A love story for the “VAE Books”.
When John Spencer sent pictures to Wheel Tracks, he was asked about the young lady.
He replied, “That is the girl I chased with my Healey!” The young lady is Jane Spencer. John purchased this Austin Healey 3000 Mk-lll in 1970 and his plan worked… what a car… what a catch!
This from John……
I bought the 1967 Austin Healey BJ8 in August 1970 from a family in Johnson, Vermont to chase a girl. I still have the Healey and the girl.
I must give credit to Ed Rotax, an original member of the VAE. He had a vast collection of Dodge Bros vehicles. I had bought a 1924 Screen Side delivery truck from him. I drove it to Stowe that year. At the end of the show, he said let us go see this car you keep talking about. I said it is in Johnson. No problem we can go over the notch to Jeffersonville. That we did with my old Dodge Bros with only rear brakes and not too good ones either.
The Healey was my only car, and I was still milking cows on our dairy farm. I put snow tires on the rear and fought the snow drifts on my way to Burlington to see the girl, Jane by the way. It never failed me, but it was not the best in the snow. The car survived the many trials of our life including spending the winter outside. The exhaust was always being repaired. The fenders were patched, and the rocker panel replaced. It finally was retired to the shed for 10 years.
Eight years ago, I figured I would get it going again and pulled the motor and transmission to repair the overdrive. I keep finding things to fix and I ended up going all the way to the frame. It took me six years to complete it with some help from some great people especially Rally Sport in New Haven. I did all the mechanicals and some body work. Others did the upholstery and paint.
This is a driver as I am driving around Vermont to find other Austin Healeys. Jane and I are also doing the 251 club in the Healey.
Any sharp-eyed Healey person will look at the picture of my Healey and say it can not be a 1967 because it does not have dual parking lights. But it is by the serial number and other features. I discovered after buying the car, it had been in an accident and the front shroud was replaced by one from an older model. I decided to keep it that way. It is a pleasure to drive and we plan to put some serious miles on it. See you on the road.
I am now restoring my 1931 Ford Tudor, which I bought when I was 14. But that is a story for another time.
There are twelve Austin Healeys listed on our VAE website, under “Member Vehicles”.
Some listings might be old, we are sure the vehicles still exist, but their owners might have changed.
We know of two Healeys not included, they belong to VAE members Dave Sargent and Ken Gypson.
The Spencers are doing two things with their Healey that we all could adopt as nice adventures. One is to drive their car to the homes of the other VAE Austin Healeys for a friendly visit. What a great idea!
The second is something other members have done and should be a club-wide challenge.
That is to join the “251 Club” and visit all the 251 towns in Vermont, with your favorite “Old Vehicle”.
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