State of Grace

Whether you read about it in Vintage Racecar—or almost any other automotive publication—over the past year, chances are good that you’ve already heard about our Associate Editor John Nikas and the remarkable Austin-Healey named Grace.

Last year—as a fairly last-minute, “wild hair” idea—John decided that he would take a friend’s decidedly dilapidated Austin-Healey and try to drive it to the Eastern seaboard and back, as a way of cheering up the owner, who was undergoing cancer treatment. As a cancer survivor himself, John understood how important it is for cancer patients to have something positive to focus on while they undergo treatment. The trip was hoped to be therapeutic for his friend, but in all truth, also for John, who maintains his own ongoing battle against the disease.