BJ8 colors

[austin_healey]

I have a 1967 Healey with a Heritage Certificate confirming the original color to be "Golden Beige Metallic". I believe a very limited number of cars were made in this color and it was to 'celebrate' the end of the Big Healey era. Car anyone confirm, enlarge on this subject please. Thanks Healey Ian.

 

[fordtrucks4ever]

Tis true. The Golden Beige Metalic is considered one of the less common colors to find. I also have an original 1967 GMB car. There were supposed to be 66,012 total big Healeys manufactured from 1953 to 1967. If you take an average per year production it is around 4715. There was only 1 made in 1968. But thats not really much of a production number. That would be a nice car to find in a barn somewhere. But wont ever happen. The AH 3000's started production in 1959. These numbers made it up to 42926. Of these there were 16322 from 1964 to 1968. The BJ8 Mk III Phase II. In 1967, being the last year of full production, the BJ8 Mk III Phase II had all the bells and whistles. It was a true touring car for its day. There were only 3051 that drove off the assemnbly line that year. From 3051 cars only 176 were sold locally(England). They were all right hand drive, since the English like to drive on the wrong side of the road. Being so backwards, only 14 more right hand drive cars were exported. There were 128 more left hand drive models exported worldwide, outside the US. Since these cars were mainly focused on a North American market, their main export was 2733 units to the US. So getting down to low numbers, of these 3051 cars total manufactured, only about 556 were Golden Beige Metalic in color. These numbers do vary depending on what books you find, but close enough for government work. Unless you are building nuclear submarines.

One thing about the big Healeys that has forced the price up. All of these cars have been accounted for. You will not find one sitting in a barn out in the country that has been stored for 30+ years, unseen by human eyes. There are a lot of these sitting in peoples garages in disrepair. Plenty more that were sacrificed so others could be ressurected.

 

[Marvin Gruber]

Well we at least can account for three of the GMB cars. I have one as well. The number I have told was 551 of GMB cars but the fewer number made the more I like it.

Marv

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

I have a 1967 Healey with a Heritage Certificate confirming the original color to be "Golden Beige Metallic". I believe a very limited number of cars were made in this color and it was to 'celebrate' the end of the Big Healey era. Car anyone confirm, enlarge on this subject please. Thanks Healey Ian.

Ian,
Steve Byers can provise you with the exact number of the Beige cars and also the ratio of black versus the red interior cars. There's a lot more black ones. I just found a BJ8 for Steve that he didn't have any information on and it was local with expired tags, etc. These cars still from time to time "pop-up" that weren't previously known about.

Mine is an original Beige with red interior. S/N 40928. The car 40926 is owned b\y another member of the local north texas Healey Club but was repainted red. 40927 in in OZ.
Patrick

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

Well we at least can account for three of the GMB cars. I have one as well. The number I have told was 551 of GMB cars but the fewer number made the more I like it.

Marv

Marv, Several years ago a guy by the name of Dave Ramstead from the northwest was keeping a database of the GMB cars. I haven't heard what happened to Dave but Steve Byers of the BJ8 registry may be of help with the numbers.
Patrick

 

[fordtrucks4ever]

This are three that I can remember. In Springfield, Mo; Bellevue, Wa; and Cambridge, Great Britian. The serial number for one in Wa is 412XX. Mine is 414XX. I think the English refer to the color as Metalic Golden Beige. But who would want an MGB AH 3000?

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

This are three that I can remember. In Springfield, Mo; Bellevue, Wa; and Cambridge, Great Britian. The serial number for one in Wa is 412XX. Mine is 414XX. I think the English refer to the color as Metalic Golden Beige. But who would want an MGB AH 3000?

I have found two ways to describe the Beige color.
My Heritage Certificate has <span style="font-style: italic">Metallic Golden Beige </span>listed as the color.
Patrick

 

[BJ8Healeys]

Hello, Healeyphiles!
Thanks to Pat Yoas for getting me involved in the discussion. Since 1997, I have been the BJ8 Model Registrar for all three major Austin-Healey Clubs in the USA and Canada. BJ8s are my passion. Over those 13 years, we have been able to collect a lot of good data on BJ8s.

Metallic Golden Beige cars (this is the name of the color on all BMIHT certificates, so I take it as official and abbreviate it as MGB)were all manufactured during calendar year 1967. The first chassis number was 40190, and the last was the next-to-last car, 43025. Obviously, they were not built in continuous chassis number sequence.
Anders Clausager says in his book that there were 553 MGB cars manufactured; however, via two independent researchers in the BMIHT archives, we have only been able to identify 551 of them. I believe Anders mis-counted. Of the 551, 466 had black trim and only 85 had red.
The BJ8 registry currently has a record of ownership for 225 MGB cars worldwide. Four more are definitely known to have been scrapped, although there are probably many more than that. It's harder to identify cars that were scrapped years ago, as opposed to those that still exist. For the remaining 322 cars, we have original body and engine numbers, build and despatch dates, and destination from the factory for all of them, and BMIHT data as given on the certificates for quite a few courtesy of a friend who researches for me in the BMIHT archives.
The first MGB car, 40190, was RHD and has not turned up yet. The last one, 43025, still exists in the UK. It is also a RHD car. 551 MGB cars out of 17,712 total BJ8 production is 3%.

Other comments, reading down through previous posts:
Dave Ramstad sold his MGB car in 1990 to Canada. As of 2001, he was unable to find whatever database he had been keeping to pass it on to me, unfortunately.
The last BJ8 (43026, not 42926) and only car manufactured in 1968 (March)was not a production car but was assembled from parts left over when production ceased in December 1967. It was also a RHD car, and spent its whole life in the UK until 1999, when it was bought by an American from Colorado and now resides there, in his barn (if you know where to find it!).
Mr. Bentley and Healey Ian: I do not have you listed in the registry as owners of MGB cars, although I may have your car in the registry under previous owner(s). At the Log-in page for the Forum, at the top, you will notice "Attention BJ7 and BJ8 owners". Click on the "BJ8 Registrar" link and you can enter the data for your car. As of today, the BJ8 registry has a record of 7,269 BJ8s worldwide (41% of total production).
Thanks!

 

[Marvin Gruber]

Wow, thanks Steve for the in depth history of the MGB A/H. Mine is one the 85 red interiors. Thats nice to know. My wife didn't want me to put the red interior in but I said thats what it had in originally. I did put the instrument panel back black and it should be red but that can be fixed with a little time. I thought that was too much red.

Marv

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

Wow, thanks Steve for the in depth history of the MGB A/H. Mine is one the 85 red interiors. Thats nice to know. My wife didn't want me to put the red interior in but I said thats what it had in originally. I did put the instrument panel back black and it should be red but that can be fixed with a little time. I thought that was too much red.

Marv

Mine is also red interior. The black trim parts(dash top and door arm rests), make for a striking interior on the MGB paint scheme. What is the serial number of your Healey?
Patrick