The body was panelled partly in aluminium, partly in steel. In fact the early Warwick-built pre-production cars of 1952-53 (of which there were only 20) had all-aluminium bodies. The longbridge-built production cars from May 1953 onwards with Jensen-built bodies always had their front shroud and rear tonneau panels in aluminium. These are the large panels which surround the bonnet and boot lid respectively. The wings and door panels were in steel. The front apron was in aluminium. Originally, the bonnet and boot lid were also in aluminium, but these were changed to steel panels early in production at body number 3397 for the bonnet, body number 4129 for the boot lid.
In structural terms, the external body panels were attached to a simple steel structure, created by the bulkhead and scuttle assembly, the front inner wings, the door pillars and door sills, a tonneau structure and the rear inner wings which formed the sides of the boot. The wings were bolted on. The front shroud was also bolted in place but the rear tonneau and lower body panel was rivetted to the luggage compartment frame. The bodyshell assembly was neatly divided in two major sub-assemblies, a front and a rear half.
The doors were supported on two hinges. The design of the hinges and door checkstraps was improved from body 5001, which also caused minor alterations to the hinge pillars, the front end assembly, the scuttle side assemblies and the doors themselves. There were no external door handles. At the top of the doors were two sockets for fitting the loose sidescreens, with chrome-plated surrounds. Patterned aluminium plates covered the door sills and the rear door shuts. The door lock strikers were chrome-plated; from body 2236 their design was changed, necessitating also changes to the shut pillars and their cover plates. The door seals were Furflex strips, colour-coded to the interior trim colour, with an additional black weatherstrip on the lock pillar at the rear of the door opening.
The bonnet was hinged at the front The hinge plate at the front gave double thickness in this area, otherwise the bonnet was single skin, with a brace across the back, and two longitudinal braces forming an angle with its apex at the bonnet lock. The bonnet lock was centrally mounted on the scuttle, with a remote control under the facia. It incorporated a safety catch. There were three different types of bonnet lock. The bonnet lock was centrally mounted on the scuttle, with a remote control under the facia. It incorporated a safety catch. There were three different types of bonnert lock. At body 1950, the catch was improved with a lock nut in place of a lock ring for the striker pin. At body 3801, the remote control mechanism was improved. The bonnet was propped open, the black-painted prop being fitted at the right-hand side of the engine compartment at the back. The closed bonnet rested on six rubber buffers, two at the back and two on each side.
The boot lid had external hinges, of chrome-plated Mazak. Apart from the additional hinge plate giving double thickness at the front, it was also single skin, fitted with two braces angled from the lock. The boot had an automatic boot stay fitted to the front left-hand corner of the boot lid. The boot lid was opened by a lockable handle at the bottom. The lock was operated by the same key as the ignition lock. The handle should be vertical when the boot lid is closed. The handle and its long, triangular excutcheon were chrome-plated. IN the bottom right-hand corner of the boot lid was the name badge, cast in zinc or brass and chrome-plated. Originally this was a script badge reading 'Austin of England' but in approximately August 1954 (the exact time is not known) it was changed to 'Austin-Healey'.
The body was wonderfully free of ornamentation. The radiator grille was of a very simple design, with a chrome-plated surround and vertical bars (43 of them, to be precise) which were brass, finished in a special satin-finish chrome plating. On the left-hand side of the radiator grille was lightning flash with the number '100' picked out in red. Originally the numbers were 3/4in high, but during 1953 they were made 1in high. Above the grille was a chrome-plated winged badge with an 'Austin-Healey' script in red. On the side of each front wing was a chrome-plated flash, fitted over a small air vent (these were not very effective!). The flashes should always be fitted with the thinner, pointed end forward.
A simple swage line ran from the flash back along the wing and door, and to the rear wheel arch. On the BN1 model this swage line was not continued behind the rear wheel arch, but possibly at some stage during BN2 production the swage line was continued to the rear bumber. Expert opinion differs on when exactly the swage line was continued all the way back, and there is no change point recorded in the parts list.
A number of other changes were implemented on the BN2 model. The most important body change was that the front wheel arch was cut higher into the wing, 11/4in more when measured from the piping at the top where the wing joins the shroud. Because the forward continuation of the swage line would then hit the wheel arch below the top, the paint dividing line on BN2s painted in two-tone schemes was given a small hockey stick return where it ran into the wheelarch. However, the bottom colour of the car should go right up to the wheel arch itself.
The piping where the wings join the main body was actually a strip of stainless steel and was therefore a bright silver colour on all cars. Below the headlamps, however, was T-section Vynide piping which may be black or body colour. The piping behind the front apron below the radiator grille was probably always black. Front and rear bumpers were of similar design, with a section with a central groove. Both were fitted with overriders, to a standard Wilmot Breeden pattern of the period, with a central vertical groove. There was black piping between the bumpers and the overriders. The gront bumper did not have a hole for a starting handle. The bumper brackets were painted black; at the front they passed below the body, at the rear they passed through the lower rear body panel with rubber grommets. A front numberplate (backing plate) was usually fitted to home market cars, but was often deleted on export models. The rear numberplate was fitted to an adjustable bracket, screwed to the rear body panel.
The adjustable windscreen was a work of art and has rightly become one of the most famous features of the 100. With a curved windscree - and with the general shape of the scuttle - it was not possible to incorporate a traditional fold-flat screen, still considered de rigueur on many sports cars. The solution was to mound the windscreen assembly on short, chrome-plated half pillars. By undoing a knurled nut either side, it was revealed that the actual windscreen was fitted on hinged links. The screen could then be lifted forward into a lower, more horizontal position. A pin in each bottom corner would locate the lowered screen, fitting into chrome-plated feet fixed n the joint between the wings and the shroud. Two springs were fitted to keep the lowered screen tensioned. The side pillars of the actual windscreen assembly were painted body colour, the glass bing fitted in a chrome-plated frame. The glass was always laminated; early on it may have been supplied by Lancegaye, later by Triplex. A heavy black rubber apron provided a seal to the scuttle in either position of the windscreen.
In the space between the radiator and the grille was a central vertical dividing panel, and on each side immediately in front of the radiator was an x-bracing. The left-hand one of these was supposedly slightly bent on 100M cars to allow easy installation of the special camshaft, without having to remove the engine. Similarly, on 100M cars the support strut for the front shroud on the left-hand side of the engine bay was slightly special cold air box found on these cars.
As has previously been mentioned, the completed chassis and body assembly was painted together by Jensens, so the main body colour should be found on all parts of the chassis and body, including the underside, inside the wings, in the engine bay and so on. The exception is that apparently some white cars had the front of the chassis from the door hinge pillars forward painted black. On two-tone cars, the lower body sides were painted in their different colour afterwards, the surrounding areas being masked off.
