Through the miracle of TIVO, from 5:30am this morning until now (7am), I just
watched yesterday's seven hours of Speed Barrett-Jackson. A great use of
TIVO, since I know (and care) almost nothing about American muscle cars, beyond
perhaps early Corvettes. Only three auctions that I actually watched at live
rate: a Jag XK120, and the Healey "100M" and BT7.
Seemed like very fair prices on both. I need to be reminded of all of the
story behind the "100M"--but from what I remember, based on the leather
covering
on the cockpit surround, this was one of the first cars we ever judged under
the new concours system (1993?) and as we later learned, was in fact based on
two cars with the best bits put together to make one, and wasn't an authentic
M. If that's so, it's an interesting commentary on how cars can hold their
value, but only make the big bucks when they're fresh.
The Tanner BT7 was also a fair price -- a nondescript model, but obviously
Kurt made money on it, even at the $57k (?) since, as he remarked, the body
required almost no work, making it a quick and easy resto. But what's up with
the
body-color x-supports in front of the radiator? Surely Kurt should have
painted them out? They stood out like sore thumbs and make it obvious why these
were
always painted out. Also interesting, the description as "Gold Concours
Quality" -- nice to see that our system is now standard parlance in the Healey
hobby, but I guess this wasn't a claim that the car HAD been judged gold, but
rather was restored to that quality level.
I'll be interested in other reactions, especially from those on the field.
Cheers
Gary Anderson
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