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Clean-looking HLM at Hyman Motors

Harrington Jan

Donation Time
Hi, watch the sale page and see what Michael and Bob had to say about it. The car was imported from Nippon in 2006 sold at RM auction for $30250, has had its life until now in Grenada Mississippi.
 

65sunbeam

SAOCA Membership Director
Diamond Level Sponsor
Thanks for the extra info Jan. I wondered what that ex-Mississippi LeMan's serial number was. Now there are only 4 LeMan's left here in the South that I know of. Eric
 

65beam

Donation Time
lemans

eric,
where are the others? or are they in your garage? i really like the instrument panel in this car. i hope when TT's neighbor gets done with the instrument panel for the car we just bought that it looks this nice. they are going to put wood veneer in place of the original formica.

jan,
wasn't this car in the chicago area several years ago?
 

Harrington Jan

Donation Time
eric,
where are the others? or are they in your garage? i really like the instrument panel in this car. i hope when TT's neighbor gets done with the instrument panel for the car we just bought that it looks this nice. they are going to put wood veneer in place of the original formica.

jan,
wasn't this car in the chicago area several years ago?

Don't know about its life before Japan. I have pics of it taken in the nineties when it was running there. It has had just one owner in US
 

junkman

Gold Level Sponsor
hymans car has tiger dash & no OD

seems a shame to bastardize the cute little harrington with a 1725 & a straight 4 spd. the body work looks pretty sweet though.
just my 2 cents,
Jeff
 

65beam

Donation Time
hlm

there's nothing wrong with putting a full syncro trans in a lemans. it does away with the nasty sounds of the non syncro first gear. i prefer the full syncro over the non syncro. my wife has decided that we will build a 1725 for the lemans that we bought last month. our other two lemans are the original 1592's.
 

junkman

Gold Level Sponsor
the new guy

well I find myself on the fence whether to restore or flip HLM i got afew weeks ago any comments? the car is in the registry with wrong color code been repainted once got some floor rust issues but preety much all there.
Feed back
jeff
 

Harrington Jan

Donation Time
well I find myself on the fence whether to restore or flip HLM i got afew weeks ago any comments? the car is in the registry with wrong color code been repainted once got some floor rust issues but preety much all there.
Feed back
jeff
If something is wrong, please tell me
 

Alpineracer8

Donation Time
Hi, watch the sale page and see what Michael and Bob had to say about it. The car was imported from Nippon in 2006 sold at RM auction for $30250, has had its life until now in Grenada Mississippi.

Boy, howdy...I don't know...it sure seems that $30,250.00 would have been "all the money" for that car, especially since it's got an incorrect engine and transmission. Of course, the engine compartment is painted incorrectly, as well. To put this car right, there would have to be some extensive (read "expensive") work done to it to bring it up to snuff. Methinks that Hyman will have this car a while for that kind of money...

My .02 worth,
 

65beam

Donation Time
Hlm

actually this car has some badly needed upgrades. the 1725 engine is a definite plus to me. also the later front suspension. and it needs a full syncro trans. if my original red car was driven any at all i would probably set a late crossmember under it. i guess if originality is your thing this car would not be for you nor would my cars. other than the color under the bonnet ( bruney's car had black undercoating applied under the bonnet by the owner prior to him) i like the things that have been done to this car including the instrument panel. the original is just the original series 2 dash sanded flat to get rid of the raised bezels and formica glued to it. it tends to come loose and also fades out . you could not restore a lemans for the asking price of this car. there are very few of these cars left and this one doesn't need anything to be able to drive it away. somebody should buy it!
 

agmason

Donation Time
The funny thing about high priced "collector" cars is that the original, non-improved on, ones bring the most money. Once you start updating and "improving" them the value goes out the window. You can update/improve any old car to make it better but whats the point? The further you take it from what it was as built, the less value you can expect for the car at when it is sold. Thats just the way the market works.

A BMW Z3 coupe is probably the closest to a Harrington you will find and has all the modern day improvements/updates you could ever want. You may as well buy one of those instead of modifying a Harrington if you need a better driving car.
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
The funny thing about high priced "collector" cars is that the original, non-improved on, ones bring the most money. Once you start updating and "improving" them the value goes out the window. You can update/improve any old car to make it better but whats the point? The further you take it from what it was as built, the less value you can expect for the car at when it is sold. Thats just the way the market works.

A BMW Z3 coupe is probably the closest to a Harrington you will find and has all the modern day improvements/updates you could ever want. You may as well buy one of those instead of modifying a Harrington if you need a better driving car.

So why have you modified your Tiger?

Bill
 

agmason

Donation Time
"So why have you modified your Tiger?"

I haven't. The reason I bought my Tiger in the first place was the original owners didn't "improve/update" the car. My goal has been to keep it as original as possible and still drive it.
 

MikeH

Diamond Level Sponsor
The funny thing about high priced "collector" cars is that the original, non-improved on, ones bring the most money. Once you start updating and "improving" them the value goes out the window. You can update/improve any old car to make it better but whats the point? The further you take it from what it was as built, the less value you can expect for the car at when it is sold. Thats just the way the market works.

That's not entirely true lately. Many Resto-mods are drawing as much and in some cases more than restored originals. It seems collectors now want to drive theese cars and not just have them. More reliable, much safer, and easier to maintain and drive.

My brother-in-law has probably one of the best '56 Chevy Bel-airs in the country. He has owned the car twice, this time for the past 35 -40 years. Never wrecked, never any rust, He's repainted it, but the car was completely original. He modded it with a 350, better power steering, posi-trac rear, disk brakes, turbo-400, and a/c. It retains the original looks, but is a much better car to drive. He's been offered as much for it in it's modified state as in it's original state. Also, he's done nothing to the car that can't be easily undone and returned to completely original condition.
 

65beam

Donation Time
Hlm

it all boils down to one thing. the owner. in the case of the wife and myself resale value is not a priority. we build our cars to what we want. we don't build them to resell. we collect! some of the things we do to a car do not suit the purist or the originality freak. we polish, detail and add a few items from other series to our cars. we make sure the overall quality of the car is there. we travel around the country to shows and see the asking prices for vehicles. if the quality and workmanship is there someone will pay for it because that is what they want. i walked around looking at some of the cars for sale at the carlisle import a few weeks ago. i saw cars that i personally would not want but i saw several sell for a decent price. and yes, modified cars done tastefully do bring a price. i have a standing offer for my 69GT if i ever wanted to sell it and it has modifications. some day the value of an alpine will climb to where it belongs. and with the rarity of a harrington a good car like this should go for a least what they are asking. there were 7000? tigers and 250 lemans. is there a reason a rare handbuilt car should not be worth the same or maybe more than a tiger? someone buy this car!
 
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