I had a similar conversation (in the early 1980's) with an original
employee of Larke Hoskins, the original distributor of BN1's, and
later Healeys, and Bugeye Sprites in Australia.
He told me exactly the same thing happened with starter motors,
generators, and front shocks. Mostly black, some shocks were
unpainted Those items, and exhausts, were the most common components
replaced before Healeys were 'delivered' to dealers by the Australian
distributor, after a sea voyage to Australia.
Of course, later on, Sprites were CKD kits assembled here, using
Australian components (e.g Lucas Australia built voltage regulators).
I also love interesting trivia.
Sincerely.
Chris
On 28/06/2010, at 12:53 AM, "Curt/Nancy Arndt" <cnaarndt@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Jim,
>
> I agree with Rich's theory on the generator, and is a plausible
> explanation.
>
>
> It would be interesting to check the date of said generator to see
> if it
> corresponds with the production date of your car. All Lucas
> electrical
> parts from the period were dated with the month and the year, e.g.
> in the
> case of my BN1 built on 11 Jan. '55 the Lucas parts range from 9 54
> to 12
> 54. This corresponds to other cars I've worked on and observed over
> the
> years, with there typically being a range of about 1 to 4 months
> prior to
> the build date on *most* Lucas parts.
>
> BTW the Concours judging standards DO NOT take into account the date
> of your
> Lucas parts, so everyone, please don't start searching for not only
> the
> correct part number but the date too. Way to frustrating and time
> consuming
> as well as expensive and not required.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Curt
>
> On Sun, Jun 27, 2010 at 6:08 AM, Rich C <richchrysler@quickclic.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Most likely a dealer swap of a defective generator before the car
>> was sold
>> or some such similar occurrence.
>>
>> Reminds me of a discussion I've had more than once about
>> restoration. One
>> must decide what point in the car's life is to be represented to do
>> an
>> accurate restoration. There are cars out there with incredible
>> histories,
>> that were simply standard production cars when they left the
>> factory, and
>> became known for much more later in their life.
>>
>> Rich Chrysler
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> From: <leon5050@aol.com>
>> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2010 6:00 AM
>> To: <Healeys@autox.team.net>
>> Subject: [Healeys] Speaking of generators
>>
>> My 62 BT7 generator is black and according to the original owner (my
>>> brother)
>>> has always been black. When I restored the car, I could find no
>>> evidence
>>> of
>>> there ever being any engine color on it. He says it has never been
>>> changed
>>> and the nos. are correct. Is there a possibility that the factory
>>> had a
>>> faulty generator and just took one off the shelf, unpainted? I
>>> just left
>>> it
>>> black, because of what my brother told me.
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