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Barn Find in California....
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Legal Bill
Jedi Knight
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So much about this annoys me. The guy buys it just to resell it. He doesn't even wait to get the certificate in hand before listing it. Some of the more important parts are either missing (original cold air box, engine tag, original bumpers) or are not shown (carbs, ducting). Plus that red engine is a big question mark with a convenient excuse for the missing engine tag. A number of the photos are fuzzy.
Maybe this is just my own sour grapes, but can't the guy wait a week to get this thing cleaned up, properly photographed and documented before he runs off to e-bay it? I so wish the original owner had e-bayed it. Who knows how much they sold it for. I'll bet it was a lot less that the auction price that did not meet reserve.
Maybe this is just my own sour grapes, but can't the guy wait a week to get this thing cleaned up, properly photographed and documented before he runs off to e-bay it? I so wish the original owner had e-bayed it. Who knows how much they sold it for. I'll bet it was a lot less that the auction price that did not meet reserve.
Brinkerhoff
Jedi Knight
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Bill, I'll bet someone bought the car off ebay from the guy. There's guys out there dying to find a factory original Lemans and it sure looked like one to me. Enough of it was there from the pictures to see ( How the hood was louvered for instance) . Hate that when it happens too but the problem with ebay is that the high bidder is usually a flake , so you take the best money and run. Kevin
Bob_Spidell
Yoda
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Legal Bill said:
Plus, he deceived the seller--the owner/racer's widow--by telling her he was going to keep and restore the car (the owner's daughter commented on the BaT page).
That's a crummy but common scam. My dad sold a restored 40 Ford pickup--a classic--to a young guy that seemed to really want it. He flipped it in a few weeks.
Superwrench
Jedi Trainee
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I think the auction ended early. It was to be on 5 or 7 days and in 2 days it was up to 33,000 and then it disapeared. Someone probably offered him big money to end the auction.
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I agree he probably ended it early. But you can list a car for less than 5 or 7
days, think you can actually do 3 or 4. I commented on the BAT pages that I couldn't understand why he would not wait for the actual Heritage Certificate versus a supposed e-mail which conveniently was not shown. Also, he could have got in touch with Bill Meade at the 100M Registry and found out if the same car number was already registered. Lot of question marks on this car and hope the new buyer didn't buy a lot less than he thought he was getting. $33K for a BN2 needing a full restoration is way high, an actual 100M, maybe not as one of the 640 should bring $75K+ all the way beyond 6 figures.
days, think you can actually do 3 or 4. I commented on the BAT pages that I couldn't understand why he would not wait for the actual Heritage Certificate versus a supposed e-mail which conveniently was not shown. Also, he could have got in touch with Bill Meade at the 100M Registry and found out if the same car number was already registered. Lot of question marks on this car and hope the new buyer didn't buy a lot less than he thought he was getting. $33K for a BN2 needing a full restoration is way high, an actual 100M, maybe not as one of the 640 should bring $75K+ all the way beyond 6 figures.
Bob_Spidell
Yoda
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Well, while we're on the subject of 'barn finds' ...
My dad called a few years ago to say he'd seen a '1956 Austin-Healey' in the local (Modesto, CA) paper (he wasn't into 'British cars' but had acquired some affection for them from working on and driving my BJ8). He mentioned the asking price and I--thinking it was an early 6-cyl--said it sounded reasonable (cheap, even). He said he'd call and go take a look the next day.
The gentleman selling the car was a wealthy man and collector in Turlock, CA. When Dad got there there was a guy from the Bay Area sniffing around; Dad thought he was a broker or agent for a buyer/speculator. My dad and the elderly gentleman hit it off and when Dad mentioned his son (me) was really into Austin-Healeys the old guy sent the bird-dogger packing and knocked 20% off the price. Dad called that evening to inform me that he'd--surprise!-- bought the car and the seller would be delivering it in a couple days (no charge). Dad said it was a 4-cyl and asked if I knew why the pink slip said '100M.' When I picked myself up off the floor I said 'are you SURE it says that?' and 'does it have a louvered bonnet?' and 'is the front frame bent where you'd have to to pull a cam with the engine in place?', etc. The car was in comparable condition to this one--maybe better because it had belonged to the old guy's granddaughter and presumably had never been (officially) raced. The engine had the original, correct tag (we re-installed it just the other day).
Dad and the old guy remained good friends until the old guy died a couple years ago (sadly, I never got to meet him). He also had a pretty nice Nash-Healey which we considered but we had our hands full with the M. We could have bought it and flipped it, but neither of us had the heart--or lack of it--to do that.
