Randy Harris
Jedi Warrior
Offline
After a 4 years of vacillating and threatening to do do so, yesterday I loaded up my beautiful '66 BJ8 onto a flatbed and sent her off to Southern California for new adventures. I won't divulge the buyer or details of the sale but suffice it to say that the car went for a whole lot less than I was hoping for. This result is due entirely to a 30+ year old poorly executed frame rebuild that left the under carriage of my car looking bodged up and ugly. To the uninitiated eye my car was as nice as any Healey you would ever find. I poured tons of money, blood and sweat into its restoration and maintenance over a period of 15 years. But what I found is that to an expert or knowledgeable Healey buyer, a repaired frame (no matter how safe it is) is potentially a scary proposition.
Of course I had hoped to at least recover my significant investment - I did not. I also didn't try very hard to sell it. For a number of reasons I did not want to go the eBay route nor did I want to entertain tire kickers at my home for 6 months. So I made the difficult decision to sell it quickly with 100% transparency and the sales price would fall where it would.
For me there were many reasons to sell the Healey. None of them were about money, which made the decision to move it along easier.
I'll miss my Austin Healey and the numerous friends I've made over the years at shows, day tours, etc. I won't miss the headaches but those are best forgotten anyways. I wanted to say Au Revoir to all of you. I wish you all many years of Healey fun and fellowship. From time to time I'll pop in here to lurk. Fortunately I still have my beautiful E-type OTS in the garage with no plans to sell it, so the Old Brit itch will still be scratched.
All the best to you and a special thanks to Basil who has done such a marvelous job with this Forum. It has provided great entertainment and immeasurable help to me over the years. Cheers to all!
Randy
Of course I had hoped to at least recover my significant investment - I did not. I also didn't try very hard to sell it. For a number of reasons I did not want to go the eBay route nor did I want to entertain tire kickers at my home for 6 months. So I made the difficult decision to sell it quickly with 100% transparency and the sales price would fall where it would.
For me there were many reasons to sell the Healey. None of them were about money, which made the decision to move it along easier.
I'll miss my Austin Healey and the numerous friends I've made over the years at shows, day tours, etc. I won't miss the headaches but those are best forgotten anyways. I wanted to say Au Revoir to all of you. I wish you all many years of Healey fun and fellowship. From time to time I'll pop in here to lurk. Fortunately I still have my beautiful E-type OTS in the garage with no plans to sell it, so the Old Brit itch will still be scratched.
All the best to you and a special thanks to Basil who has done such a marvelous job with this Forum. It has provided great entertainment and immeasurable help to me over the years. Cheers to all!
Randy