Well, the british car bug has bitten my wife. She has decided that
she needs a Bugeye Sprite (she is even willing to learn how to shift
a manual transmission for this!).
I can't think of a nicer car to learn on: deliciously light
clutch, not enough power to get hurt, tiny motions of the
shift lever like working the bolt on a rifle.
Since I know very little about Austin-Healys in general, and Sprites
in particular, I am looking for answers to these questions:
General tips:
Mechanical parts are largely still available (common to
over 350,000 cars made for 20 years) and fairly cheap.
Rust is worse than a bad engine or trans. New motors
are about $1200, new transmissions $700, etc.
The cars are very economical (>30 mpg) to run and are
moderately practical as daily drivers, not as comfortable
or quite as durable (or replaceable...) as an MGB but a
lot more distinctive.
Prices on (good, drivable, pretty) Bugeyes run between
$2500 and $14,000, with most centred between $3000
and $6000. The bonnets (the hood, which is a single
piece but is welded from five separate parts) are
very expensive to replace, so get one in good shape.
1. Are any differences between the different years (58-61?) of the
Sprite mk I?
In 1959, they improved the way the folding top mounts to the
windshield. There are minor detail changes; you have the
years correct. (For the record, they made 48,999 Sprites
of the Bugeye or Frogeye variety.)
2. Any particular trouble spots to check?
Look for rust in the rear fenders, especially where the
leaf springs connect. Since these are quarter-elliptic,
they only connect at the forward part of the chassis, so
this part of the floor pan needs to be very sound.
Look also in the vertical section that the doors hang from,
and the box-section reinforcement that crosses in front of
the seats. These are also critical structural areas that are
expensive to fix if they are rusted out.
The transmissions have a weak synchronizing mechanism
(cones instead of rings), and there's almost always a
little grinding into second unless the 'box has been
rebuilt. The permanent fix is to go with a later rib-
case gearbox (the Mk I has a gearbox with a smooth outer
case, the later ones have raised ribs or ridges along
the exterior), but this is not original if that matters.
Early A-series engines (such as those in the Mk I Sprites)
sometimes lose the rear main bearing seal and let oil
out onto the clutch disc. This shows up if you lose oil
often but have no blue smoke, and if the clutch slips.
There's also a viewing hole in the bellhousing if you
suspect this. A recently rebuilt engine should give you
several years before this is a concern.
Note also: the 948cc engine in the early Sprites are not,
in their stock form, the most powerful engines known to man.
You might feel a little intimidated in modern traffic in a
stock Sprite. Again, the fix here is to install a later
1275cc engine, which has about half again as much horsepower
and (if it's been well maintained) should be more reliable
as well (bigger mains, stronger con rods, better cooling,
etc.). This, like the gearbox swap, results in a non-original
car, if that's a big deal with you. (Originality does, to
some extent, mean higher value, but I'd rather drive the car
than think about how much it's worth, which explains the
cars I've got now. :-)
3. Who are the main parts sources for them?
The usual... Moss Motors, Victoria British, BRP, FASPEC,
Motorhead, who else? Oh yes -- an outfit called The Winner's
Circle in Ohio sells competition gear for the Sprite. They
have built/sponsored/provided parts for a slew of National
champions, so they have good experience.
In California, one of the very best Sprite resources is
The Austin-Healey Store in Canoga Park, (818) 996-5212.
They do mail order, come to think of it... Tom Colby and
Gary Neuer, the manager and owner respectively, are friends
of mine from when I lived down there and did the Healey
Club newsletter. Good folks. Let's just say that I bought
a beat-up old car from Tom and I still talk to him. :-)
Tom and Gary build very very fast vintage-racing, autocross,
and SCCA H Production Sprites for a variety of customers,
as well as some dynamite street hot-rods and concours-
quality (literally, as in national championship winning)
show cars. (They just did the mechanical restoration on
these, but they farmed out the body to a first-rate shop.)
4. Can a person who is 5'11" (me) drive one comfortably? (I know
its for my wife, but...)
Yes. I'm a few fractions under six feet and I drove an
MG Midget every day for several years. It's a little hard
to get into a Sprite or Midget [BTW, Sprites and Midgets
are identical except for trim, hence the word "Spridgets"
used for the two cars from time to time] if you're big and
you have the top up, so I just left it down most of the time.
But there's a surprising amount of room in them, especially
legroom. The Bugeyes are a little better because the seats
are thinner, hence you can sit a little farther back. I
used to say that you don't get into a Spridget, you put it
on, like a comfortable pair of shoes...
5. Any information on national AH or sprite clubs would be appreciated,
as well as pointers to any books about the sprite.
Clubs: Ask Tom and Gary about SMOG, the Sprite-Midget
Owner's Group. Note that many Austin-Healey clubs
tend, ah, to favor the Big Healeys, and Sprites are
tolerated at a level that ranges from "poor relation"
at one extreme to "rabid dog" at the other. Not all
are like that; the club I was with (Austin-Healey Club,
Pacific Centre, South-Central Coast Region, Henning
Krebs registrar, (818) 347-6300) had, at one time, a
board of directors where Sprite owners outnumbered
Big Healey owners. The AHCPC-SCC is centred in the
San Fernando Valley, with occasional forays into Simi
and Pasadena. If I read your email address right, you're
somewhere near San Jose, so this might not help you.
There is a branch up here, and Bruce Erfer of British
Wire Wheel in Santa Cruz has been the president off and
on for many years; try calling him for information.
Books!
More Healeys: Frogeyes, Sprites and Midgets, by Geoff Healey.
The best book on the car. Geoff was in charge of the Sprite,
once his dad (Donald Healey) got the go-ahead from (hiss! boo!)
Len Lord at the 1956 Earl's Court Motor Show. (Ahem... Len
Lord closed the MG Competitions Department in 1935, saying,
"Well, *that* bloody lot can go for a start." He was *not* our
friend, in spite of seeing the light 20 years later and making
a new, affordable sports car.) This book outlines the Sprite's
design and manufacturing history, discusses prototypes, shows
alternative routes that the Healeys wanted to take, and has some
wonderful anecdotes about racing in the Fifties and Sixties.
Classic Motorbooks in Wisconsin should have it for mail-order.
Spridgets by Chris Harvey. Not as detailed as Geoff's book but
worth having. Lots of illustrations, okay text, no major errors.
Good pictures, lots of fun, surprisingly little overlap with
_More Healeys_.
Tuning the A-Series Engine by David Vizard. In the beginning
was the SU carb, and the engine bay was without form and void,
and the spirit of Lucas moved over the face of the gauges.
And David Vizard said, "Let there be power!" And there was power...
Really, it's that kind of book if you've got a Spridget or a
Mini (or any of several other BMC-derived cars that shared this
motor). There's a new version just been released. This is
also one of several excellent models for first-rate technical
documentation, if that interests anyone else on the list...
Sprite and Midget Guide to Purchase & D. I. Y. Restoration by
Lindsay Porter. In this book, they take the ugliest, most
disreputable, least-recognizable-as-ever-having-been-a-motor-
vehicle car you've ever seen and turn it into a showpiece. It
spends rather a lot of time covering home (do-it-yourself, DIY)
welding and bodywork, but there are good photos on engine removal,
transmission stripping, etc. It's a good reference work, but
it's also worthwhile for the shopper because it has a really
comprehensive checklist of things to look for when you're
shopping for the car in the first place. Great tips, potentially
worth bags of cash.
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