In 1962 my college house mate and I went home to Long Island for Christmas.
He'd told me about his Healey, and I offered to help him drive it back to
New Mexico. It was the worst 42 hours of my life up to that point. It was
impossible to sleep unless you were at the wheel. Running off the highway
at 0300 in Oklahoma woke you up right quickly! When I graduated from UNM
and was commissioned in the Navy I had no money what so ever.
I forgot about Healey's until about 1998 when I visited an old fighter pilot
buddy of mine in Dallas. He picked me up in a fairly sharp Mustang, and I
commented on it as we drove up to Denison for the National Aerobatics
Championships. He responded, "I bought it on eBay." I remarked that I'd
heard about Ebay, but I hadn't ever checked it out.
Later that evening after way too much beer, bourbon and Mexican food, Cowboy
introduced me to Ebay. I wasn't interested, but when he said, "C'mon, isn't
their any sort of car you remember that you would be interested in. I
replied, an Austin Healey 3000." There were several for auction, but the
nicest one had no bids and an asking price of $19,995. I said, "No way!"
For the next three days he hounded me every step of the way to "...at least
put in a minimum bid." Finally, on my last night after way too much bourbon
I bid on the car. I woke the next day in a state of panic, but figured some
one else would bid and I'd be off the hook. As the days ticked down, the
more worried I became, until finally time expired and I got the dreaded
message that I'd won.
I contacted the owner, had the car surveyed by one of the Nock's in Stockton
and just couldn't figure out an honorable way to get out of the situation.
Finally, I contacted a buddy in Monterey who met me at SFO. All the way out
to Stockton, I counseled him on how I needed his help to find something
wrong with the car so I could escape with my cashier's check. As we wound
are way thru a Stockton neighborhood, we rounded the corner and their was
the BT7 sitting in front of the seller's house, top down, all shiny with
chromed wire wheels, looking just wonderful. My buddy Bob turned to me and
said, "Geez, its beautiful. Just give him the damned money Mairs".
I did...
Lee Mairs
'62 BT7 Tri-carb
Romney, WV
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