Committee member Chris Parker came up with the idea of a spares auction earlier in the year. Having just completed the rebuild of his concours winning MK4 Sprite, Chris had come to realise that not only do you accumulate a lot of spares in the process but that also, there are a lot of "hard to find" spares out there. For someone undertaking a rebuild, or just maintaining a Healey, Chris felt that the opportunity to buy and sell spares would be most welcome.
The auction was run as a non profit making concern, with the buyer's remittance going direct to the vendor, however, this did create some problems at the check-out for our admin team Mell Ward and Marjorie Brown. Nether Whitacre Hall was opened up at 8 am and soon afterwards people started arriving with their spares. Yours truly, Robin Astle and Phil Brown began marking up the lots whilst Chris began to panic that we would not get them all done by 10:30, the time for the auction to start. With John Leyland on the team, we soon got into a rhythm, John calling out the lots, Phil noting them down, Robin making up the lot numbers and gluing them then John sticking them on the lot. By 10:00 we had 172 lots listed and numbered.
John Bowman could have build two BJ8s judging by the amount of spares that he brought from North Wales. Fancy buying 4 exhaust systems before deciding which one to fit; the noisiest of course!
Meanwhile, Sandra Leyland, Sue Parker and Val Ellis were serving up tea, coffee and biscuits to stop the punter's blood-sugar levels from dropping.
At 10:30 as planned, chief auctioneer Chris Parker welcomed everyone to the event. Abley assisted by John Leyland to identify any dubious looking spares, and because I was wearing a white coat, me holding up the spares as they were called. I managed to hold the Sprite rear axle above my head, to much applause, but declined to lift the 1275cc A Series engine. By the end of the day, my white coat was black, and my arms aching.
By the end of the day about 70% of the items reached their reserve and were sold, with most people picking up some bargains. I got two of John Bowman's exhaust systems; why do I need two? don't ask.
The event was a big success in terms of the quantity and quality of spares. Around 40 people were present, and we are sure that more would have lead to most of the lots being sold. A repeat event next year has yet to be discussed, but with the success of this first auction and more publicity it should be a great event.
With thanks to all the organisers.
Robin Astle, Webmaster.
Note: More photos to come.
Front damper conversion and aluminium radiator
Auctioneer & assistant, Chris Parker & John Leyland
Autograph by John Wheatley, author of one of the books bought by John Bowman.