Oh Alan!
I didn't say I was particularly disturbed myself, about those exporting
dealers. I was intrigued and entertained by all of the subterfuge used by
those buying up LBCs in bulk. -and also amused by the fervor in the clubs when
these dealers were "outed" for what they were.
For me, it was all pretty moot, as I never had any intent to sell my car
during that period, and I've never cared if the values rise, as for me, one
LBC has always been more than enough. My only concerns have been things that
affect the supplies of good used parts.
Besides, it seems most often, it's not the American or Aussie, or Japanese
owners that make out when these cars get shuttled around internationally, but
the brokers....
David W. Jones
'62 Mk II BT7 tricarb
Cumberland, RI USA
----- Original Message -----
From: Blue One Hundred
To: John May ; davidwjones
Cc: scotyp@comcast.net ; healey list
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2004 3:52 AM
Subject: Re: Healey Values
Yes gentlemen, but with all due respect I find the
setiment a bit isolationist......
When the Aussie dollar was worth only 48 US cents
three years ago, you guys should've been getting on
every available flight to OZ, and buying them back
from the Aussies (who so unceremoniously liberated us
Americans of our valued LBCs in the early 90's because
the OZ dollar was worth 80 cents at that time).
You would've been able to then hold the car(s) for
only three years and then sell them back to the
kangaroo lovers all over again today... The Australian
dollar is now worth almost 80 US cents.
Watch out... they are coming back again to suck the
marrow out of the US LBC market! Hide your car
keys!!!
Cheers,
Alan
'53 BN1 '64 BJ8
--- John May <jdmay@attglobal.net> wrote:
> Yep, thats them. We remember the same period. Like
> you, I didnt meet
> many of the actual buyers, just these pretenders,
> but they sure were
> driving up the prices. That was actually a time
> when we were
> intentionally not publicizing our events outside the
> clubs, to avoid
> some of this exposure. A far cry from today.
>
> davidwjones wrote:
>
> >John,
> >During the period you describe, I didn't so much
> run into wealthy neophytes
> >trying to buy cars for themselves, as much as
> constantly running into
> >"dealers" who posed as private buyers, who were
> primarily buying the cars for
> >resale in Europe and Japan. They were practically a
> plague on the landscape.
> >The names and characteristics of these types, who
> generally were offering more
> >than US market value, were circulated furiously at
> shows, throughout the
> >clubs, and over the fledgling web lists. There was
> a very real distain among
> >owners for these frauds who were "exporting "our"
> LBCs".
> >At the time, their ads, offering to buy the cars
> "at top dollar" were every
> >where in publications like Hemmings etc.
> >David W. Jones
> >'62 Mk II BT7 tricarb
> >Cumberland, RI USA>
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