Inside A H Spares Meeting with Healey Expert Roger Moment

Jon Hill, Roger Moment, and John Lee standing next to Roger Moment's Austin Healey 100 BN1

Time to Meet New Friends

Last October two of our Directors jumped on a plane and headed across the pond to finally meet the world renowned Austin Healey Authority who is Roger Moment.

After being a customer of AH Spares since the 1970’s Roger had paid us a few visits over the years but we had never repaid the honour. So, on the back of the successful launch of Roger’s new book we decided to have our personal copies signed by the man himself and in person.

Roger and his amazing wife Lilly welcomed our Directors John Lee and Jon Hill and very hospitably hosted them at their home in Colorado.

Roger Moment, Bob Hill, and Fred Draper outside A H Spares — Photo taken by Roger Moment of John Wheatly, Bob Hill, and Fred Draper outside A H Spares circa 1980

Roger Moment's personal message to Bob Hill

Vintage fire truck near Gold Hill in Colorado

Seeing the Sights

As part of our visit Roger and Lilly kindly showed us around some of the sites of the beautiful state of Colorado and with it being Autum the leaves were turning all the shades of gold, yellow and brown giving truly breath taking scenery throughout the mountains.

“One of my favourite places we visited was “Gold Hill,” which is a small town in the mountains that is steeped in history.” Originally a mining camp, it was the site of the first major discovery of gold during the 1859 Colorado Gold Rush but now has a population of only 200 people.

The Only Way to Drive

The next day Roger took us both for a run up into the mountains in his cherished and extremely original, stunning BN1.

“These are the kind of roads these cars are made for and what an experience it was to actually be able to drive Roger’s car myself,“ says John Lee.

Roger Moment showing his original BMC wrenches

Inside Roger's Healey Collection

Once the car was back safe and sound in Roger’s garage, we spent the rest of our time talking Healey’s and we were only too happy to be shown around Roger’s lifetime collection of original BMC and Healey artifacts. Roger has examples of every type of BMC tool kit and has gone to great lengths to research and ensure they are “spot on” correct for the Austin Healey’s. Roger explained the whole story and process he went through to reproduce the correct lead knock off hammers down to the correct size, wooden handle and reproduction of the Thor labels. This whole process took him more hours than he can remember which just goes to show the level of detail Roger works to for his cars.

Another item we had never actually seen before apart from in brochures was an example of an early “Touring kit” that was available as an accessory. Every component inside is O.E. and still in its original packaging. Additional was an extremely rare BMC Distributors tool board with all the correct tools not to mention his vast archive of research books and articles.

Keeping The Legacy Alive

Roger's love for Austin Healey’s and his eye for detail is incredibly infectious. He is a living, breathing encyclopaedia for all things Healey and has been heavily involved with the evolution and progression of the Concours movement around the world.

Roger recognizes that we at A.H. Spares are extremely passionate about ensuring Healey’s continue to be cherished and admired for years to come by providing the finest service and quality parts to current and future custodians.

As a result of our visit and established friendship we are enormously excited and honoured to announce that Roger has kindly offered to assist us with our mission by sharing his vast knowledge and expertise to support us in achieving this important ambition.

Roger has already helped us to manufacture several new parts. DRF224 Scuttle Seals, DRF199 Door Bottom Draught Excluders and correct HOD205 Hood Screen Top Seals for the Healey 100 which can already be found on our website.

"Lily and I were very pleased to host your visit to Colorado. We had some very nice drives up though our winding roads, and I appreciated your comments about how my car performed. I also enjoyed showing you my collection of accessory items that were available for Healeys back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, as these tell a story about the English motor industry and automobile ownership in those post-war years. A-H Spares has really expanded in scope ever since I first became acquainted with your shop from correspondence with Johnn Wheatley back in 1974. At that time, he told me to contact Fred Draper when I was looking for a new cam for my BN1, and Fred offered me a choice of “standard” or “Le Mans” versions for GBP25.00 each!!!

From our many chats during your visit, I feel that you truly have the interest and conviction to develop many more accurate replacement parts for those of us that want to make our cars as accurate as possible, and I welcome the opportunity to assist you in these projects in any way that I can. I hope that I will be able to make a return visit across the pond to you and see, first-hand, how your facilities have grown. Best wishes for the future, Roger"

- Roger Moment

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A.H. Spares pays a visit to the Healey Guru, Roger Moment