Austin-Healey or Austin Atlantic?

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After his story about his 20-year relationship with an Austin-Healey, we wonder if our contributor Jeroen Booij would ever consider trading the car for its big brother, an Austin A90 Atlantic? Okay, so there may not be a much of a resemblance, but the Healey owes its whole existence to the ill-fated Atlantic. If it hadn't been for that car's failure (fewer than 8000 sold in five years) then there wouldn't have been such a ready supply of tuned Austin four-cylinder engines looking for a home.

Most Healey drivers will tell you that an Atlantic is a joke, too big and heavy to be sporty, but in 1948 it was hailed as a true sporting car for the family man. And how many Healey owners have actually driven one? An A90 goes much better than it has any right to, and is leagues ahead of most British family cars of the time. As for the looks, time has been kind to the wacky Austin. It's no great beauty, but it's a riot of over-the-top period details and it will never be mistaken for anything else. Perhaps the cars are so different it doesn't make sense to compare them like-for-like, but that's just what The Automobile magazine has done in its latest issue, which is out now.  

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