished icon of the Sixties. True, it is an impostor, but only purists blinded by provenance and pedigree would dismiss it as a tasteless forgery.
There is much to be said for a modern car in period costume. The HMC captures the spirit of motoring's golden age without the aggravation; authenticity gives way to quality, refinement and reliability. It provides all the delights of the real thing - but not the pain.
Where once there was body shake, there is now rigidity. The original's crude underpinnings are displaced by a classy chassis and all- independent suspension. Rust-prone steel bodywork is superseded by corrosion-proof composites, the truck-like six- cylinder engine by Rover's ubiquitous aluminium V8, which finds a perfect home under this long, louvred bonnet.
HMC Sports Cars Ltd has for some years been selling replicas in Germany. Now, the company is to market them sparingly in Britain through All Electric Garages Group plc. There are several classic replicas on the market: AC Cobras, racing Jaguars, Lamborghinis, even pseudo Ferraris. HMC's MkIV is one of the best I have found.
For a start, it is beautifully made. Hand built by artisans to customers' specifications, the MkIV does not come cheap at around £39,750 - more than a pristine original. There are cheaper alternatives, starting with the rip-roaring Lightweight at a shade over £26,000 before extras.
The gloriously vocal engine is as docile when ambling in traffic as it is virile when extended. HMC claims about six seconds for the 0-60mph dash, and a top speed of 140mph. The gear change is a gem; the ride surprisingly good for a stiffly sprung sportster; the unassisted steering, gentle and communicative if not sharp.
With the top down and the heater blasting, I drove the gorgeous convertible in a snowstorm without getting wet or cold. I can think of few better ways to travel in summer sunshine.
HMC Sportscars are distributed in the UK and Northern Ireland by
All Electric Garages Group PLC
High Street, Harborne, Birmingham B17 0EB
Tel: +44 (0)121-427 5252 - 12 lines Fax: +44 (0)121-426-2309
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