Anyway, we're a couple years into the resto with a drivable chassis. Some early photos here:
https://home.comcast.net/~bspidell/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-2698054.html
My dad called a few years ago to say he'd seen a '1956 Austin-Healey' in the local (Modesto, CA) paper (he wasn't into 'British cars' but had acquired some affection for them from working on and driving my BJ8). He mentioned the asking price and I--thinking it was an early 6-cyl--said it sounded reasonable (cheap, even). He said he'd call and go take a look the next day.
The gentleman selling the car was a wealthy man and collector in Turlock, CA. When Dad got there there was a guy from the Bay Area sniffing around; Dad thought he was a broker or agent for a buyer/speculator. My dad and the elderly gentleman hit it off and when Dad mentioned his son (me) was really into Austin-Healeys the old guy sent the bird-dogger packing and knocked 20% off the price. Dad called that evening to inform me that he'd--surprise!-- bought the car and the seller would be delivering it in a couple days (no charge). Dad said it was a 4-cyl and asked if I knew why the pink slip said '100M.' When I picked myself up off the floor I said 'are you SURE it says that?' and 'does it have a louvered bonnet?' and 'is the front frame bent where you'd have to to pull a cam with the engine in place?', etc. The car was in comparable condition to this one--maybe better because it had belonged to the old guy's granddaughter and presumably had never been (officially) raced. The engine had the original, correct tag (we re-installed it just the other day).
Dad and the old guy remained good friends until the old guy died a couple years ago (sadly, I never got to meet him). He also had a pretty nice Nash-Healey which we considered but we had our hands full with the M. We could have bought it and flipped it, but neither of us had the heart--or lack of it--to do that.
Anyway, we're a couple years into the resto with a drivable chassis. Some early photos here:
https://home.comcast.net/~bspidell/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-2698054.html
Bob_Spidell
Yoda
Offline
PSJ said:
Yep. There's a great aviation museum in Tillamook (has one of the few P-47s and, I think, a P-38 you'll find, plus some fire engines and other stuff). Port Townsend was a lucky find--we needed to take the ferry but didn't know what kind of town to expect--very nice, and not too touristy.
My story is about a local AC Bristol I learned about early '90s in the same coastal Orange Country area where I live, pretty bashed in here and there, but mostly together, contacted guy, elderly and he said he'd think about selling it if he did not get around to restore it, wanted to make sure I would not sell to Japan etc. For next many years every July 4 and Xmas I would call, and we would have a friendly chat, mailed him him info I would come across about restoration, sort of a neat deal, about ten years later he has moved in with daughter down near San Diego, and he tells me he sold it to notorious Escondido folk known for fake Ferraris before it was all outed. How discouraging. Small world, in mid '80s before broken of Italian car habit, I had spent morning working on parking brake on 330, and went to just sightsee at what may have been a Barrett Jackson auction in Newport Beach, while examining a late '50s Testa Rosa I noticed the exact 1967 parking brake on the rear, I asked owner and he walked away, turns out it was the folk out of Escondido that became notorious for such.
HEALEYJAG
Jedi Warrior
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The car was bought before the auction ended. For those 100 owners-- 2 100's sold last week on EBAY.
A solid non-running barn car for $30,000. Needing FULL restoration.
And a wrecked barn car 100 (what I would call salvage) for $17,000.
Sent those listings to my car buddies who couldn't believe these prices!
Pete
A solid non-running barn car for $30,000. Needing FULL restoration.
And a wrecked barn car 100 (what I would call salvage) for $17,000.
Sent those listings to my car buddies who couldn't believe these prices!
Pete
dougie
Luke Skywalker
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Great story Bob, those are the kind I love to hear. I look forward to seeing the results of your find/rescue of the lost 100M. In additional to being an air museum now, the Tillamook air field also held sports car races in 1955-56 with the Austin-Healey well represented.
BTW, I'll be racing at Infineon during GRL's Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival
June 4th & 5th if you're near No-Cal that weekend, https://www.generalracing.com/
BTW, I'll be racing at Infineon during GRL's Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival
June 4th & 5th if you're near No-Cal that weekend, https://www.generalracing.com/
Bob_Spidell
Yoda
Offline
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Bob_Spidell said:
Wow x 2! Somebody's flipping the flipper. $103,500 for an unrestored M? At the risk of being hung for Healey heresy, that's just insane.
Legal Bill
Jedi Knight
Offline
I predict the seller will not get this asking price. See my next article in Healey Marque. More than this I cannot say.
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