SE Massachusetts BN1 barn find

I was working in the driveway on my TR8 when a guy stopped by. He was an older gent with a long white beard, and a carved cane. He was not very mobile and has a failing memory. Turns out he lives across town and says he has a 1953 100-4 thats been buried in his garage since the 60s. I went by and tried to look at it. Its buried, and would take a couple of guys a few hours to dig it out and get it into the driveway to properly access the car. He wants to get rid of it and would like to replace it with a 3 wheel motorcycle. So, his initial asking price would be whatever it would cost to purchase a decent used Can Am Spider. If anybody local is interested, give me a shout and I can pass on the info. I have a call in to a local Healey club member hoping this thing can find a good home. I will only pass the info along to a private party that will restore the car. If you are a for profit wheeler dealer classic car shop, don't even bother calling. The owner of the car wants to see it go to an enthusiast.

Good for you, and good luck finding an honest buyer!

A rep from the local Healey club is coming down on Sunday, weather permitting. Once the car is out in the light of day, I should have some more info on the car. Spoke to the owner again a couple of nights ago to set this up. He has a strong sentimental attachment to the car, and he is adamant that the car goes to an enthusiast. Took him 50 years to accept that he would not and could not restore the car himself. If he can't find a local buyer, then he will put it up for auction and accept highest bid from whoever wherever.

Does it have louvers on the hood?

Partially dug it out and snapped a few photos. Turns out its a 56 BN2.

What would you guys say the minimum value of this would be? Any chance the owner can get the $15K or so he needs to buy that Can Am Spider he wants? Carb pistons moved up and down freely, but that was about all I could check mechanically. There was no serious rot anywhere I could see, but every panel would need attention. Looked otherwise complete except for no speedo. Owner said that was missing when he bought the car. What would be the best course of action for the owner to sell the car? I offered to bring it to my garage and free up the brakes, see if the engine spins freely and take better photos so it could be posted for sale. Owner does not have a computer and didn't know what I was talking about when I mention things like Bring a trailer and EBay.

I would have thought that $15K was well within reach for the car. Take a look at some of the recent "sold" listings on eBay and there is a car that had no drive train and missing many of the hard to find parts that went for $10K in competitive bidding. This car is obviously going to be very costly to rebuild and it has been messed with enough to not be an original-survivor, but 100's in need of restoration are not all that common and the BN2 is the rarest. Heck, in the wrong hands this will be a factory 100M in a year or two!!

simon1966 said:

Heck, in the wrong hands this will be a factory 100M in a year or two!!

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Too true.

tr8todd said:

Partially dug it out and snapped a few photos. Turns out its a 56 BN2.

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I wonder, when seeing a car such as this, how it ever got into such horrible condition. This is not a Phoenician trade ship that has been resting on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea for 3,000 years. There is much more than neglect evident in such a car. There is massive abuse and neglect. Without a great deal of effort, I don't understand how it could end up in such condition. What a pity.

Editor_Reid said:

I wonder, when seeing a car such as this, how it ever got into such horrible condition. This is not a Phoenician trade ship that has been resting on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea for 3,000 years. There is much more than neglect evident in such a car. There is massive abuse and neglect. Without a great deal of effort, I don't understand how it could end up in such condition. What a pity.

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Funny, having grown up in SE Massachusetts I thought it doesn't look so terrible, at least if the rust isn't too bad. Lots of salt on the roads in the winter and lack of rustproofing chewed these cars up pretty quickly and after about 7 years most of them were in this shape. Just old used cars that fell into the hands of high school and college kids and, oh the indignities we heaped on these cars... metallic paint jobs over lots of bondo, sheet metal pop riveted over rusty floor pans and maybe some psychedelic seat covers.

If the seller is serious about wanting to keep it away from a flipper, he's going to reduce the group of people he can sell it to by quite a bit. If he puts it in an auction, he has no control over who buys it. OTOH, he doesn't have much control over who buys it in an individual transaction either, flippers have been known to tell a lie or two to buy a car. And so what, eventually it's going to end up in a restorer's hand whether or not it goes through a middleman.

I might try an inquiry with Gullwing Motors in NY, they seem to specialize in this kind of car. It would be easy, they'd come and pick up the car and he'd be done with it and have cash in hand. At least he could find out what the bottom end of what he could get would be. Craigslist is a possibility and is cheap, but will require some more work and wading through all the bogus inquiries. I think I'd be inclined to put it on Bring A Trailer which seems to get you the most bang for the buck for classic cars these days.

Talked to the owner again this morning. Healey club guys offered him $5K and their offer was declined. There is a guy here in town that is just about done doing a complete nut and bolt resto on an MGA. I'm going to have a talk with him and see if he would like to take it on. MGA guy has the time, money, and skills this thing needs. Owner really wants it to stay local so he can watch the resto. For now the plan is to free up the brakes, pull the plugs and squirt some mystery oil in the holes and see if the engine spins. Then its organize everything and take a bunch of pictures.

Car looks about like mine did in 1973 when I bought it. Can't tell much about the rust, that could be the deal killer with an eastern car. It looks fairly complete to me, would like to see the bumpers and tach. Those parts are hard to find but not impossible.

I think the condition looks pretty good for a barn find. At least it was left indoors. These were throwaway cars back in the 70's, most of them retired to outdoor junkyards to be picked over, rusted and finally hauled off for scrap.

I would contact Beverly Hills Car Club in California, they seem to be a little more honest then Gullwing. I bought my 100 from Beverly Hills Car Club and have been to Gullwing in person.

Editor_Reid said:

I wonder, when seeing a car such as this, how it ever got into such horrible condition. This is not a Phoenician trade ship that has been resting on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea for 3,000 years. There is much more than neglect evident in such a car. There is massive abuse and neglect. Without a great deal of effort, I don't understand how it could end up in such condition. What a pity.

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I guess I look at it like this: You never, ever see a car this bad out driving around, so much/most/nearly all of the damage, the peeling off of large sections of paint, the bonnet closing trough on the shroud full of dirt, senseless partial dismantling such as the front side lamp lenses removal and gearbox tunnel cover removal and top frame removal, stashing a wheel/tire from something in the passenger seat area (where's the passenger seat?) all took effort, effort with no apparent theme such as beginning dismantling for a restoration. It's just mindless abuse, all of which took effort.

No matter how long it sat in a barn, barn mice wouldn't do any of that and neither would road salt. It took deliberate actions. "I think I'll go out to the barn, unscrew a couple more pieces of the Healey, and toss them in the trunk, or maybe under the car, or maybe where they'll never be found. I have no idea why. Be back in a bit."

I've seen plenty of barn finds that were only dirty and rusty, but that is from neglect and not from expending pointless, damaging efforts.

What a pity. I hope somebody saves it, and my hat's off to them to taking on a project that is much deeper in the hole than it would have been if just simply parked for a long time.

Editor_Reid said:

I wonder, when seeing a car such as this, how it ever got into such horrible condition. This is not a Phoenician trade ship that has been resting on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea for 3,000 years. There is much more than neglect evident in such a car. There is massive abuse and neglect. Without a great deal of effort, I don't understand how it could end up in such condition. What a pity.

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Reid, it was the sixties! It was just another old car then, even if the owner did cherish it. I hope this BN2 finds a good home. I'd give it one.
Cheers,
Alwyn

Reid, decided to send you a PM instead...