Dealer 100M

Feeling a bit bored so I just thought I'd bring up another example of our favourite subject - The famous 'Dealer 100M'. Notice from the verbose, ad below that this now apparently extends to any 100 Le Mans no matter when the mods were made!!!.

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C493527

Having said that, it does appear to be a very nice car, but lets call it what it is. A 100 with Le Mans mods. The red doesn't look like the right shade for a 100 and I don't think they came in red with black coves, but it does suit the car very well.

...correction, I think they did come in red over black as well as black over red.

I really dislike the trend of online ads that start out with a verbose history of the marque, followed by an even more verbose history of the model (most of which have nothing to do with the car on sale) all crammed into a format that is almost impossible to read without my old tired eyes going blurry. So this car was basically a standard BN2 until 1997 when it was restored and magically became a "100M LeMans Dealer Prepared"? Yikes! Interesting definition here:

"Dealer 100M LeMans cars, are cars completed at the dealership or thereafter that have been totally converted, and done so correctly either in period or in recent years. So the enthusiast is left with two basic options, a Dealer 100M LeMans or a Factory 100M LeMans with about a $75,000-$100,000 price difference."

So if you're converting to M specs in your home garage, make sure to drive it to some "dealership" (Subaru, perhaps?" for attaching the cold air box and you'll have a "Dealer 100M LeMans.

Love your comment Rick - perhaps a Mini or Jag dealer would be more appropriate to install that cold air box and make it "dealer" installed. Nope that won't work either as both are no longer British owned. Maybe a Morgan dealer as think they're about the only Brit owned car company left !

It is discouraging, the misleading descriptions that border on fraud to try to make a 100 bask in the glow of the 100M (for upwards price adjustment purposes). I'm waiting for the day - and it might not be long in coming - when sellers claim that their 100 is one of the rare, very-few-remaining standard cars with no louvered bonnet, no cold air box, no claims of a 100M camshaft or high-compression pistons.

My blue BN2 (in my signature photo below) is a standard car with the important parts of the Le Mans Kit (fitted in the 1990s, and not by a dealer) and a steel louvered bonnet from one of the original 640 cars. (The car that donated the bonnet was written off long ago, and I have registered the bonnet with the 100M Registry so that no one can try to register a car with that number.) However, I also have the original plain bonnet for this car and it is on my list of things to do to put it back on. I mean, just to be different!

"Oooh, looky there - a smooth-bonnet 100! You don't see those everyday!"

Editor_Reid said:

It is discouraging, the misleading descriptions that border on fraud to try to make a 100 bask in the glow of the 100M (for upwards price adjustment purposes). I'm waiting for the day - and it might not be long in coming - when sellers claim that their 100 is one of the rare, very-few-remaining standard cars with no louvered bonnet, no cold air box, no claims of a 100M camshaft or high-compression pistons.

My blue BN2 (in my signature photo below) is a standard car with the important parts of the Le Mans Kit (fitted in the 1990s, and not by a dealer) and a steel louvered bonnet from one of the original 640 cars. (The car that donated the bonnet was written off long ago, and I have registered the bonnet with the 100M Registry so that no one can try to register a car with that number.) However, I also have the original plain bonnet for this car and it is on my list of things to do to put it back on. I mean, just to be different!

"Oooh, looky there - a smooth-bonnet 100! You don't see those everyday!"

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Reid, as we discussed at the Delegates Meeting, the AHCA needs to take a stand on these LeMans issue(s). Of course, this is a very controversial issue and won't be an easy task.

Here is the actual dealers listing https://www.lbilimited.com/wp_car_dealer/1956-austin-healey-100m-lemans-dealer-prepared/ $94500. The description really is misleading, but I suppose putting "dealer prepared" asigns this description to someone else. If this were a stock BN2 in this kind of condition what would it be worth at current market values? $30 to $40K less?

Editor_Reid said:

I'm waiting for the day - and it might not be long in coming - when sellers claim that their 100 is one of the rare, very-few-remaining standard cars ...

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Sort of like a replica Shelby Cobra without a "rare" Carroll Shelby signature on the glove box door.

simon1966 said:

Here is the actual dealers listing https://www.lbilimited.com/wp_car_dealer/1956-austin-healey-100m-lemans-dealer-prepared/ $94500. The description really is misleading, but I suppose putting "dealer prepared" asigns this description to someone else. If this were a stock BN2 in this kind of condition what would it be worth at current market values? $30 to $40K less?

