Page 14 - Oct 2022

Br it ish Car s & Cof f ee show c ases

a Whal e of a Tal e and It 's Al l Tr ue

Allan Sat t erfield t urned up wit h t he

Surprise of t he morning and a back

st ory t hat could only have come from

California.

Allan kept saying it over and over to anyone who peered
into the engine compartment, " I am not a race car driver."
With what was hiding under the battered exterior of this
As the story goes (I only overheard part of it, and, as Allan didn't respond to my call
Austin Healey 3000 dubious looks that said, "Sure", written
before deadline, I can't be held accountable for missing details in my rendition) this
on the faces of the curious could be forgiven. There had to
iconic roadster, coming from a line of cars that set hearts beating fast both when i
be some reason for buying this car because it wasn't for
new and when old, was found on the side of a California roadway completely stripped
looks.
down and gutted.
Allan Satterfield turned up on September 17th with a car
The license plate was gone. There was no way to identify either its owner or the person
that drew attention because of its raw state; then, jaws
who had left it sitting there like a carcass picked over by scavengers, waiting for police
dropped when the full extent of the mill crammed into the
impound to haul it away, likely en route to a crusher and an ignominious end.
confines of the engine compartment was revealed. Old #21
was rough looking even for a survivor but there was no There are barn finds, there are projects, and then there was this. Lucky for the hulk,
doubt that it had been engineered with intent. there was also a Prince Charming waiting in the wings. The line in Pretty Woman goes, "
What's your dream? This is Hollywood, everyone's got a dream!" Somewhere out there
Whoever did the modifications to this 'more- primer- than-
a person who didn't care what the car looked like, likely glad that it had already been
paint' Healey had aspirations in the go- fast department.
trashed to the extreme since that removed any peer pressure to restore it, didn't see
Pardon the expression, used more often in cursing the
destroyed, he saw a blank canvas. for a dream car. He could visualize what a Ford
antics of motorcycles from Nippon on the interstate,
small block would bring to the table and he could do the work. This was someone who
this bomb was built to be a crotch rocket.
didn't see a dirty, cracked plate that should be binned but a starting point for a
According to Chip Hanback, who has helped turn back time movable feast. I can picture him as he figuratively, maybe literally, kissed its bonnet and
for many a rattle trap, Satterfield's modified- in- California hauled it back to his workshop where one day he would yell, " It's Alive!"
Austin Healey 3000, with its Ford 302 small block and 4 SU
Apparently, that someone wasn't the only guy of like mind because when it came time to
carbs on a custom-made manifold, was "Awesome!"
sell, he found Allan Satterfield, the self-described "not a race car driver", the guy who
Hanback knew that others at Cars and Coffee who usually loves only beautiful cars. Not this time. #21 is not the girl crowned beauty
believed that all classic cars should be in at least #2 queen but the also ran, the good sport, the Miss Congeniality winner, the entry in the
condition wouldn't share his view; ergo, polite but movies with a secret-- kitted out and ready to rumble. #21 is oblivious to those who
perplexed remarks would be the order of the day. Ripping don't get it and are going to miss all the fun-- a bit of a bad ass, actually. There's
out the engine and collateral parts--can be understood, another old movie about that, a story like this one made for Hollywood. Last seen Allan
maybe, or even explained, but leaving a big Healey to look was enjoying the heck out of his discovery as he turned towards Brentwood and
as if it had just come from a recycler's lot-- even if you were dashed away after Cars and Coffee, tailed by a TR6. Check him out; the guy in the SUV
far from a purist -- that was too close to sacrilege for some. certainly did and, just for a moment, remembered what fun driving a car should be.
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