Suitable project cars

[bob hughes]

Hi Guys

I was around Bill Rawles place today and he has just bought a 3000 mark 2 BT7 for £18500. The car is in dire need of a rebuild - the sills are shot, the wings need repairing, chromwork needs doing, repaint etc., I did not see the condition of the inside, but he recons for a few thousand it could at least be put on the road.

The point of this is, that when asked about the value of the car, he says that restorable cars are becoming as rare as hens teeth, hence the escalation in price.

**** me, some 7 years ago I sold him a 100/6 for £2,500. granted it was in even poorer condition but it seems that I should have held onto it.

What are the prices of project cars on your side of the pond, or indeed around the world. If they are going up then restored cars are going to increase in value.



Bob

 

[Keith_M]

Crikey! that's $29,000! for a project car?! That seems way out of line with prices on this side of the pond. I think mark II BT7 in the condition you describe would be worth between $5 and $10K. Sills are hard things to replace and usually if they're bad door pillars etc are also bad. Nicely restored drivers are only $35K to $45K for that model.

Keith

 

[Jeepster]

Just after I purchased my BJ8 I asked John Chatham how I fared on the deal?

He said he had just purchased a BJ8 in boxes of bits for about 14k! Made me feel a lot better about my purchase.

 

[nevets]

Eventually the world will run out of first time Healey restoration project cars.

 

[John Turney]

Crikey! that's $29,000! for a project car?! That seems way out of line with prices on this side of the pond. I think mark II BT7 in the condition you describe would be worth between $5 and $10K. Sills are hard things to replace and usually if they're bad door pillars etc are also bad. Nicely restored drivers are only $35K to $45K for that model.

Keith

That's probably why we see ads wanting to buy British cars in any condition.

 

[Marvin Gruber]

I bought a couple of BN4 project cars last year for $6500 ea. These are rough and apart. They are worth that in parts alone. Not going to parts these out but as mentioned in earlier post, first time resto Healeys are getting rarer and rarer.

Keith, $2900, not $29000. That was about the right price 7 years ago.


Marv

 

[bob hughes]

Sills are hard things to replace and usually if they're bad door pillars

This guy repairs Healeys for a living, amongs other cars like Jags, MGs and others, he will make short work of it once he gets a buyer.



Bob

 

[healeyblue]

I can add one more data point to this side of the pond. My friend just bought today 2 Healeys. A 62 BT7 tri-carb and a 63 BJ7. He paid 11,500 for the pair. The BT7 is pretty fair with not much rust at all. Needs a restoration but may also just try and get it running and work on the mechanicals and not worry too much on the pretty just yet. It last ran in 2000, but the previous owner (bought it in 1984) says he had put oil in the cylinders back in 2000 when he realized he was not going to be driving it any more (health issues). The BJ7 has a fair amount of rust and is mostly all in pieces but is reportedly a matching numbers car. Both cars are complete along with a good bit of used spare parts. We will be emptying out the shop of all Healey parts on Saturday. This guy had bought the BJ7 in 1972. I will be getting the BJ7 and all left over parts in return for getting the BT7 running and useable and probably helping with the body work once it is deemed worthy. I will post pictures this weekend once we pull the cars from the shop and bring them here to my shop.

 

[BigGreen]

Sounds like a very good deal
Saving two Healey's at once
Good luck ...

Hans

 

[DerekJ]

Compared to this rusted heap at £25,000 it looks like Bill got a deal!

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C363581

 

[bob hughes]

I would say he has, the state of Bill's car is similar to that one, possibly a bit worse.



Bob

 

[healeyblue]

Well we got the cars back to my shop. There were lots of parts to load. Lots I will not need that will just be scrapped. Lots that I will not need but could be sold that someone else might need, and lots that I will need to get the BT7 running and put the BJ7 back together. Here are some pics.

 

[germanmichel]

Hello @all,

if we compare prices we have to check in detail the real conditions of a project car.

For my understanding a "project car" is not similar a "project" car. The at last posted pics are a parts "car" with many for ever destroyed ore missed parts.
Also if we compare values we have to imagine that the european market is completly different to the US market. ( price an coditions)
This ist he reason why we come over to the states and buy the "burned" cars in the dry states ....
You will not find in europe so much rust free cars and part cars in the condition as in the states. The cars are to expensive and we have not so much space to stand the cars around to become so rusty projects.
The big part of rusty cars in europe are destroyed under real environmental conditions.

In my point of view, the best conditioned car ist the best deal !

Bye michel - who has to realize that rust in the sills is starting a bigger project...