• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

I'm Back Again.

Share this page

pkmh

pkmh

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
Hello all!

Haven't been here for a bit and in case I didn't say it, well I am back again with a new and better Healey for me.

I had a 67 Healey that was lost to Hurricane Sandy back in October 2012. But after 5 to 6 enduring months in search of a replacement, I found me another 67. But this time, it is a concealed Metallic Golden Beige. Yes, concealed. It has since been painted a British Racing Green, and not bad I might add. I do have the Heritage Certificate and sure enough, it says it and the proof is found in certain areas of the frame and chassis. I always did like the Golden Beige on other examples I've seen and I could not resist, even though it will cost additional to do not to mention taking everthing apart to do it right. Well, that will happen and down the road.

But for now, the BRG color is very nice and the car is much better overall to what I had. Still, I miss the old girl for I learned a lot from her. As for the new Healey, making minor repairs seem rather academic.

I am still waiting for the garage to be completed, where the car was originally stored, also destroyed by Sandy. So, for the moment, it is stored in my communal garage and no work is really allowed to be performed, so I must drive it to another location where I can do simple repairs like change the oil, etc. Luckily, it is very drivable, in very nice condition.

For everyone's viewing pleasure, some pictures of the gone (but not forgotten) and my new toy. Yes, one day, I do plan to have the car restored to the original beige.

Good to be back!

Paul
 

Attachments

  • 016.jpg
    016.jpg
    98 KB · Views: 141
  • 021.jpg
    021.jpg
    98.4 KB · Views: 131
  • Anniversary Healey.jpg
    Anniversary Healey.jpg
    97.7 KB · Views: 135
Boy, the Storm really did 'sort' the old car out :-0

Congrats on the new car!
 
Welcome back, nice to see another MetallicGoldenBrown car in Green now
One day mine will get his original colour back also ...

Hans
 
Welcome back...I never made the long trip up River Road to see your previous Healey. I look forward to seeing the new one. I gotta bealive there are usable parts to salvage from the wrecked car, so that's a plus. Best of luck with your new one and enjoy the spring weather.
 
Well unfortunately my insurance company, although they offered me the opportunity to buy the old Healey back (but was way too much to consider--$7,200), I had to let it go, gauges and all. I had to do this to receive the full insured amount. Even though it was possible to take everything apart on the car, I simply had no place to do it or store the parts, not to mention the amount of time to do all this. Considering what was salvagable, I'd say the motor escaped most damage and yes, the gauges and hardware, etc. Small stuff mostly. Just amount everything else was affected in some way, even if the pictures don't show it. The "U" joint to the front portion of the tranny wasn't even in sight, therefore I assume it got sheared off. The old Healey not only got crushed but swiped to suggest forces twisted the body. The chassis also was completely resting on the ground due to the weight of the 130 year, 3 foot diameter caliper oak tree resting on it. I mean, can you imagine just looking at the rear chrome wheel how that buckled? I couldn't recreate that with a sludge hammer if I tried. As for the front, the aluminum cowl adjacent to the grille left a "hole". That was a bad sign of things to imagine what really happened underneath. It was just way to much to rebuild. I had to let it go. But I wouldn't be surprised if that car got resurrected and showed itself again. That is the one thing nice about that car (and others, too), you can completely take it apart and put it all back together. I was doing just that, one piece at a time. Yep, I learned a lot on that one and I still have my journals so that is knowledge that stays with me (and luckily, having the same year doesn't hurt either).

As for my new Healey, it is just a pleasure to see I have no electrical issues at all (so far). Imagine that? Everything works electrically. Cut off, signals, gauges, lights, etc. What a blessing for me since electrical stuff in not really in my vocabulary. And whatever I did learn from the old Healey is very carefully recorded in my journals. So I believe I am ahead of the game there.
 
Healeys to restore are becoming as rare as hens teeth on this side of the pond and I dare say that it is the same over there. I expect some brave soul will take up the challenge. You need a lot of space when stripping a car down so can understand the problem you were faced with. Still the new one looks the part. Time to think about creating a concrete bunker to store the car in, should another hurricane appear!!!!

:cheers:

Bob
 
Sounds like you did the right thing. The gauges looked good and I'm always in the market for spares and parts, but if they got flooded they may be toast anyway. The speedo could possibly have been resurrected (but probably not the tach). Small internal parts--gears, etc.--are worth their weight in gold (before gold tanked, even).
 
I was sorry to hear about Sandy's impact (sorry!) on your car especially after I had seen it in mid-August at the post-Encounter party at my house. Glad you were able to find another - especially one that is metallic golden beige under the skin. Hope to see you and the new Healey at Brit Fest on May 4.
 
Yes, the gauges ended up being good on my old one. Although I had to convert the tach from positive to negative, only because the car was started to be converted to negative. Going back to a positive setup was not for me to adventure. Too bad I could not salvage parts--insurance reasons, unless I bought back the car. But at such a high buy back price, forget about it. That's the way it goes. I understand there is a place in New York (Mamarineck?), that rebuilds gauges, so as long as you have it is salvagable. I am going over a lot of the previous owners' receipts. A lot of work went into my new one. Almost nothing for me to do for the moment (well...almost). That'll change with time. Nice to have a car with little [major] jobs to do, unless I am impatient to change the color. Nevets, one day we'll meet up. There was some Healeys for sale in your area. I am glad I did not have to travel that far. Almost though!
 
Hey Paul,
Congrats on getting the BRG one ! Looks like a nice BJ8. I remember when you posted the pictures of the destroyed one and glad everything worked out okay on your insurance.
Regards,
Mike
 
Thanks Mike. The insurance amount helped but wasn't enough. I had to fork over more. I didn't keep up with inflation and prices of these car are simply going out of sight, even now. But considering what work was still needed on my old one and the work already done on my new one, I'd say I came out even, maybe slightly ahead. It's just good the hunt is over. It was much harder this second go around.
 
Back
Top