Hi, Earl -
What is the authority for "it is known that 50 of these were trimmed in
red...."? I haven't seen a definite figure given before. The usual source
for such statistics, Clausager, mentions 553 Metallic Golden Beige (MGB, not
to be confused with you know what!) cars but doesn't break out the trim as
far as I can tell.
The BJ8 registry currently has a record of 131 original MGB cars. Of these
22 were originally trimmed in red. Those are just the ones for which I have
documentation (BMIHT certificates) showing the original configuration. I
would be surprised, based on that number, if there were as few as 50 MGB
cars originally trimmed in red.
Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
BJ8 Registry
Havelock, NC USA
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-healeys@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-healeys@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Earl Kagna
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 10:07 AM
To: dwflagg@juno.com; Healey List
Subject: Re: Value Insanity - gold cars
Gents:
No flames from me. My information is that there were 550 Golden Beige
Metallic BJ8's built (it's possible that there were 3 more), all late in
production - ie: 1967 cars.
It is known that 50 of these were trimmed in red, the rest black.
Obviously, the gold / red combination is considered quite rare, which was
likely in Mr. Tanners mind when the choice was made. For me, I have no
problem with this - if I were in the Healey restoration business, I would
attempt to 'do what will sell' - without attempting to deceive a potential
buyer, as I understand he has done.
As a side note: It is also known that the factory / dealers had lots of
trouble with the gold paint - probably due to the emerging technology of
metallic paints at the time (although they seem to have gotten a lot of blue
cars right.) Many of the gold cars had to be repainted, sometimes at the
factory, usually by the dealer, sometimes before sale, sometimes after.
Often the colour was changed to solve the gold paint problem, usually to
OEW. I have seen 2 OEW BJ8's that were obviously originally gold cars.
My own opinion - we should not get overly taken with what an owner / restore
does, as long as there is no attempt to deceive. We've all seen Healeys
restored by people who really like their results - and sometimes we can't
understand why they did what they did. The important thing is to use and
enjoy the cars whatever they turn out to be - life doesn't last all that
long.
Earl Kagna
Victoria, B.C.
BT7 tri-carb
'67 BJ8 - originally gold / black trim and being restored the same way.
I've learned a lot about gold BJ8's in the 25 years that I've owned it.
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