In
October 1956 after great success with the 100/4, Austin-Healey
announced the arrival of the new 100/6. This car
was very similar in appearance to the 100/4, but his
time the car was fitted with a tuned version of the
six cylinder BMC C series engine, and was also equipped
with occasional
rear seats - the wheelbase of the new car had been
lengthened to achieve this. As with other "Big
Healeys" the cars are sometimes referred to by
theirfactory designation
which for this model
was BN4. Sales were slow to take off at
first as the new sports car did not offer any gain in performance
over the 4 cylinder model and the occasional seating
was not enough to sway the buying public, although these
cars are of course very popular now. In 1957 the engine power was upped by the addition
of a six port cylinder head providing much improved
performance. In April 1958 the
BN6 version of the car was introduced, this time featuring
2-seater bodywork although it still retained the longer
wheelbase. Production figures were 10268 for the 2+2
100/6 (BN4) and 4150 for the 2-seater 100/6 (BN6) Production
ended with the introduction of the Austin-Healey 3000
in June 1959.