Hey there Guest!
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
My son went off to college about nine years ago. Through his teenage years he drove a 1959 Bugeye which his grandfather had given him. The car was not running and had been sitting for about 17 years, so Burt gave it to him I think more to clean up his yard, than actually think it would ever be on the road again. But Andy and I tore into it and soon installed MKII disc brakes, engine, and transmission. Away he roared! He loved that car. It had a roll bar, and a strange "rumble seat", which was actually a butchered repair to a rear end collision. My father in law, the long time owner, had five kids. He owned the car while in the Navy in South Carolina (where he crashed the rear end into a tree or something while horsing around). As he worked in the machine shop at the ship yard, he made the repairs Navy style. Lots of stainless steel and fancy welding. He moved his family to California in the late 60's. The car ran a bit after the move, but mostly it sat. Until it finally just sat.
17 years later Andy had it on the road, driving it regularly for about three years, until he went off to Montana to attend the university. Well, the car had to be sold at that time so he could pay for a computer he needed at school. In short order several people responded to the ad and were racing over to the house in "gotta have it" mode. Sold.
Some time later we heard through the grapevine it was damaged and then repaired at a local body shop, who took out the rumble seat and made a proper back end again. But we always kept an eye out for it at the shows and meets. Never saw it though.
A couple of weeks ago one of my surf buddies leaves me a message about an Austin Healey for sale in his neighborhood. Some old guy died a few years ago and the aged widow is now getting around to moving out some of his stuff. So Brad calls me, not knowing what kind of Healey it is, but knowing I have one, suggesting we go look at it.
The old lady pulls the tarp back and there is Andy's steering wheel. I look at the floor and see that familiar stainless steel floor. The roll bar is gone, but the pads are still on the fender wells, the tubes having been ground off at the welds. Looking into the boot the rumble seat patch is clearly visible. The car is red now. Not a bad paint job. I think the widow wanted about $6500 for it. A bit pricy in my estimation for a car that has obviously sat unattended for the last five years.
It will shortly, if not already, be on eBay, as I turned down the opportunity to snap it up again. The for sale sign said "second owner". Yeah. Try fourth. In fact, I have in my file the bill of sale from to original owner, Garfield Woodruff Danenhower III (only in the South!) to my father in law dated June 26, 1965. Price: $965.
So if you buy the car--
Now you know---
The rest of the story.
And as a footnote, it was also mentioned in an article I wrote for Old Cars Weekly, December 25, 2003 issue.
All the best.
Circa 1991
17 years later Andy had it on the road, driving it regularly for about three years, until he went off to Montana to attend the university. Well, the car had to be sold at that time so he could pay for a computer he needed at school. In short order several people responded to the ad and were racing over to the house in "gotta have it" mode. Sold.
Some time later we heard through the grapevine it was damaged and then repaired at a local body shop, who took out the rumble seat and made a proper back end again. But we always kept an eye out for it at the shows and meets. Never saw it though.
A couple of weeks ago one of my surf buddies leaves me a message about an Austin Healey for sale in his neighborhood. Some old guy died a few years ago and the aged widow is now getting around to moving out some of his stuff. So Brad calls me, not knowing what kind of Healey it is, but knowing I have one, suggesting we go look at it.
The old lady pulls the tarp back and there is Andy's steering wheel. I look at the floor and see that familiar stainless steel floor. The roll bar is gone, but the pads are still on the fender wells, the tubes having been ground off at the welds. Looking into the boot the rumble seat patch is clearly visible. The car is red now. Not a bad paint job. I think the widow wanted about $6500 for it. A bit pricy in my estimation for a car that has obviously sat unattended for the last five years.
It will shortly, if not already, be on eBay, as I turned down the opportunity to snap it up again. The for sale sign said "second owner". Yeah. Try fourth. In fact, I have in my file the bill of sale from to original owner, Garfield Woodruff Danenhower III (only in the South!) to my father in law dated June 26, 1965. Price: $965.
So if you buy the car--
Now you know---
The rest of the story.
And as a footnote, it was also mentioned in an article I wrote for Old Cars Weekly, December 25, 2003 issue.
All the best.
Circa 1991
A friendly reminder - be careful what links you click on here. If a link is posted by someone you don't know, or the URL looks fishy, DON'T CLICK. Spammers sometimes post links that lead to sites that can infect your computer, so be mindful what you click.