Fellow Healeyoids,
I think that it is important to pass on the enthusiasm for our hobby to
future generations. I would LOVE to find another Healey to restore with it
my 3 1/2 year old daughter. My wife thinks that I'm nuts. Maybe when she is
8-10 years old.
My kid and I bought a 1958 AMF Scat car off of Ebay last winter and restored
it. She helped me sand the parts and bolt the car back together with brand
new shinny nuts, washers and bolts. In the process, she picked up a couple
four letter words in her vocabulary that I wished she hadn't. Other than
the undesired development in her lexicon, she had a real fun time and
appeared to get a sense of accomplishment in the end. A Healey project
would be a real opportunity for a kid's mind to flourish. I think that it
helps kids develop their cognitive, spatial and problem solving skills as
well.
I remember seeing Healeys, Jaguars, Minis and Cobras and pictures of these
cars when I was very young, like 5-8 years old.
I thought these cars were so cool looking and wondered why other cars didn't
look nearly as cool. When I was young (born in 58), the aesthetics of these
cars was incredible. You didn't see them very often and when you did you
just drooled. In about 1969, there was a guy who had a white Jaguar XKE
coupe about six blocks from my house. My friends and I used to ride our
bikes over to his house and just stand there straddling our bikes across the
street gawking at such a beautiful sculpture. It was breathtaking. That
same year my brother picked up a 1963 BJ7 (#19669) for $425. I was in love
with Healeys from that day on. I still wonder what became of that car.
So, basically what I'm getting at is that I think the desire and enthusiasm
develops very early in life. I think that we develop a sense of beauty,
proportion and symmetry during our adolescence. Of course there are also
socio-cultural components which influence our behavior. We become
interested and appreciate cars based upon what our families and friends have
and expose us to. Those cars almost always have positive attributes
attached to them and we fondly remember them later in life then obtain one
and try to recapture our past.
Randy
Healey-Archaeologist
63 BJ7
60 BT7
66 Cobra replica
06 Mini Cooper S
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