From: Bob Spidell <bspidell at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Healeys] BJ7 or BJ8
Date: May 13, 2018 at 11:06:49 AM EDT
To: healeys at autox.team.net
"... car that was created by Fourintune out of two junked BJ8s and they put
a BJ7 VIN plate on it and sold it to someone in New York state"
Hmmm ... Am I the only one who thinks this was a bit shady?
Bob
--------------------------------------
>From my first post about the subject, in my effort to be brief it has been
suggested to me that I was slandering Fourintune. This was not my
intention, so I think I need to provide some additional details and correct
the statement about the BJ7 VIN plate.
In about 1988, Fourintune did build a single BJ8 from two wrecked cars (as
told to me by the owner of that car). Since I have a photo of the car with
a Wisconsin license plate, I assume that Fourintune registered the car in
Wisconsin, but if so I do not know the VIN used. Fourintune sold the car to
someone in New York state. He was apparently fully aware of the origin of
the car because he told me about it and provided photos of the scrapped
vehicles, but he did not pay much attention to its VIN and was not aware of
a discrepancy until I told him about it when I saw the car at Watkins Glen
in 2000. The VIN plate on the firewall read HBJ8L/23397 (photo attached) --
a BJ8 prefix but a BJ7 chassis number (not a BJ7 plate as I previously
stated). The plate is also the very late BJ8 style with rounded ends,
instead of the typical rectangular plate. There was no body plate nor
engine serial number.
There is no evidence or reason to say, nor was I trying to do so, that
Fourintune was engaging in deceptive or unethical activity by creating one
car from two, nor in creating a VIN plate that had two obvious clues to the
fact that it was not original factory issue, would not duplicate the VIN on
any other BJ7 or BJ8, and they did not conceal the true origin of the car
from its next owner when they sold it.
The New York owner later moved to North Carolina and when he applied for a
title here the DMV inspector noticed there was a discrepancy between the
number on the plate and the number on the NY title (which read HBJ7L23397).
Why the NY title has a valid BJ7 VIN on it is not known, but was probably a
simple mistake (or it may have been a mistake on the WI title). Because of
this discrepancy, the owner was required to obtain a surety bond for 1-1/2
times the value of the car for a period of three years. The NC DMV attached
a new plate to the firewall with their own number, NCS89924, and that is the
number that the car is now registered with.
There is a lesson to be learned here. VINs are important. There are a LOT
of cars out there that have had identity plates recreated or exchanged with
other cars. As BJ8 Registrar for almost 20 years now, I can tell you
several other stories of grief owners have had in trying to register cars
when the paperwork and VINs did not agree. Are you sure that the plates on
your car are original factory-issue and belong to it? Is the VIN correct on
the title and other paperwork?
Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
BJ8 Registry
AHCA Delegate at Large
Havelock, NC
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