Hi there fellow non stock Healey folks. My name is Cameron Watters and I, like you, have the Healey bug bad.

It all started when I was a boy of 13, just getting interested in real cars, not just pull toys. I liked sports cars, hot rods, muscle cars, classics, you name it. Cars were going to be in my future some how.

My uncles had taken me out for rides in their MG's and Mustangs and I seemed to like it. I was only 4 to 7 years old at the time. The car bug had struck and was growing.

My parents told me later that as a toddler all I said was car, car, car. Anyhow, at age 13, my uncle James took me to a shop that worked on English sports cars, to get parts for his TR3. The fellow who ran this place was John Pritchard. I was introduced to him by James and then let loose to snoop around the shop.

As I wandered around the place this car over in the far corner caught my eye. It was red & gold and neat looking. It was all covered in shop dust, etc. On the hood I noticed the numbers 160MPH written with some-one's finger. I went back and asked my new friend John about this neat car in the corner. He told me it was an Austin Healey sports car that he had modified to perform better than the way it had been built over in England.

"How?" I asked. " By swapping engines and such", was his reply,

Oh", I said, "how neat". The closer I looked the more I liked this combo. A sharp looking British sports car with American V8 power. He told me he removed the stock 6 cylinder engine and transmission and had replaced it with a 327 V8 and 4 speed out of a Chevy Corvette. He said this car was a 1000 pounds or so less weight than the Corvette would give good performance.

The car was really cool, but what really caught my eye was the shift stick for the 4-speed. It was a control stick out of a WWII war plane. This thing looked out of place in a car. It was bizarre looking with it's weird molded shape with buttons for flaps and guns.

Guns! "Eat that James Bond! "I was hooked big time!

So, here it is 23 years later. Over the last 15 years, I had the same man that I met as a boy build a car to my specs. (I could only afford so much each year!)

John, his two sons, (Steve & Mark) and I have put together one Hell of a HOT ROD HEALEY!

I have formed good friendships with these folks and have enjoyed the ups & downs in building this thing. It can be trying on the nerves. By the way, my car is a 1966 3000 MKIII with a 305 Chev (Leamer motor) popped in. A super T-10 4-speed runs to Jaguar E-type rear end (nice fit).

The engine, transmission, rear combination makes for nice "off-the-line" and highway manners. l have only had the car on the road for a short while. I took it to the Toronto area from Ottawa. 700 miles both ways and no problems!

Also have done "in town" stuff and find the modification good and reliable. The only problem I seem to have with the car, as it is finished in DP 90 flat primer , is the questioin of "what color are you going to paint it"?.

My response is what you see is what you see.