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Beverly Hills Car Club

A few of us on the mail list have received emails from both Mark Jensen and Paul Klein saying they were referred to us by a Paul Dunham and looking to buy a Healey. Seems like they may be actually working for Beverly Hills Car Club looking for cars for resale.

Yep that is the case
 
If you Google their website, they have a number of Healey's for sale. The asking price for the rusty ones are not that high.
 
I've bought one Healey from them last year off their website after having had a long discussion on the phone with their sales manager.. Shipped it over to Europe having been convinced that it was a good deal.... the first and the last time i buy unseen... I think that even if i had seen the car I wouldn't have known about the 15lbs of bondo used to stick the wings and front shroud together hidden under a mexican paint job.. Live and learn !!!
 
"even if i had seen the car I wouldn't have known about the 15lbs of bondo used to stick the wings and front shroud together hidden under a mexican paint job"

It was obviously not "cheap" no matter the price.
 
Just out of interest is there such a person as Paul Dunham of the British Car Club? If there is then perhaps someone should have a word with him. I also got contacted, no doubt through the Healey mailing list.
 
This is the car in question.... bondo on the inside and outside of the front shoud used to stick together a front end from another car... This one took a while to sort out..
 

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This is the car in question.... bondo on the inside and outside of the front shoud used to stick together a front end from another car... This one took a while to sort out..

Wow. From what I can see from the first photo is that your hint this could be a 'Bondo queen' is that the (normal) gaps between the front and rear wings and the outer sills--at either bottom edge of the door--appear to have been filled and smoothed out. This actually looks OK/good, but it means someone has 'gone to town' with a filler spreader.

If you were in the 'States and had a good lawyer you could go after the seller, as this could be considered severe misrepresentation and, possibly, a safety issue. Not saying you'd win in court, but you'd have a shot methinks.
 
Looks like you lost the use of the lawn chairs for a while:joyous:
 
Having spent 5 days taking of the bondo and massaging the wings by hand to get the dents out we started on the repairs.. Here are the photos and end result.. A small amount of filler was used before paint but very little...
 

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Just out of interest is there such a person as Paul Dunham of the British Car Club? If there is then perhaps someone should have a word with him. I also got contacted, no doubt through the Healey mailing list.

I'm betting "Paul Dunham" is as fictional as the "British Car Club" and the "friend" that's looking for a car. Don't know if it makes a lot of difference who buys your car and whom you sell it to if you get the right amount for it. Their money is as green as anyone else's. It must be a recognized flipper's technique, though, and maybe they lowball sellers that want to help out some other hobbyist.
 
Looks like it must have had a serious front-ender at some point, and that the best (only?) solution was to attach a new front section.

No, there's no substitute for a first-hand inspection, and after some experiences with others doing the inspecting for me, I'm pretty well convinced that I have to see a car my-own-self to know what I really want to know.

In any case, "congratulations" on bringing it back to respectable condition. We can't afford to write-off any more of them - they ain't making any more Healeys! (Except for the 100M, which is, of course, still being mass-produced.)
 
If you were in the 'States and had a good lawyer you could go after the seller, as this could be considered severe misrepresentation and, possibly, a safety issue. Not saying you'd win in court, but you'd have a shot methinks.

I still think a better approach would be to avoid the need for a lawyer and check with the BJ8 Registry for any information and/or history for a car before buying one. There are a LOT of cars out there with mixed up identities, questionable histories, and aggravating details for unsuspecting buyers. You may decide afterwards to proceed with the purchase, but at least you would have some facts you wouldn't otherwise have.
 
Reid,

You are right they planned to make 4604 100M's but the factory and or dealers ran out of the grill badges so they couldn't be really sold on by dealers as true 100M's.. Thank god for those guys at Moss and AH Spares that are allowing the dealers to upgrade cars to original spec and sell them on to us .... hehe !!
 
Good one Reid as with the values/asking prices now around $200K for very nice cars, the problem with counterfeits is going to be even worse than before ! Talk about "caveat emptor" !!!!
Regards
Mike
 
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