Nancy, what are you doing?

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Yes, that's an Austin-Healey. A 3000 of 1961-vintage, or so we have been informed. And the whitewalls wink towards American origins. Indeed: this picture was taken in April 1962 in the parking lot of El Camino College in Torrance, California. And as a matter of fact we even know who she is: Nancy Young. Nancy is not a rally driver, nor a film star. In fact she’s a budding model who supposedly competed in a few beauty contests in the mid 1950's including ‘Miss Bay Beach’ and ‘Miss Surfestival’.

But that still leaves us with one prominent question: What on earth is she doing to that unsuspecting wheel lock? Is she engraving it? Greasing? Spraying? Or could it really be a clever device to unlock the central nut? But then, she forgot to jack up the car, right? Do you know, dear reader?

(Text Jeroen Booij, picture courtesy the Eric Herman estate)

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