Offline
Legal Bill started an interesting thread about our daily drivers, which gives a bit of insight in what Healey owners are thinking when they pick a new car. I'll start another: How did you end up with the Healey or Healeys you own today?
For me, I got interested in unusual cars long before I got a drivers license. As a kid, I was totally into the California scene of hot rods and customs. I took a trip out to California in 1963 with my folks and came back home to Massachusetts with high-riser handlebars to give my bicycle that cool California look. I was building AMT and Revell model cars and entering them into the local model car shows. I read all the hot rod and custom "little books" and later Rod&Custom and Hot Rod magazines. Along the way (probably from ABC Wide World of Sports) I got interested in Formula One racing. I still remember where I was when Stirling Moss had his accident at Goodwood. When I was old enough to get a driver's license in 1967 , my cousin had a '59 bugeye she sold me for $350. It had a non-factory hardtop and she taught me how to drive a manual transmission. I had a love/hate relationship with that car. It was a pain to drive in the winter and a joy to drive in the summer. It didn't really hurt to let it go a year later for a low-mileage Volvo 122S 4-door.
But with that car, I became a "Healey Guy". My Dad was a Realtor and his office was located in a building owned by a clothier who had just bought a 1967 BJ8 in Metallic Golden Beige. I used to love to park my POS Bugeye next to the BJ8 because we were fellow "Healey guys". But since I was also interested in hot rods and the newly introduced muscle cars, they also formed my Healey ideas. A local guy blew the motor in his big Healey and replaced it with a 289 Ford automatic with a 2 barrel carb and started beating all the local muscle cars in town at the midnight drags. I was hooked.
So when I graduated school and had some spare money, I built the Bugeye of my dreams ,,, a tribute to the cars that ran the Sebring 12 hrs. And when I bought a big Healey, I rebuilt it to the specs it had when it was an SCCA racer in 1965. It wasn't enough and I ended up building it to the small-block Ford specs that I admired in the late '60s.
So how did you end up with your Healey?
For me, I got interested in unusual cars long before I got a drivers license. As a kid, I was totally into the California scene of hot rods and customs. I took a trip out to California in 1963 with my folks and came back home to Massachusetts with high-riser handlebars to give my bicycle that cool California look. I was building AMT and Revell model cars and entering them into the local model car shows. I read all the hot rod and custom "little books" and later Rod&Custom and Hot Rod magazines. Along the way (probably from ABC Wide World of Sports) I got interested in Formula One racing. I still remember where I was when Stirling Moss had his accident at Goodwood. When I was old enough to get a driver's license in 1967 , my cousin had a '59 bugeye she sold me for $350. It had a non-factory hardtop and she taught me how to drive a manual transmission. I had a love/hate relationship with that car. It was a pain to drive in the winter and a joy to drive in the summer. It didn't really hurt to let it go a year later for a low-mileage Volvo 122S 4-door.
But with that car, I became a "Healey Guy". My Dad was a Realtor and his office was located in a building owned by a clothier who had just bought a 1967 BJ8 in Metallic Golden Beige. I used to love to park my POS Bugeye next to the BJ8 because we were fellow "Healey guys". But since I was also interested in hot rods and the newly introduced muscle cars, they also formed my Healey ideas. A local guy blew the motor in his big Healey and replaced it with a 289 Ford automatic with a 2 barrel carb and started beating all the local muscle cars in town at the midnight drags. I was hooked.
So when I graduated school and had some spare money, I built the Bugeye of my dreams ,,, a tribute to the cars that ran the Sebring 12 hrs. And when I bought a big Healey, I rebuilt it to the specs it had when it was an SCCA racer in 1965. It wasn't enough and I ended up building it to the small-block Ford specs that I admired in the late '60s.
So how did you end up with your Healey?