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Good Price?

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jmc948

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I'm new to the Healey world and could use some advice. There is a 3000 in pieces advertised for $9000. Assuming that everything is there (I know, probably not a good assumption) and not rusted beyond all hope, is $9000 a good price? If not, what would be a reasonable price?

TIA
 
Should have added: it's a 66
 
Seven years ago I paid that for a BN2 that was in pieces and rough shape, but had about 95 % of the parts plus lots of spares (spare engine, tons of trim pieces, repair panels, tool sets). I think if you don't need any major drive train parts, the body and chasis are restorable, and odd-ball things like the trafficator assy. and top bows are there, you are in the ball park. If money is an issue, but you plan to do most of the work yourself you can figure on at LEAST doubling your initial cost. I did everything except the machine work on the engine and ended up figuring I had about 8K into it plus my 9K at the start. If you are going to have someone else do the work I'm sure there are others who would be more accurate on your costs. I will say that I looked for several years and at 6 cars that were "restorable". I had some real disappointments after seeing what some folks said were very restorable cars. I was willing to go as far as not having to replace an entire frame. I have not regretted walking away from some deals that were considerably less expensive, but beyond what I wanted to take on. Do try and get someone who has done a "little British car" to look with you. If not possible, pictures speak well on this forum and I'm sure you will get lots of input if you can post a few.
 
I would get a hold of someone in your local Healey club to look at the 3000 with you, most of these members have done work similar to what Jon mentioned. It is always nice to have another voice when you shop for these old cars.
Keep us informed and get pics of your progress!!
Best of luck and welcome to the site.
 
Have you found a Healey mechanic that will help you keep your car on the road? If so, have him/her look the car over.
 
I have purchase 3 cars in pieces. The last was a 67 BJ8. I think if you are going to buy one in pieces you need to consider the following:

1. Not all the parts will be there
2. You don't have picture of how it came apart so that makes it more of a project puzzle going back together.
3. You don't know if the transmission, engine, servo, etc were in working order when the car came apart. Plan on rebuilding most of this.
4. Someone gave you an estimate that it would cost double your 9K to finish the car. I think that is low. A good paint job with minimal body work will cost 2-3K.
5. You don't know if all the body panels actually came with the car. They need work to fit another car.

But, I like the puzzles. So I may buy another one in a few years.

Jerry
BN4, BJ8
 
Having purchased two "cars in a box" I feel your pain! It's sort of like buying a ziploc baggie at a flea market that says its a puzzle..no box, no instructions and you get to figure it out. Our 280ZX came in 28 boxes and a shell...I spent hours looking at Z's on E-bay and forums and even local Junkyards to see how trim was applied and locks fit together.
The MGB was a lot harder because you won't find those in junkyards.
Good luck! One thing that helps is asking other members to post pics of things you don't normally see (like the glove box latch or trim or fuel lines)
It's sort of like building a 1:1 scale model! LOL :smile:
 
There are actually some advantages to a car in bits if you want to take the glass half full attitude. Easier the check the condition of the body and chassis (harder to hide horrors under layers of bondo, you don't have to take it apart yourself....ok, I guess I am running out of pluses.

Disadvantage, if they say they have rebuilt the motor or transmission really no way to test the work, if you don't know the cars awful well hard to test for completeness, but in addition to the major bits look for things like bumpers, door handles, full set of guages, most of the heavy duty iron like suspension pieces lasts pretty well so if you poke around you can get it used if not available new. If you can't find an experience Healey buddy to look with you get a good shop manual and maybe one of the better restoration books like the complete original AH or the Anderson Moment guide
 
The price may be reasonable, but is this the project for you? I'm just finishing my 66BJ8, which was running when I bought it for $9000.00 six years ago. This is a complicated car to restore. And very expensive, even if you do most of the work yourself. If you believe that you are just going to assemble the pieces and drive off, that's probably not in the cards.

I'd pay particular attention to the frame, bulkheads, rockers, sills, etc. that form the chassis. This assembly is prone to rust, and you do not want to assemble this car on a rusty chassis. The good news is that chassis and frame parts are available.

If you don't have all the outer body panels, especially the shrouds and fenders, just expect that when you find replacements, either new or old, they will not fit. Bank on it.

It may very well be a great project, and I wish you luck, but go into it with open eyes.
 
I vote NO. If it's your first AH you will almost immediately be in over your head in time , talent and treasury. Difficult and expensive cars to restore even for experience people. I did a 100/6 over a couple years ago which was an abandoned restoration with most of the difficult and expensive work already done (I thought). Two years and many 1000's of dollars later it is gone. I consider myself lucky to have broken even. My car was also mostly in boxes and mostly there but much of what I got was unusable. Just as an aside Gullwing in NYC has had a couple dilapidated AH's for sale for several months for around 9 or 10 K. Bob
 
jmc984:
I'm with Bob on this.
Buy the best driver you can for the money, enjoy your Healey and work on it as you go. That is work enough.
 
I concur with Bob and Babba--

Unless you possess the necessary skills for a job like this you may wind up with a lot of disappointment and nothing more which you may find yoursself trying to pass along to some other person a few years down the line after having spent much time and $$.

Some of us are blessed with the skills, patience, vision, etc. to take on a full or partial restoration--I know I am not one of them but luckily did possess the $$ to buy a car that was driveable and gave me lots of satisfaction for a few years until I was able to sort out what work the car needed in order to make it the car I really wanted, then either had that work done or was able to do some of it myself.

Honestly recognizing what skill we do and do and do not have is a major skill in and of itself! So buy the best you can and take it from there.
 
Personally, I think 9K for a dismantled Healey is way too much for it. It is very hard to tell very quickly what is missing on any dismantled Healey. especially the BJ8. This adds to the risk of the purchase, it is easy to find yourself spending thousands and burning up the internet looking for hundreds of missing parts.

This sort of car could best be handled by an established Healey restorer who has plenty of parts cars lying around and knows exactly how these cars go together. That's a pretty small subset of the folks that might be interested in a Healey. Unless you can find someone like that to work with you, I would pass this one up -- or negotiate for a much lower price.

Bill
Albuquerque.
 
Always buy the BEST healey for the money U can afford. Prefer drivable over PARTS.. The guys have excellent advice.

Pete
 
I think I'm going to walk away from this car because:

1. There is a Bugeye downstairs in the garage waiting to be finished, and there is literally no space for another vehicle. I could sell it, but that might take a while.

2. Although I raced for ~25 years and have assembled bodies, engines, trannys, suspensions, etc, I don't know what I don't know about Healeys, and I know it, if you know what I mean. I can look at a Bugeye part and usually remember the British Leyland part number for it, but when I look at a Healey part I'm likely to think "What's this?" So the restoration process would probably be very slow and frustrating.

But they are such beautiful cars . . .

A lot of good, intelligent advice here at this forum. Thanks for the help.

But they are such beautiful cars . . .

Jim
 
It's a tough choice to make,
sometimes your gut instinct works well.
the Bugeye sounds like a great project.
There are many here that would like to see that done.
Healey's are great, you may be surprised and stumble
upon a deal soon...a great driver.
Good luck with your project.
get pics on the site, I would like to see them.
 
I don't think the $9000 price tag is reasonable. I too came from a Bugeye background and had restored three of them. THen I got the Healey. Whole different world!!! The least expensive way to get a restored Healey is to buy one that is already restored.
 
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