 After I came to the conclusion that this was the car
for me, I had been casually looking for several months. I was watching
eBay, AutoTrader Classics, Hemmings, etc., but nothing really
materialized. We had the opportunity to see one in person for the first
time when we were in California visiting Evelyn's family, but that
particular one was way more than I was looking to spend. It was cool to
see in person though, and validated that this was definitely the car I
wanted... and that I could fit in it comfortably! They're small cars
after all, and I'm a big guy! :) There were a few I became interested
in, but nothing really materialized. The closest we came was one that I
found in Atlanta, GA. We flew to Atlanta to check it out - a British
Racing Green Healey - but I just wasn't comfortable with it, and didn't
end up making an offer.
Every now and then though, I was also checking
Craigslist for Healeys. I was checking the Dallas Craigslist, but there
was never anything worth pursuing. Then I started occasionally doing
Google searches for "craigslist austin healey 3000" to see what I
could find outside of the Dallas area... and one day, I got an
interesting hit. In Boston, MA no less! The ad was for a blue '67
Healey. It was a bit more than I was looking to spend, and I really
didn't want a blue one, but the ad said "also have a '67 Metallic Golden
Beige for sale". I really loved that color, and knew how rare they were,
so I figure what the heck, and sent the guy an email asking about it.
And the rest is history! From the first pictures, it looked like it
could be the one I had been looking for... so one Sunday, we flew to
Boston to see it... in ONE DAY! We left Dallas at 6AM Sunday morning,
and got home at almost midnight that same night. What a day! Between the
two plane rides each way and the hour drive to get to the house to see
the car, Evelyn says she still can't look at the car without her butt
hurting :) It was an exhausting trip, but absolutely worth it! As we
worked out a price and I bought the car that day.
   
What made it even better was that Wayne, the main
contact, and Phil, his uncle and the owner of the car, were really
fantastic. I couldn't imagine two better guys to buy a car from. They
were great... extremely friendly and helpful, and totally honest about
the car. It made it that much easier to make the decision to buy it.
Prior to the visit, I had already queried the
British
Heritage Trust and verified that the color, interior and engine number
were all original and correct. The Heritage Trust is the official
archive for all classic British made cars, having all the original
factory production records for Aston Martin, Austin, Land Rover, MG and
many others. So unlike American cars of the day, whose production
records are gone forever, for British cars it's really easy to obtain
detailed documentation verifying originality. That's awesome!
Being that the car was 1,800 miles away from Dallas,
driving it home wasn't an option, so I used
Express Auto
Transport to get it home. I was very happy with their service, and
the car arrived in perfect condition.
Here's some photos taking it off the transport once
it arrived in Texas. We had a few challenges! The car behind ours on the
truck had a flat tire, so we had to pull the car into the front section
of the truck, then the driver jackknifed the truck and we unloaded the
car out of the front section. Of course, this was after we were able to
get it started, which turned out to be quite an ordeal :) And then the
exhaust wouldn't clear the ramp, so yet another ordeal :) But we
finally got it, safe and sound!
Upon getting the Healey, I hadn't sold the Camaro
yet, and was kinda glad...
because both of them together made for a seriously cool picture in the
garage :)
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