[Healeys] 1956 Austin-Healey 100M

[Bob Spidell]

Well, Charlie--the original poster--asked "Can the experts on the list 
critique this car?"  And we--I'm not an expert, but my dad and I did a 
frame-off on one, so I have a few clues--did just that.

I doubt there's anyone on this list who doesn't know what goes on at the 
'glamor' auctions.  I went straight to the gallery, but I didn't see any 
reference to this car being auctioned; it looks like it's targeted for a 
private sale, and the asking isn't terribly out of line.  If Charlie's 
interested--or looking for a friend--this car has been 'pre-picked apart.'

Bob


On 8/2/2018 11:44 AM, Michael MacLean wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
> 	
>

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