[Healeys] 1956 Austin-Healey 100M

Michael MacLean rrengineer.mike at att.net
Thu Aug 2 12:44:16 MDT 2018


I think you are all missing the point here.  This car is not going not be bought by any Healey expert.  It is not even aimed at us.  The person that buys this car will be looking at it as an investment.  He probably will be buying his first Healey.  Unless he has a Healey expert inspect the car first, he is going to be surprised at the first Healey event he attends when they pick the car apart.  A recently deceased Healey restorer friend of mine that sold four 100M cars at auction houses like Barret-Jackson and RM auctions constantly would regale me with stories of Healey "experts" picking his restoration apart before the auction with no intention or resources to buy the car.  My friend used to complain about these Healey "experts" mouthing off about what is wrong with the car such as it being over restored.  My friend used to chrome some small parts that would take the most wear such as the bracket that the hood prop fit into when you open the bonnet because the paint would be scratched almost immediately the first time it was used.  He used to get grief over little things like that.   The fact is most of the "real" buyers of his cars knew nothing about Healeys.  Most of them had been drinking all day before the auction started and the auction house facilitated this on a regular basis.  Despite his "over restored' method of producing these cars he would regularly pull in up to $250K on his 100M restorations.  He also was the only restorer at the auction that would guarantee his cars mechanically for one year after purchase and traveled to Florida one time to "fix" a car that a woman bought just to impress guests that were coming from England.  She had had trouble starting the car.  When he got there he had to explain how the manual choke worked and the car started first time.  These are the people that buy these cars.  Lots of money and no interest in knowing the finer points of our cars. It's just a nice shiny object that they want. Unfortunately this is typical of the  majority of auction customers.  Hence the over inflated prices of our cars that most of us could never get or or try with a good conscience to.  OK, off my soap box for now. You guys can go back to the finer points to argue.  
Mike MacLean 

    On Thursday, August 2, 2018 10:38 AM, Bob Spidell <bspidell at comcast.net> wrote:
 

  Odd choice of color change, IMO.  Black/red is a rarer combination for an M (though it wouldn't be my favorite).  If I was going to go with a non-original scheme, I'd go with Florida  Green over white, which I think is absolutely stunning (and shows in some of the selling prices I've seen). Any chance this is a 'counterfeit;' i.e. one of the cars where the BMIHT cert was 'shopped' by an unscrupulous restorer (there was an infamous case where someone submitted a series of VINs, looking for one with the 'shipped with louvred bonnet' comment).  As I mentioned, one level of '100M Registry' certification only requires the BMIHT cert.
  Bob
  
 On 8/2/2018 6:23 AM, Randall Hicks wrote:
  
 
 Trying it again. Message may have been too big.
 
 
 On Aug 2, 2018, at 8:31 AM, Randall Hicks <healey100m at me.com> wrote: 
 As I understand it, as early as autumn 1953 "Le Mans modifications" and “Special Tuning equipment" parts were available from the DHMC. These could be bought outright, through dealers or DHMC installed. According to Piggott’s Austin-Healey 100 in Detail, the P280 Le Mans Kit (as a complete package) was released in October 1955. If others have documentation showing different, I would be very interested is seeing it. 
  Secondly, OEW duotone 100M were only done in OEW/Black with Black trim. There was no OEW/Lobella with blue trim as a standard factory option for the 100M. However, remember that 100’s could be ordered in special color or primer. 
  This particular car, BN2L/232949, was originally a Black/Reno Red with Black interior trim and hood. See attached BMIHT Certificate. 
  I looked at the car in 2008 or 2009 (?) when it was offered for sale by Jerry Bennsinger (OH). It was all OEW with blue trim at that point and I passed for many reasons. 
       Randy 
  Randy Hicks Chairman, Austin-Healey Concours Registry Committee AHCA 100 Registrar ahca100registrar at gmail.com www.austinhealey100m.com  
       
  
 
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