[Healeys] Goldie

[Editorgary at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/5/10 5:25:47 AM, healeys-request at autox.team.net 
writes:


> So we at MacGregor's were somewhat taken aback when the Philipses picked 
> it up.
> They casually tossed in their luggage, jumped in, and roared off- top 
> down-
> into a looming thunderstorm.
> 
Goldie's life is certainly an example of the varying attitudes people can 
take to cars. The car was built to attract attention to the Healey stand at 
Earls Court in a year when they didn't really have anything new to offer 
(another company in the same pickle a few years later draped literally naked 
models over the bonnet of their car -- until the show officials put a stop to 
that, requiring them to put bikinis on the   models, but the publicity result 
was achieved).

Then, after the show was over, to milk a little more publicity out of the 
car, it was given away in a newspaper-sponsored contest. Needless to say, 
anything you get for nothing gets treated that way, and the car eventually 
reached the stage that the Phillips found it.

Bruce and Inan then spent a car-load of money to restore the car to its 
original condition, but neither of them would ever claim to be show-car people, 
so the car was never coddled -- more's the pity, but it wasn't original 
Healey-applied gold or mink after all, so if they chose to keep it in their 
(rather dusty) showroom, and clean it up on the odd occasion when it made a 
personal appearance, that was up to them. In any case, when I first saw it 
there in the early '80s, I was extremely disappointed to discover that though 
the exterior cosmetics had been restored, the engine and drivetrain never got 
that attention, and they were reluctant to even open the bonnet. 

It's nice to see that the appearance of the original car has been 
reproduced once again (and this time perhaps closer to its original show appearance 
underneath), and still on the same chassis, which makes the car the 
"original" car -- it just can't claim to be "preserved" rather than "restored."

Cheers
Gary