Charlie and Sherry Ulrich of Port St. Lucie, Florida, bought this 1962 3000 Mark II, series BT7, in 1975. In 1997, when the Ulrichs pursued their dream to live aboard their sailboat in the Caribbean for seven years, all assets were sold except for the Healey! When they became “dirt dwellers” again, the restoration of the Healey became a priority. Paul Tsikuris completed the ground-up restoration in 2006, with the striking black over red paint done by Fred Brandner. Since then the car has attended many events throughout the country and is a consistent favorite. The Ulrichs are members of Tampa Bay Austin-Healey Club. Concours Gold.
the twist fastener used near the rear of doors to secure the top/tonneau. Should it be attached with sheet metal screws or pop rivets. I seem to see both. Which is correct and the best to secure?
John Cork 404-202-4565 cork9663@aol.com
John,
Here is an excerpt from the AHCR Guidelines:
On all two-seat roadsters, the cars had two oval chrome clip-style tonneau fasteners,
about 1×11/4″, bolted to the rear shroud to secure the tonneau and soft-top. Tonneau
clipped to these fasteners with two short pieces of black-painted steel sewn into pockets in
the rear edge, which hooked underneath the fasteners. The tops on the two-seat roadsters
also fastened to these clips at the rear, using a single flat piece of black-painted steel with a
slight curve that was sewn into the rear of the soft top and hooked under both tonneau
fasteners. BN4s and BT7s had Tenax fasteners screwed to the body just behind the cockpit
surround on the rear shroud, to which both soft tops and tonneau were snapped. Turn
buttons were screwed to the rear shroud behind the doors, to which the top and tonneau
fastened, and to the front shroud through the outside corners of the crash pad behind the
windshield, to which the tonneau fastened when covering the interior of the car.
You might consider purchasing the Guidelines from the web site. There’s 360 pages with color photos.
https://austinhealeyconcoursregistry.org/guidelines-online-order-form/