St. Martinville resident has owned British roadster for 6 decades
– AJ Guidry of St. Martinville has loved owning his Austin-Healey 3000 MKII roadster for virtually his entire adult life.
At age 87, that accounts for quite some time — 62 years as of Jan. 14.
Guidry took possession of the car from the dealer in New Orleans in 1964.
He recently chronicled that life-long appreciation by penning an article for the July-August 2025 edition of Austin-Healey Magazine, a publication for enthusiasts of the classic British sports car maker.
Guidry said that representatives of the magazine took notice of his longtime membership in the car appreciation group, and the secretary for the magazine called and asked if he still owned his Austin-Healey. When told he did, he was asked to send in a story about his time owning the car.
“She said, ‘according to the records, you’ve been a member of the club since the late ’60s, early ’70s, as soon as the club was organized,” Guidry said. “I said yeah. She said ‘do you still have the car?’ I said, yeah. She said, ‘could you write us a little article?’” The story, “61 Years with the Beast (and still counting)” recalls his being a car nut since the age of 8. (The Beast is how Guidry’s wife April refers to the car.)
The magazine article centers around a trip to Washington in the car in 1967 with good friend and fellow car enthusiast Tony “Taco” Barras, both still being single at the time, took to visit friends Barras had known while serving in the Air Force.
The “big” Healey, as the 3000 is known, is actually the second Austin-Healey that Guidry has owned.
While attending college at then-Southwestern Louisiana Institute, Guidry rode with Barras to school. But when “Taco” graduated, Guidry’s father decided he’d rather buy his son an inexpensive car rather than driving him to school in Lafayette every day. That car was a French Simca, purchased at a Chrysler dealership.
After finishing college at what had then been renamed the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1961, Guidry taught school at Delcambre High School for a year.
With the steady paycheck in hand, he decided to trade the Simca in for an Austin-Healey MKII Sprite, a smaller roadster.
Guidry taught for only a year because at the height of the Cuban flirtation with the Soviet Union that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States government was calling men into the armed services via the draft, and Guidry had qualified for the drafter after “barely” passing the physical, he said.
Guidry was called in for another physical examination, however, and failed that physical, so was not drafted. Instead, he opted to work with his father at the service station he’d opened on Main Street in St. Martinville.
The Sprite, while enjoyable for Guidry, wasn’t holding up to constant driving because it wasn’t as well-made as some of the larger Healeys, so he opted to trade it in for a 3000 MKII, which was bigger and had nicer amenities such as windows that could be rolled down and a convertible top that could be folded up into the rear of the car.
“The Sprite was no more than a glorified go-cart with a body,” Guidry said. “Very simple, very light. It put out about 43 horsepower. So it (Chris was wearing itself out just going down the road.
“The Sprite was a lot of fun, but it was very basic. The top didn’t go down. You folded it and put it in the trunk. There were no roll-up windows. They were these little sliding things that you could take off and put in the trunk. Luckily, it had a trunk.”
He opted for the bigger Austin-Healey because he liked its style. The bill of sale from Sports Cars, Inc., located on St. Charles Street in New Orleans, shows the trade-in value of $1,000 for the Sprite, which knocked the sales price for the new car to $2,662 cash. Guidry provided a photo of the original bill of sale, which he still has, to run with the magazine story.
Guidry said that when the salesman asked him what color car he wanted and he told him “white and red,” meaning either a white or red body. Sure enough, when the car came in it was white — with a red interior.
The 3000 MKII was bigger and had a bigger engine than the Sprite, upgrading from a 1.098 cc 4-cylinder engine to a 2.912 cc inlinesix cylinder engine. The engine on the bigger Healey produces around 130 horsepower with twin carburetors.
“The Sprite was a lot of fun, but this is much more fun,” he said of the upgrade from the Sprite to the big Healey. “The big 6 is probably going to run forever because it’s lightly stressed. It doesn’t rev high, and has a great sound.”
While he used to do all the maintenance on the car, he has given that up now.
“We use it so little, it doesn’t need much maintenance,” he said. “I did an oil change a half a year ago, and it’s good for God knows how long.
Guidry said that writing the article brought back a lot of good memories.
He recalls meeting his wife while working at his dad’s service station, seeing her get out of her car each day across the street when she’d arrive to teach school.
That service station job, taken up when his dad said he needed help after an employee had quit, and that he could do it until he decided what his career would be. That career ended up being 20 years working with his dad, and then another 40 running the service station himself.
Guidry said that when he was still dating his wife, he’d call to ask her for a date and she’d ask whether he was picking her up in the Austin-Healey or his pickup truck. If it was the Healey, and if he had the top down, she’d apply extra hairspray to keep her hairdo intact.
“She called it the Beast,” Guidry said. “Because it’s a little rough. You feel every bump in the road. Cramped. No air conditioning.”
Guidry said his wife loved to decorate their old Victorian house with vintage furniture and decor.
“She was into old things,” he said. “Maybe that’s why she married me.”
Guidry still enjoys his old car, driving it weekly to the French Table at the Longfellow- Evangeline State Historic Site in St. Martinville. The car also has been featured in many parades.
“I do a lot of reading and crossword puzzles, and sudoku,” he said. “I look forward to (the French Table). It was really good today because we had a guy singing. I was in tears from those old songs.”
BUILT TO LAST – AJ Guidry of St. Martinville shows off the engine of his 1964 Austin-Healey, which he bought on Jan. 8, 1964. (Chris Landry)
PROUD OWNER – AJ Guidry of St. Martinville stands next to the Austin-Healey 3000 MKII roadster he has owned for more than 60 years. Guidry contributed an article to the July-August 2025 edition of Austin-Healey Magazine, a publication for enthusiasts of the classic British sports car maker, after representatives for the magazine
