Final Year: ’67 Austin-Healey 3000 MKIII
We have a special place in our automotive soul for all things that were touched by Donald Healey. There is one exception – the Jensen Healey. Even Donald lamented that deal. The Big Healey is a brute of a sports car. But boy is it gorgeous to look at from every angle. We fell in love with them because we thought it sort of looked like a Cobra and we couldn’t afford one of those. It’s been some time since a 3000 has graced our garage so this may sound like sour grapes. Are really nicely restored Healeys worth close to $100,000? I guess if you just factor in the time and materials to get one of these puppies back in shape. Then maybe they are. If you watch auction results on the Telly, you see Kurt Tanner restorations routinely getting close to or better than $100 grand. Trust me, Donald would think that crazy money for a sports car with a motor from a tractor. We came across this really neat looking ’67 BJ8 (you can tell by the two little round lights under the headlamps) and thought it Mint-worthy. If it checks out to be a decent road-going car that doesn’t shake the cowl and the windshield to bits, then it might be worth looking at for the bargain price of $57,000. We like the seller but they deal in all sorts of cars so a marque expert needs to evaluate a Healey. There are plenty of places where a restoration can go horribly wrong yet look great. We guess that is true with every car. Black and Colorado Red is a popular color combination and suits the body well. The interior has what looks like the correct piping that is often replaced with fancy leather. Leather is nice but not correct. The engine compartment looks tidy but we would find a less vibrant color for the plug wires and coil. The car seems to sit straight and the teeth in the grill should be nickel-plated and not chrome. Can’t tell for sure what it is. But we are getting off in the weeds. We started by deriding $100,000 perfect cars and expecting one half the price to be as perfect. So we are going to stop here. Contact the seller by clicking here.