CHECK OUT THIS ONCE-OFF, FACTORY SPEC GOLDEN AUSTIN HEALEY

When you think of golden trims, you might expect to see it in on a Rolls-Royce, or maybe an old Jaguar... but an Austin-Healey? 

'Might' have been a thought that crossed many people's minds when they saw this roadster at the Earls Court Motor Show in London back in October 1958. And it most definitely captured their attention. 

That was the whole point, after all, and it was not decked out as such after the fact, this is how it left the factory. 

This, one-of-a-kind 1958 Austin Healey 100-Six, was created as a publicity stunt, painted ivory with everything dipped in chrome and plated in 24-carat gold instead. This included the wheels, brake discs, badges, bumpers, mirrors, instruments, all the way down to the washers and screws. The cockpit was all decked out in champagne Connolly suede, with matching mink fur trim on the seats. 

This Austin Healey is valued at nearly four times the price of a standard 100-Six. The car was actually sold before the show even opened to the Daily Express, which gave it away as part of a contest. 

It subsequently passed through a number of hands before experts, Bruce and Inan Phillips of Healey Surgeons, were commissioned to restore it back in 1983. Jeff's Resurrections out of Taylor, Texas, restored it again in 2012, and now it's heading to the auction block as “the most fantastic Austin-Healey ever produced”, and the only road-going model the company ever made with four-wheel disc brakes. 

It's consigned without reserve price for sale in New York next month, where it's expected to sell for between $350,000 and $550,000. 

Put on your shades and check it out in the gallery of images above by Pepper Yandell for RM Sotheby's.