BJ8Healeys
Jedi Warrior
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I was just finishing up a letter yesterday to a BJ8 owner in the UK who has discovered that his car is not what the VIN plate says it is. The letter is on official AHCA letterhead and provides evidence and supporting arguments to the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority to allow him to correct the VIN to what it should be, since all of the serialized parts on his car match the number he found on the shock tower -- only the VIN plate is incorrect, and its color changed to what is "original" to the car that the VIN plate belonged to. This car came to the UK in 1989 from Maryland, and the Maryland title shows that the VIN was already incorrect even then. While I was working on the letter, I received a response to my inquiry from a BJ8 owner in Norway (I had his car in the registry as HBJ8L/33623, and saw a car come up for sale that had that same VIN in Germany. I had contacted him to see if he had sold it). Turns out, the Norwegian car has a reproduction VIN plate, the body plate from a car around chassis 41771, and was already missing its original engine when imported into Norway from the USA.
I have seen so many BJ8s over the years that are not what the paperwork is claiming them to be, nor what the owner thinks they are. Sometimes I think more cars are wrong now than right. I would recommend that any owner who has any doubts contact me, or at least verify that the identity plates are original factory-issue and that the car's details match the original build data. There may be nothing that can be done to get the paperwork corrected, but perhaps there is, if the owner wants to pursue it. I would also recommend to anyone thinking about buying a BJ8 to contact me (the BJ8 Registry) before money changes hands to make sure the car has its original integrity, or if not, you know why and you're O.K. with it. Even cars that have been restored by well-known restorers are not immune to scrambled identities. It's better to know up front than to find out later. As of today, the BJ8 Registry has data, records, and ownership history for more than 52% of total BJ8 production (9,218 of 17,712).
I have seen so many BJ8s over the years that are not what the paperwork is claiming them to be, nor what the owner thinks they are. Sometimes I think more cars are wrong now than right. I would recommend that any owner who has any doubts contact me, or at least verify that the identity plates are original factory-issue and that the car's details match the original build data. There may be nothing that can be done to get the paperwork corrected, but perhaps there is, if the owner wants to pursue it. I would also recommend to anyone thinking about buying a BJ8 to contact me (the BJ8 Registry) before money changes hands to make sure the car has its original integrity, or if not, you know why and you're O.K. with it. Even cars that have been restored by well-known restorers are not immune to scrambled identities. It's better to know up front than to find out later. As of today, the BJ8 Registry has data, records, and ownership history for more than 52% of total BJ8 production (9,218 of 17,712).