Since my Metallic Golden Beige/Red Healey was shipped to the Northeast it might be possible that it was the one that you parked next to!HealeyRick said:I think you were a traitor to the marque with that "7-Up" shirt in the first pic. Healey guys only drink "Sprite".I've always been of the opinion that Healeys are Healeys, there are just big 'uns and lil'uns. Probably because my first car was a '59 ratty bugeye I bought in 1967. The guy that owned the building where my Dad's office was located had just bought a brand new Metallic Golden Beige BJ8 with red interior. I used to park next to him because we were "Healey Men". He probably thought I was an idiot high school kid with a beat up rust bucket and was worried I'd fling my door into the side of his new car. That's why I'm living the dream with a really nice bugeye and a big Healey as well (ok, having a big Healey with a V-8 was another part of that dream). Big Healey guys need to drive a Sprite before they put 'em down.
I'm the third owner of my Healey and I bought it when I was stationed at Quonset Point, RI while in the Navy. I doubt that this is the same Healey since I had to promise the guy I bought it from that I would never let a "woman" drive it because he had to promise the first owner then again, maybe the second owner knew something that he based that stipulation on?? I purchased the car in 1973.HealeyRick said:Patrick,
I can tell you the history of this one. It was sold new from Globe Motors, a BMC dealer at the time in E. Bridgewater, MA, to the aforementioned owner in Middleboro, MA. It was then bought by a young woman I knew in high school who had an accident in the car. It was then sold to my best friend, who used it as a daily driver while attending Boston University in the late '60s, early '70s. After suffering the indignities of northeast rust and Boston traffic, it eventually returned to rural Massachusetts, where it remained into the '80s when I posted an ad in "Chatter" for my friend who wanted to sell it. Don't know where it went after then, but I love to send my friend the results of the latest auction sale of a Tanner Metallic Golden Beige car to show him what he missed out on. IMHO, Metallic Golden Beige is the best big Healey color, followed closely by Healey Blue and Spruce Green.
I used to have my Bugeye serviced at Globe Motors when I couldn't figure out how to fix it myself. If you've read "The Last Open Road", it was kind of like Colin St. John's place. I remember backing out of the garage there after having my bugeye repaired, to find out I had no brakes! Directly behind me was a brandy new Metallic Golden Beige BJ8 that I avoided only by yanking on the emergency brake. Don't know if it was the same MGB Healey mentioned above or a different one. Frankly, in 1967, not too many buyers out there for a big Healey, no matter what color they painted it.
My car is definitely in the appropriate "Quonset Hut aka: <span style="font-style: italic">comfortable garage </span>attached to my house, and not like the "canvas" Jamesways I lived in while deployed to Williams Field, Antarctica.HealeyRick said:Patrick,
Obviously not the same car, but it seems like a lot of the Metallic Golden Beige cars made it to the Northeast. Hope you're keeping your car in an appropriate "Quonset Hut".