The Healy is a fine car! There is something about Englich car exhausts that no one (except perhaps Ferrarri) has ever matched. It's correct, that you could always tell a Helay was coming by the sound.
My first love/hate relationship was with a (then) Datsun Fairlady/2000. It was the last sports (convertible) model before the 240Z. The car had a forklift engine converted to an overhead cammer. This was post WWII and they had to use what they had. This involved two timing chains and a confusing procedure for setting it up.
The sheet metal was paper thin and the exhaust header surrounded the starter which "melted" every 9 months. But boy howdy when you put your foot into it it lept and screamed! Actually I think they called it the Japanese MG. My second foray was a 1993 3rd generation Mazda RX-7, possibly the worst car Mazda ever made. I negotiated my way into a Miata (MX-5 for you folks on the other side of the Atlantic) because of all the mechanicial failures and the fact that I originally bought an extended service warranty for 80,000 miles.
I kept the Miata for 9 years...I loved that little beast.
Rich