nsxt2000
10-11-2007, 01:40 AM
In my 62 years around life I have had quite a few varied automobiles. Having been a lover of sports cars the last decade and a half involve the Acura NSX, currently driving NSX #4. There were others of course including several British, a "hybrid" British - the Lotus Elise, German and a forgetable Italian. It was a Maserati that I sold to an Iranian, and to this day I have a sneaking suspicion that is why they dislike Americans so much. (It was not a very good automobile, and that's being kind).
Looking back there is one car that I regret selling more than the others. My first sports car while in college was a 1955 Austin Healey 100-4. The dealer had the "Healey Four" as some purist call it and a Jaguar XK-120 and both were priced at $500! The salesman convinced me to go with the Healey as it would be more economical to maintain. With that and a $500 payment he literally pushed me off the lot. You see, the "Healey Four" had electrical issues. It had Lucas electronics - enough said.
When you have a car that generaly will not crank one quickly learns to park on a hill - and leave enough room to roll out. Fortunately I lived on a hill, went to school on a hill (although I did have to arrive early to insure getting my rolling out space), and work on a hill or life could have been difficult.
It had other shall we say issues too. The shocks were shot and frequent fill up of the oil in the dampers was required, loose wire spokes taught you how to drift, before drifting was popular, once during a rain storm I hit a large puddle of water and the passenger side floor gave way to a torrent of water. And who can forget the toasty interior with no A/C nor insulation between you, the engine and the road?
I guess you picked up that the "Healey Four" was not the car I regret selling. I got $100 for it to buy Christmas presents and was probably lucky to get even that. But just before selling that fine example of British automotive engineering I found a beautiful 1960 Austin Healey 3000. A friend needed more room and sold it to me for $200.00 down and $80.00 per month for ten months for a total of $1000. Now it was a nice sports car for it's time and I enjoyed the two plus years of ownership. Preparing to leave for the military I sold it to the first person who saw it for $1000 cash. Nice Healeys can bring amounts approaching $50k and that is one reason I regret selling it. But to me, I think the Austin Healey represents the essence of early sports cars in general and British sports cars in particuliar. I wish I still had it!
What cars do other forum members regret selling? Share a memory or two with us.
-Mike S.
Looking back there is one car that I regret selling more than the others. My first sports car while in college was a 1955 Austin Healey 100-4. The dealer had the "Healey Four" as some purist call it and a Jaguar XK-120 and both were priced at $500! The salesman convinced me to go with the Healey as it would be more economical to maintain. With that and a $500 payment he literally pushed me off the lot. You see, the "Healey Four" had electrical issues. It had Lucas electronics - enough said.
When you have a car that generaly will not crank one quickly learns to park on a hill - and leave enough room to roll out. Fortunately I lived on a hill, went to school on a hill (although I did have to arrive early to insure getting my rolling out space), and work on a hill or life could have been difficult.
It had other shall we say issues too. The shocks were shot and frequent fill up of the oil in the dampers was required, loose wire spokes taught you how to drift, before drifting was popular, once during a rain storm I hit a large puddle of water and the passenger side floor gave way to a torrent of water. And who can forget the toasty interior with no A/C nor insulation between you, the engine and the road?
I guess you picked up that the "Healey Four" was not the car I regret selling. I got $100 for it to buy Christmas presents and was probably lucky to get even that. But just before selling that fine example of British automotive engineering I found a beautiful 1960 Austin Healey 3000. A friend needed more room and sold it to me for $200.00 down and $80.00 per month for ten months for a total of $1000. Now it was a nice sports car for it's time and I enjoyed the two plus years of ownership. Preparing to leave for the military I sold it to the first person who saw it for $1000 cash. Nice Healeys can bring amounts approaching $50k and that is one reason I regret selling it. But to me, I think the Austin Healey represents the essence of early sports cars in general and British sports cars in particuliar. I wish I still had it!
What cars do other forum members regret selling? Share a memory or two with us.
-Mike S.