Fitting of Furflex and Rubber Seals  As a result of questions I have received about the seals I reproduce below an explanation by Rich Chrysler as to how they are fitted. "The furflex section consists of a rubber tube (or bulb) srrounded by the furflex which wraps around the bulb like a "U". The ends that are not covered by the furflex glue flat, back to back against each other. The resulting cross section looks something like this: O---. The flattened tail section then glues to the inside edge of the front kick panel. When the kick panel is screwed into position the round furflex section is left protruding and is allowed to flex somewhat. The leading edge of the door panel closes against the furflex forming a seal. The rubber seal strips sit in a flattened U shaped channel which looks something like the following in cross section: (_____). Screws go through the flat base of the channel to secure it in position . The rubber seal has a T shaped tail to fit snugly into the channel. AH Spares supplies these Longbridge seal fittings as follows: Ref 46A Part #  DRF 209 - Retaining Track Doorseal Ref 46   Part #  DRF 206 - Draft Excluder, Longbridge Set"

Scuttle Seal For Pictures of the fitting of the Door to Scuttle Seal click here

photo Peter Svilans

BN4`s with `Longbridge`  features From car # 22598 To car # 68959 these include cars produced at Abingdon from Nov 1957 to April 1958

Correct pattern Longbridge style seats 1. Similar to the 100s 2. The white piping goes down and around the `ears` of the seat back

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Longbridge Features                  Page 1 _______________________________________________________

These pictures are of an original 1957 Longbridge car with only 30,000 miles on the clock. They were taken by Rich Chrysler.

photo Peter Svilans

This  picture shows the "shallow" type armrest introduced late in the life of the Longbridge BN4  It did not have a new part number 1. Also held in place with  four tenex studs 2. It  butts up against the rear seats.

Cars with original Longbridge features are now quite rare. Restorers often have difficulty in finding examples to copy from and some of the parts are difficult to obtain. The following pictures and information will help in illustrating and explaining the main differences from the later Abingdon cars, which were introduced  from September 1958. The differences only apply to BN4s as all BN6s had the Abingdon features of the later BN4s and 3000s. New information is still being discovered by enthusiasts who understand that these Longbridge BN4s are interesting cars and really quite scarce in the Healey world. Of course the number of unrestored cars with known history is very limited and it is only  these cars that we can use as a reference. Additional examples of the Longbridge interior can be found at An Original Car

Original wooden seat bottoms Although of two different styles these actually came out of the same car! Nothing is certain in the Healey world!

This artist`s impression shows the  type of armrest fitted when the 100-Six was first introduced 1. Held in place with four Tenex studs 2. Deep body that reaches down to the floor 3. Not butted up against the rear seats

Door Seals

photos Peter Svilans

100-Six

The picture shows  the door casing. 1. Note the flat alloy cap on the top of the pillar 2. Note the clever aluminium  rain deflector on top of the pillar Part # 24B721 RH Part # 24B722 LH Introduced from body# 6620, which was towards the end of the `Longbridge` cars - so this little part had a short life (info - Peter Svilans) 3. The single rubber tube door seal is clearly visible.

This is a photo of an original version of the first type of Longbridge armrest It should be 15.5 inches long A BN1 armrest was 19 inches and a BN2 somewhat shorter info - Peter Svilans

Seats

Arm Rests    Although this is only an artist's impression, similar arm rests can be seen in photos shown in  contemporary road test  articles

Original Longbridge seat 1. Note`Hidem` strip that goes around the bottom of the seat back to cover the tacks used to attach the cover. 2.There is a wooden strip underneath the cover at the bottom of the seat back 3. Note the thick seat base pans covered in matching vinyl. Similar to the 100s

This picture shows very clearly the door seal arrangement. 1. The furflex is a completely seperate piece from the rubber seal. 2. Note also that there is no furflex under the dash. 3. The door sill in the early cars is completely different from the later BN4s and 3000's, which  have a furflex covered ridge running along them. 4. The star shaped sidescreen nut is just visible, Later cars had a two eared nut.

Original seat bottom with factory crayon markings still visible 1. Wooden base with drilled holes 2. Fabric is tacked not stapled 3. This bottom is unpainted although some may have been painted black like the 100s 4. The `Dunlopillo` natural foam rubber is visible underneath

Peter Svilans explains the full story of the 100-Six armrests. The Healey's tunnel-mounted saddle-type armrest, was a marvellous piece of the upholsterer's art.   My own notes on the assembly sequence of its dozen-odd parts make up a whole paragraph, while the later sewn-on pad is just a flute panel and an edge strip.   The BN 1 with its aluminum tunnel had a straightforward saddle-type armrest that began where the tunnel carpet ended and ran back to the heelboard, with a length of 19".  There were three flutes and rectangular sides that went to the floor, with a sweeping cutout for the handbrake.  The U-joint cover and fixed rear tunnel were covered in carpet.   The BN 2 with its new steel tunnel got a totally redesigned tunnel carpet which ran from the bulkhead to just past the rear end of the removable tunnel cover.  The saddle-type armrest needed modification to fit, and so the flutes were shortened to 15.5" and the side flaps shortened by 1" at the floor, with a gentle "S" curve connecting them.  (PS.  My Armrest writeup in the concours Guidelines contains a typo- reads 17.5" instead of 15.5" for the BN2 - sorry).  The fixed rear tunnel was covered in Armacord.   The BN 4 carried on the from the BN 2 and used the same tunnel carpet ending just past the rear edge of the steel cover.  It differed from the BN2 in that the fixed rear tunnel was covered in carpet instead of Armacord.   The armrest was the same as the BN 2, but the longer four-seater layout meant that there was now a strip of carpet showing behind the armrest.   Meanwhile, the next model was under development at Longbridge in the form of the BN 6 two-seater.  A factory photo of the prototype BN 6 shows BN 1 -type seats, a vinyl spare wheel cover, and a unique armrest like the earlier saddle-type armrest, but with the side flaps simply cut off, with piping only at the front and rear.  The tunnel carpet now extended to the heelboard, with jute felt, not Armacord, glued to the rear fixed tunnel.   Things get fuzzy at this point, as there is no documentation in the Parts Lists.  A saddle-type armrest appeared with side flaps drastically shortened to 2.25", but still fastened to the tunnel and carpet with Tenaxes.  (see photo above). It may have been a further development of the curious flap-less prototype BN 6 pad (as in "No, doesn't look right.  Put the sides back on but shorter").  This armrest was definitely seen on late Longbridge BN 4's.    During the hiatus where only the BN 6 was produced at Abingdon, the design settled down to a much simpler small armrest pad sewn directly onto the tunnel carpet for both 2 ans 4 seaters built at Abingdon.  These are often wrong in repro kits.  Looking down, the original's sides are not parallel, but taper slightly to the rear, and the pad is only 3/4" thick.

Photo  comparing a red BN1 armrest with templates of the BN2/BN4 armrest (below) and the late Longbridge short sided armrest (above)