Well,
No offense to anyone meant by this, but I suspect Tanner's cars are restored
to an other-than-concours standard--they may be better in some
ways--over-the-top paint jobs come to mind. Nevertheless, he's the one who's
getting the best results in the marketplace. "Substantially better than new"
is how I'd describe the one's I've seen.
We are not his market. His buyers are not Healey People per se, but rather
65 year old guys who had one in college and now have a lot of money, or
45-year-olds who's fathers had one when they were little. They trust Tanner
to sell them the right Healey from an investment point of view. If I
understood him correctly some of them get rid of the Healeys in a couple of
years when they move on to other expensive passions. They don't drive them
much, either.
I figured they must have bimbos helping them make the decision and the
creature comforts would be the reason for the (incomprehensible-to-me
:-))success of the BJ8--but he says no question, it's the guys who like them
and not often is the decision driven by the gals.
He does 12+ cars per year with 2-3 guys including himself. I'm sure that
equals less than 1000 hours per year. According to him, every car goes to
bare metal. He says in BJ8s there's enough money to make it worth tackling
fairly moth-eaten examples.
I'm 58 years old and the young guys admiring my Healey couldn't care less if
it's concours, but they know they like it. Just like I don't care about
concours 36 Fords compared to Hot Rod versions of same.
--
Steve Gerow
Pasadena CA
59 BN6
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