Our Family Heirloom
In the 1950s, my grandfather was a high school math teacher who started selling used cars on the side to earn extra money. He quickly realized he was making more selling cars on the weekends than he was teaching, so he followed his entrepreneurial spirit and opened his own used car business. This eventually evolved into him taking on new car dealerships, principally foreign franchises since the domestic franchises were already taken, (the exception was Studebaker until the company folded in the mid-1960s). These included classic British Marques; Austin-Healey, MG, Triumph and Land Rover. He eventually sold the car business and opened an RV and Boat business.He originally sold this 1958 BN6 to a young couple, who later traded it in for a RV after putting only 18K miles on it. Instead of reselling it, my grandfather decided to keep it for himself. The car was eventually passed down to my father, who enjoyed it for over 40 years. After sitting for a number of years; it was passed on to me a few years ago.At that point, mice had taken residency, including in the number 3 cylinder which seized the engine, the interior and the paint needed attention. This led us to Fourintune, the acclaimed Healey restoration outfit in Cedarburg, WI. My dad and I trailered the car from New York to Wisconsin in August 2023, catching a couple of Brewers games along the way and crossing American Family Field off our list (we have now visited 25 of the 30 MLB stadiums). Tom Kovacs and his team worked their magic, and we picked the car up in June 2025. Having just moved to Ann Arbor, my dad and I made the maiden voyage from Cedarburg to its new home, crossing Lake Michigan via the ferry.I'm looking forward to seeing you and the rest of the group this summer.
Charles Manzari
This was what the car looked like when it was passed down through the family
