[Healeys] BJ7 or BJ8

[i erbs]

Also in the 70s and 80s a number of shops were just trying to salvage
wrecks and get cars back on the road. You could buy a running car for
$500-1500. They were just cool old cars of not much value. No intent of
deception, just working to save what we could. Fast forward 40 years and 40
times the value and some of these cars are now an issue as plates don't
match the car...
If I had known then, I would have bought as many cars as I could. I guess I
did, I bought one :)
I've owned my car for 42 years and paid $500.00 for it.

Ira Erbs
Portland, OR
typos and artifacts are the fault of my phone

On Mon, May 14, 2018, 5:04 AM BJ8Healeys <sbyers at ec.rr.com> wrote:

> *From: *Bob Spidell <bspidell at comcast.net>
>
> *Subject: Re: [Healeys] BJ7 or BJ8*
>
> *Date: *May 13, 2018 at 11:06:49 AM EDT
>
> *To: *healeys at autox.team.net
>
>
>
> "... car that was created by Fourintune out of two junked BJ8s and they
> put a BJ7 VIN plate on it and sold it to someone in New York state"
>
> Hmmm ... Am I the only one who thinks this was a bit shady?
>
> Bob
>
> --------------------------------------
>
> From my first post about the subject, in my effort to be brief it has been
> suggested to me that I was slandering Fourintune.  This was not my
> intention, so I think I need to provide some additional details and correct
> the statement about the BJ7 VIN plate.
>
> In about 1988, Fourintune did build a single BJ8 from two wrecked cars (as
> told to me by the owner of that car).  Since I have a photo of the car with
> a Wisconsin license plate, I assume that Fourintune registered the car in
> Wisconsin, but if so I do not know the VIN used.  Fourintune sold the car
> to someone in New York state.  He was apparently fully aware of the origin
> of the car because he told me about it and provided photos of the scrapped
> vehicles, but he did not pay much attention to its VIN and was not aware of
> a discrepancy until I told him about it when I saw the car at Watkins Glen
> in 2000.  The VIN plate on the firewall read HBJ8L/23397 (photo attached)
> -- a BJ8 prefix but a BJ7 chassis number (not a BJ7 plate as I previously
> stated).  The plate is also the very late BJ8 style with rounded ends,
> instead of the typical rectangular plate.  There was no body plate nor
> engine serial number.
> There is no evidence or reason to say, nor was I trying to do so, that
> Fourintune was engaging in deceptive or unethical activity by creating one
> car from two, nor in creating a VIN plate that had two obvious clues to the
> fact that it was not original factory issue, would not duplicate the VIN on
> any other BJ7 or BJ8, and they did not conceal the true origin of the car
> from its next owner when they sold it.
>
> The New York owner later moved to North Carolina and when he applied for a
> title here the DMV inspector noticed there was a discrepancy between the
> number on the plate and the number on the NY title (which read HBJ7L23397).
>  Why the NY title has a valid BJ7 VIN on it is not known, but was probably
> a simple mistake (or it may have been a mistake on the WI title).  Because
> of this discrepancy, the owner was required to obtain a surety bond for
> 1-1/2 times the value of the car for a period of three years.  The NC DMV
> attached a new plate to the firewall with their own number, NCS89924, and
> that is the number that the car is now registered with.
>
> There is a lesson to be learned here.  VINs are important.  There are a
> LOT of cars out there that have had identity plates recreated or exchanged
> with other cars.  As BJ8 Registrar for almost 20 years now, I can tell you
> several other stories of grief owners have had in trying to register cars
> when the paperwork and VINs did not agree.  Are you sure that the plates on
> your car are original factory-issue and belong to it? Is the VIN correct on
> the title and other paperwork?
>
> Steve Byers
>
> HBJ8L/36666
>
> BJ8 Registry
>
> AHCA Delegate at Large
>
> Havelock, NC
>
>
>
>
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