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Actually a very nicely done BN2 with a Le Mans Kit and in nice colors, as this example is, should be valued at about twice the $30-40k you mention. The asking price of $94,500 is not wildly out of line and at the right auction it could achieve that even with everyone aware that it's not a 100M.

Therefore all of the effort to presumably give it increased value via labeling it a 100M and asserting that it is a "dealer prepared" car (undoubtedly without any documentation to substantiate it) is just unnecessary. It's a wonderful car and deserves a price in the higher five-figure range.

I follow Healey prices pretty closely and author the Austin-Healey section of a well-known price guide, so I'm writing from a position of someone who really tracks these matters. Actual sales, as opposed to asking prices or owners' ideas about how much their car "should" be worth, are the best guide to values. The silly (and misleading) puffery employed in this item description isn't just wrong; it's just not necessary.

[I particularly enjoyed their labeling the reprint of the 100 Owner's Handbook - a $35 retail value - as a "100M Manual", and their labeling of a quite old AH Spares Ltd. parts catalog as a "100M Spares Book". Heaven help the poor sap who doesn't do at least a little research before taking the plunge. He could do worse than picking up a copy of the Essential Buyer's Guide for Big Healeys.]

Editor_Reid said:

He could do worse than picking up a copy of the Essential Buyer's Guide for Big Healeys.]

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Autographed editions available?

HealeyRick said:

Autographed editions available?

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But of course! (Although not directly from the retailers.)

Reid, thanks for the note about pricing. My comment that this car might be offered for $30-40K less than the asking price (so $54-$64K)without the mods was actually a question rather than a statement, so I appreciate the expert opinion as I was curious about its real worth. I had interpreted an earlier post to suggest that this car was being offered for significantly more than its worth by virtue of the flowery discussion of the M modifications.

So a stock 100 done to this level would be worth close to this asking price.

In my mind some modifications detract from the value, for example if this was a V8 conversion, equally well done, it would surely not have the same value? Do period type modifications add or detract, because in essense what we have here is a standard car with period modifications.

I agree that this car is beautifully done and took the opportunity to grab some shots from the excellent photos that were presented on the web site.

BTW, I ordered your book already and am awaiting delivery from the UK.

All the best
Simon

simon1966 said:

So a stock 100 done to this level would be worth close to this asking price.

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Yes. It needs to be a complete, professional restoration - and photo documentation will be important - and in great colors, and with real Le Mans Kit components. I would not say that any "nice 100" is going to bring a high five-figure price.

simon1966 said:

my mind some modifications detract from the value, for example if this was a V8 conversion, equally well done, it would surely not have the same value?

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Such conversions have extremely little appeal to collectors (auction buyers). I would not expect one to bring even half of what a stock 100 would bring.

simon1966 said:

, I ordered your book already and am awaiting delivery from the UK.

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You're a prince! Actually the book is targeted at the first-time Austin-Healey buyer, so much of it will already be well known to those who've owned the cars for a long time and/or made multiple purchases, but hopefully even the experienced among us will find enough take-aways in it to make it worth the price.

I think it would be great if we ever do find a real dealer modified M. One with full dealer documentation that lists the modifications made, especially if such a car is a BN1 with the modifications made before the 100M came out. Does anybody know of such a car?

DerekJ said:

I think it would be great if we ever do find a real dealer modified M. One with full dealer documentation that lists the modifications made, especially if such a car is a BN1 with the modifications made before the 100M came out. Does anybody know of such a car?

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I believe that Bill Meade said that he had a couple in his registry with some actual documents/receipts. Those with documentation are exceptionally rare.

As we know, those claimed to be dealer-installed are exceedingly common - virtually the rule. Which brings up the question of how many Le Mans Kits were produced and how many were dealer-installed. Of course we'll never know, but it is interesting how rare the documentation for it is.

[ Heaven help the poor sap who doesn't do at least a little research before taking the plunge."] .... true , but the collector car market depends on this type of buyer; one who plunges , then learns.

The listed contact for this car is LBI (Luxury Brokers) out of PA. They are the same people that tried to pass off a Blue/OEW BN2 as a factory built 100M at Gooding in Amelia Island this year. Just before the auction Gooding put a sign on the car saying that it was not an actual 100M even though they (Gooding) had advertised it as such. Contact me off list if you want more examples of their practice. Run like ****......

Randy