Looking for my '61 Healey

[IslandRoverGuy]

Am looking for a 1961 Austin Healey MkI 3000 I used to own. British license plate "92-UPC" as I recall. It was painted ice blue with a red interior. Sold in 1979 in Seattle.

 

[pkmh]

Steve from the Healey Data Site might be able to offer more on your quest. You wouldn't happen to have a record of the VIN#, would you?

 

[Michael Oritt]

Steve Byers is the Registrar of BJ8's for AHCA. There are specific registrars for each model and I believe that info is on the AHCA website, though without a VIN and/or info on who was the buyer, etc. your chances of finding the car are pretty slim.

 

[John Turney]

If you can find the VIN, or even a close approximation, the Austin Healey database is at https://www.healeydata.com/.

 

[BJ8Healeys]

If you can find the VIN, or even a close approximation, the Austin Healey database is at https://www.healeydata.com/.

What Michael Orritt said. You need a VIN to be able to find a car at the healeydata site, or anyplace else. The British license plate would be official only in the UK, and I don't believe you could get the VIN out of the UK DVLA with a plate number anyway (but I could be wrong). The good old days when you could get the state DMV to do a VIN search and find out where the car is are long gone. Even if they had a record of the VIN, they wouldn't give you any information due to "privacy", and most DMVs have purged their inactive registrations older than about 10 years.
I would just like to say that healeydata is fine, but the site will accept whatever data is input to it, incorrect, incomplete, or not. There is no one there who "vets" the data or follows up with the submitter to correct it as necessary. There is also no one there who actually uses the data for any purpose. For BJ8s, there is a better place to go: the BJ8 Registry. It has more data than healeydata (more than 52% of total BJ8 production - 9,215 cars), and someone (me) who makes the effort to be sure that data submitted is as correct as possible. The BJ8 Registry is also actively managed and used to benefit all BJ8 owners who have occasion to refer to it with questions or problems with their own BJ8s.

 

[Michael Oritt]

Healeydata.com tells me it only has information for 71 Healeys of all models--Hardly a likely place to get a hit.

The job of a registrar is a labor of love and though I am not in any way being critical of anyone's efforts the keepers of the various models function at various levels of effectiveness. Steve Byers is far and away the most assiduous and BJ8 owners should count themselves lucky to have him keeping the data.

 

[John Turney]

What Michael Orritt said. You need a VIN to be able to find a car at the healeydata site, or anyplace else. The British license plate would be official only in the UK, and I don't believe you could get the VIN out of the UK DVLA with a plate number anyway (but I could be wrong). The good old days when you could get the state DMV to do a VIN search and find out where the car is are long gone. Even if they had a record of the VIN, they wouldn't give you any information due to "privacy", and most DMVs have purged their inactive registrations older than about 10 years.
I would just like to say that healeydata is fine, but the site will accept whatever data is input to it, incorrect, incomplete, or not. There is no one there who "vets" the data or follows up with the submitter to correct it as necessary. There is also no one there who actually uses the data for any purpose. For BJ8s, there is a better place to go: the BJ8 Registry. It has more data than healeydata (more than 52% of total BJ8 production - 9,215 cars), and someone (me) who makes the effort to be sure that data submitted is as correct as possible. The BJ8 Registry is also actively managed and used to benefit all BJ8 owners who have occasion to refer to it with questions or problems with their own BJ8s.

You do a great job, Steve, and your points are well taken, but I assume you only record BJ8's, and the OP is looking for a 3000 Mk I. Healeydata may not be correct, but he has nothing now.

I looked at healeydata yesterday, and one can enter a model number, right-hand or left-hand drive and year of registration. For the OP's data, it returns a page of cars. Probably wouldn't give him the desired answer, but compared to nothing, it's something.

 

[BJ8Healeys]

Healeydata.com tells me it only has information for 71 Healeys of all models--Hardly a likely place to get a hit.

The job of a registrar is a labor of love and though I am not in any way being critical of anyone's efforts the keepers of the various models function at various levels of effectiveness. Steve Byers is far and away the most assiduous and owners should count themselves lucky to have him keeping the data.

Thanks for the kind words, Michael and John.:blush: If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't put so much effort into the registry (it is really a database, rather than what most people think of as a "registry"). The best part of it is being able to provide answers and solutions to BJ8 owners with issues that the registry can be used to respond to, and to respond with actual data instead of opinion. Also, to do original research with the data to help us learn more about how the cars were originally built, and how they are configured and distributed around the world today. I would hope that all BJ8s owners would recognize that the value of any registry depends on the number of cars "captured", and the specific data that is documented about each car. Anyone who has doubts about the value or uses of the BJ8 Registry should give me a chance to explain more about it before refusing to contribute the details of their car.
Passive sites such as healeydata and the A-H Experience are resources that I use myself, but there is a lot of information at both sites that is incorrect or incomplete. Healeydata tells me that the site is "tracking" 3,286 Healeys of all models. I've noted that the instructions for entering data seem to be oriented toward Jaguars.

 

[Editor_Reid]

Ahem. There IS a registrar for the 3000 (the so-called "Mark I"). He is Bob Haskell whose email is rchaskell@earthlink.net. Still, it's a very, very long shot that he will have any data on the car in question, but as John T. said, compared to nothing, it's something.

By the way, there is a registries list in each issue of Healey Marque magazine

 

[IslandRoverGuy]

Thanks, all. I have contacted Bob Haskell.

 

[bob hughes]

You could go through the British register if you know the Vin number, it could have been repatriated like mine.

And, a sad note, it may have gone to the Healey grave yard.



Bob