Healey Journal

Foreword: Caveat Emptor

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Nothing earth shattering really. Its just that a little comparison shopping can be highly beneficial, financially.

The Healey (and Jensen-Healey, too) specialist suppliers are usually pretty good, but my experience is that they may not always offer the keenest prices.  I don't mind (MUCH) having to pay for the items that are unique to the Healey and not readily available elsewhere.  I fully appreciate the financial implications of having to make and hold for sale limited numbers of some component.  And I further appreciate that overheads need to be recovered.  But I also understand well that in competitive markets charging higher prices generally means lower sales volumes that then force even higher overhead charge rates onto the remaining sales. Perhaps a point of view the Healey suppliers may wish to consider.

It is a little aggravating to see components used in common with other British sports cars being sold at relatively higher prices.  Knowing that the Healey uses components also used on  MGs, Triumphs, etc.  allows a broader range of suppliers to be used, and a little initiative on the buyer's part may be rewarded.  Performance parts too may have alternative sources- a  prominent Healey sporting supplier offers limited slip differentials at a price £150 greater than in the brand name manufacturer's catalogue. Now, I don't really need a LSD but ... it does rather make me acutely aware of the old maxim caveat emptor. 

Anyone that buys very much will soon note that the major UK Healey vendors all seem to use one another at times.  Admittedly, I've not run any type of well founded buying survey, or directly asked everyone who they use to source parts- but I can easily see "X"'s markings on things I buy from "Y". Indeed, one vendor supplied an alternator conversion "kit" with a bracket made by one of the others, with that one's name crudely ground almost off. I don't care about that, but the least they could have done was to do a good job and completely remove the other's name and leave a nice flat  surface, rather than the half-assed effort that now looks like I myself might have been the logo averse vandal. More to the point, anyone with internet access may find they can source components from the USA, this is particularly useful for used and  high performance parts. For example, a tubular shock conversion available from a major British supplier for £1300+ is offered for sale in the US for ~$800 (at current exchange rates ~£450 allowing for higher transport costs and import duties but lower VAT the cost in Britain is nearly three times as much). If these are the mark-ups that I can see what does that imply about all those others that I cannot? Ouch!

And of course, there are a vast number of relatively cheap components that simply would never reward the effort needed to scrounge around seeking alternative sources on speculation that they might be cheaper. I don't particularly care that the Healey specialists are getting a  profit there- the other's shipping costs would eat up most of that anyway, and my time is worth something. Sometimes.

What to do? When I look at buying something I always ask whether it was used on other British cars that may provide alternative and perhaps cheaper sources. When I consider buying something "high" performance I always ask whether the manufacturer might be directly approached, or whether it may be sourced from the USA or Australia more economically.

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