[Healeys] Barrett Jackson Las Vegas Auction Oct 13-15

[BJ8Healeys]

It's not a question of every original number being intact, but of the integrity of the car itself.  If it isn't important to you that a car has a different VIN number than when it left the factory, and maybe the body plate from another car entirely, then go ahead and buy it.  But don't be surprised if when the time comes to sell it you have some potential buyers who are turned off when they find out the numbers and features of the car don't add up.  Was it stolen at some point?  Why did someone replace the plates?  Is your car really a "Longbridge", or did someone replace the plates before you bought it and got the certificate for the current number that says it was?  Yours may be legitimate, but I can tell you that a lot of BJ8 owners have been unpleasantly disappointed.

 

For me personally, as the keeper of the BJ8 Registry and someone who is trying to determine the fate (existing or not) of all of the cars built, it's important to be able to identify each one unambiguously.   My BJ8 has an alternator, non-original leather interior, dual fuel pumps, a modern radio, 3-point seatbelts, a Corvette Yellow over Black paint job, modern re-cored radiator, Mallory Dual-Point distributor, coolant overflow system, Lempert differential, etc., etc. so it isn't strictly as it left the factory.  But it is a reliable long-distance driver that has carried me for 117K miles so far, including two round trips across the country, and it does have the same identity that it left the factory with (as well as all of the original serialized components).   That's important to me, and a lot of other people who are trying to get their numbers corrected after they found out the car they thought they had is something else.  Better to know up front what you're getting than to be disappointed later.

 

 

Steve Byers

HBJ8L/36666

BJ8 Registry

AHCA Delegate at Large

Havelock, NC  

 

 

From: ruvino at ripnet.com [mailto:ruvino at ripnet.com] 
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2016 3:57 PM
To: BJ8Healeys; 'John Davidson'; vintage_roadster_restoration at hotmail.com; Healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Barrett Jackson Las Vegas Auction Oct 13-15

 

I wonder why anyone would want a Healey with every original number intact except a collector who probably doesn’t intend to drive the car.

I have a BN-4 Longbridge with concours interior, a BJ-8 modified engine a Lempert rear end, blisten shooks, electronic ignition etc etc which makes for a great driver. Anyone want the original shocks with the proper number for the original?

 

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