Tom, when you have seen as many BJ8s worldwide as I have that have lost their
original identities, you have to be suspicious of any car that has anomalies
with the identity plates. There are an incredible number of owners who have
cars like that and don't even know it because they don't recognize the VIN
plate as a reproduction, that the body number plate is for a second car, the
engine serial number is missing, the number on the shock tower is a third
car.....
Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
BJ8 Registry
AHCA Delegate at Large
Havelock, NC USA
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Felts [mailto:tomfelts@windstream.net]
Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2016 8:43 AM
To: BJ8Healeys; healeys@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Interesting comment from a dealer
I certainly agree with THIS car, but Hopefully this won't lead to a general
suspicion of all BJ8's. I can tell you on mine that at its' early age it was
stolen in Boston. It was found several years later on the back streets of
Boston and the VIN plate had been removed and replaced by a homemade strip of
Al with "3000" etched in it. I bought the car 36 years ago and had the proper
VIN traced using the other car numbers, which were intact. I then had it
registered in Indiana using the original VIN #. (all this info was supplied to
Steve by me when I allowed him to add my car to his BJ8 list).
I have had the "originality" of my car questioned once (and no offense Steve,
by Steve) because the VIN had been replaced.
When you consider that ----
1. The car is exactly as described in the Heritage Cert.
2. It was shipped to Boston as new.
3. It was stolen in Boston.
4. It was found in Boston.
5. It was Healey Blue
6. All other car numbers corresponded to the VIN# supplied by the Heritage.
7. There has never to my knowledge been any other car registered or attempted
to be registered using my VIN.---in the 36 years I have owned it.
There then is no question about the proper VIN and other numbers for my BJ8.
I believe there have been any number of reasons why VIN plates have been
removed and replaced on these cars, so just because they have, doesn't, by
itself, place suspicion on them. Some have been replaced because they were
unreadable. You must look at the overall history, car type vs parts, other
numbers, etc.
I just hope when info is given out from info we supply about our cars to the
various lists, that there are no "conclusions" given out unless the keeper of
the lists is absolutely sure of what he says, and refers the potential buyer to
the owner.
tom
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