: A bloke in the US had his Austin Healey stolen 42 years ago.. and
: spotted it several days ago for sale on ebay.. he is now
: reunited with his car, which is now worth 8 times what he paid
: for it!

: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18848481

: Great story.

: Stewart

Good for him. Bad for at least one person, the dealer who bought it!

I've often wondered about all the Austin Healeys in particular that were imported back into the UK from the US when the pound was strong in the 1990s. About 95% of production was exported with most going to the US, a lot came back as the market demand grew over here and people worked out that a dry rot-free car from the US would be easier to restore than one from the UK which had sat in water for 40 years! My Healey came back in '92 and I actually imported another in '96, I know of someone who brought back about 10 of them, in varying degrees of disassembly. I have always wondered if any of the cars were stolen and sold to someone specifically looking to export. He also bought the chassis information for a written-off Mk2 BN7 (two-seater, they made about 250 of them), applied for the registration document in one state where no proof of ownership or existence of car was necessary, had a chassis plate made up and attached to a 100/6 chassis and it came through customs into the UK as the more expensive model and now has the official UK registration document for the rarer car! He can never sell it, any Healey expert would be able to spot it's not correct but he likes to think he's got something rare and expensive. I suppose it's the same as having your 1163 dial repainted white, with Chronomatic added, and passing your watch off as a Siffert.