Hello, Healeyphiles -
Recently I received the e-mail pasted in below, and it made me wonder if this
might be the highest mileage Healey around. Anybody know of one that can top
it?
Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
BJ8 Registry
Havelock, NC USA
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I met you at the Virginia show this past October. My name is ______and I was
telling you about a 3000 I have worked on for over 30 years. You asked for the
id # and I forgot to send it. Sorry it took me so long to do this. The id
number is, HBJ8L-37729. It is a black 1967 BJ8 that has over 972,000 miles on
it. It is owned by ________who has owned it since 1968. He bought it with
12,000 miles on it and has driven the rest by himself. I have worked on the
car for over 30
years now and have only driven it once. The first time I built the engine, I
removed the cushions and pedal extensions and test drove it. After that, I
figured he knew enough about this car that I did not have to drive it again.
I have built the engine about every 300,000 miles except for the time he
wanted to put a used engine in and only got about 70,000 miles out of it. We
got his original block back and rebuilt it. The trans and diff have been
built only once in all those miles. The car has been wrecked at least 8 times,
3 of which should have been totals but he will not let it die. The interior is
getting it's fourth redo now. The car burned two years ago and I am just
finishing it up. The fire was gas related and he put water to it and the
flames came up thru the rust holes in the floorboards and burned the
interior along with everything under the hood. This car has had a long and
tiring life and should be put to sleep. It is now rough underneath due to rust
and flexing and the body is fair at best. Someone put an early shroud
on it at one time, actually only the front portion of the shroud. They then
cut the parking lights off the original shroud and riveted and bondo'd them
on. His plans are to get a million miles on this car. If I can get it finished
before he dies. He keeps calling and asking if he will get to drive it again
before he dies. If you would like any more info, either email me or
give a call at _____. I very seldom answer the phone but I do return
messages. I work alone and just hate stopping what I am doing to answer.
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