Heritage and culture

The Warwick Healey Motor Company Archive has been purchased by Warwickshire County Record Office.

The name Donald Healey is synonymous with the design of high-performance sports cars. The company was founded in 1945 and based in the county town of Warwick.

The collection is extensive and features unique early research and development designs, business records, correspondence and files showing the company’s involvement in sports cars for the general public as well as motor racing and land speed records. There are over 800 photographs showing the design and building of cars, testing and racing, and promotional images.

Warwickshire County Record Office was given the opportunity to purchase, catalogue and restore this important archive and ensure that it remains available for research here in the UK permanently.

A total project fund was raised thanks to support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, PRISM (Arts Council), the Friends of National Libraries, King Henry VIII Trust, Friends of Warwickshire County Record Office, Warwickshire Industrial Archaeological Society and others.

The money raised allowed the CRO to purchase the collection and complete cataloguing and conservation work. It has also given us the opportunity to run an oral history project to record and transcribe testimonies from former Healey employees and associates. The oral history project is still running, so if you would like to contribute, please get in contact with us.

We were also able to work with local schools to pilot STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) workshops engaging children with the engineering and technological know-how behind the Healey brand.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit our donations page or send a cheque made payable to the ‘Friends of the Warwickshire County Record Office’ c/o Warwickshire County Record Office, Priory Park, Cape Road, Warwick, CV34 4JS

If you are a UK taxpayer and would like the Friends to treat your donation as a Gift Aid donation, please complete the declaration form on the reverse of the donation leaflet

You can also make a donation if you visit the Record Office in person, via the donations box located at reception.

If you can help spread the word about our fundraising, please download our information and donation leaflet.

The Healey Histories project has been supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to purchase the collection and are now cataloguing and conserving it so people can use it.