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- Herausgeber: Crowood
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
Frogeye Sprite - The Complete Story is the only book to have been written exclusively about the iconic Mark 1 Austin Healey Sprite. The headlights in the bonnet and unusual radiator grill shape gave the car a cheeky grin, so it soon gained the name 'Frogeye'. The book covers the full story of the design, development and manufacture of the Mark 1 Austin Healey Sprite, including the considerab;le success of the car in racing and rallying.
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Seitenzahl: 538
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
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Copyright
First published in 2013 by The Crowood Press Ltd Ramsbury, Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 2HR
www.crowood.com
This e-book first published in 2013
© John Baggott 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 84797 644 4
Author’s note Every reasonable effort has been made to trace and credit illustration copyright holders. If you own the copyright to an image appearing in this book and have not been credited, please contact the publisher, who will be pleased to add a credit in any future edition.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
Having owned a Frogeye for forty-six years, I had no hesitation in accepting John’s invitation to write a Foreword to this, the first complete record of this great little car. And what a fine job he has done. It is truly a masterpiece of research and despite my being closely associated with the car for many years, I did not appreciate until reading this just how popular and loved it was, and still is, by so many enthusiasts. Following its introduction to the public, the Sprite soon became known as the ‘Frogeye’ (‘Bugeye’ in the United States), due to its cheeky bonnet, which was quickly replaced by those who thought they could improve the appeal of the car. How wrong they were and today the most popular Sprite is still the one with the original bonnet.
My wife and I became the proud owners of a green Sprite in the 1960s when we took the car in part-exchange for a Mini and I paid the company the princely sum of £275, this being the trade-in price. The car at that time had covered just over 8,000 miles. It was used very little until my wife and I returned to our native Cornwall in the 1970s, when it became a much-used form of transport, having proved ideal for our roads. Our daughter used it for a camping holiday, our two sons put mileage on it whilst at university and my wife used it daily when she was supply-teaching around the county and it never let us down.
Unfortunately, age catches up and getting in and out of sports cars becomes increasingly difficult, so like many others I have turned to the comfort of a saloon with little character. But I found that when entering the garage those two little eyes would look at me appealingly, saying, ‘Why don’t you take me out?’ One cannot cut a car into three equal bits and this is a dilemma facing many aging parents, so I made the difficult decision to sell the car to a good home. A very good friend of mine, Marco Trevisan from Switzerland, was very keen to buy the car and knowing it would be going to a caring home I sold it to Marco, who is now driving it daily. I have renewed my acquaintance with my dear old Sprite on visits to Europe.
I have digressed and must return to the main subject. Since its introduction in 1958 with a maximum speed of 80mph, the car has been developed over the years by both enthusiasts and my brother Geoff and his team at Warwick. John has adequately covered this period, when the car had been so developed that it was timed at over 149mph down the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans, winning the Motor Trophy for the first British car home after 24hr.
I can commend this historic and very accurate record of what was one of DMH’s favourite Healeys and I know that all Healey enthusiasts will find it thoroughly enjoyable.
Bic Healey with his old Leaf Green Frogeye, 966 NEH at St Moritz during a visit to see the car’s new owner in 2010.
INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Having personally owned a Frogeye Sprite since the late 1960s and several decades later spent nine years restoring it, I consider myself an enthusiast, who perhaps also knows a little about them. After the model celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2008, its profile increased considerably and I felt that it warranted a book of its own to chronicle the history of what was the first unitary-construction sports car and one which still has an enormous following in the twenty-first century.
The Austin Healey Sprite is known to many, but to set the scene it came into being because of the dedication of Donald Healey, his son Geoffrey and the small but enthusiastic workforce at their firm, the Donald Healey Motor Company. Donald was brought up in an engineering environment and had produced cars under his own name since 1946. In 1952, the company created a new sports car, the Healey 100, to be launched at that year’s Earls Court Motor Show. On Press Day, Leonard Lord of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) immediately recognized the car’s potential and overnight it became the Austin Healey 100. Following the car’s success it was decided that there was a niche for a smaller sports car: ‘That a chap could keep in his bike shed.’ The Sprite was borne.
In the best of BMC traditions, costs were minimized by utilizing many components tried and tested on other models already in production. Whilst the unitary-construction body, with its hinged one-piece front along with the quarter-elliptic rear springs, was all new, other components were derived from more mundane vehicles. Not having to fund development costs for such parts enabled the company to pare the Sprite’s price to the bone. The cost of the basic car was just £455, but Purchase Tax (which preceded VAT) levied by the Government at 47 per cent, resulted in a windscreen price of £678 17/-(£678.85). This was still competitive enough to attract many first-time sports car buyers.
Launched on 20 May 1958, the Mark I Austin Healey Sprite, to give it the correct title, was only built for just under three years, with the final example coming off the Abingdon production line very early in 1961. This was not the end of the story, however, for as well as subsequent marks of the Austin Healey Sprite, and later the Austin Sprite, continuing to be manufactured until June 1971, others would go on to recreate cars to that original shape, notably Keith Brading from the Isle of Wight-based Frogeye Car Company.
The Frog, with its quirky headlights, continues in its new-found status as somewhat of a cult car. Many, like me, have owned and enjoyed their cars for over forty years. Whilst it is fair to say that they are far from practical, with doors that do not lock and a luggage boot that can only be accessed from inside the car, taking one out on the road today raises a smile from the driver, as well as a good number of other road users and pedestrians passed along the way. An amusing tale from former owner Roger Brownlee typifies the fun many a young man had at the wheel of an Austin Healey Sprite:
I was bombing along with a young lady beside me, the top was down and I was wearing a hat, either a cap or perhaps a deer stalker. Next thing, the wind whipped it off and I saw it in my mirror spinning in the slipstream. I slowed down to stop and retrieve it. Would you believe, it caught me up and dropped out of the slipstream and landed back in the car, behind the driver’s seat. My girlfriend was most impressed.
Much has been written elsewhere of John Sprinzel’s special-bodied Sebring Sprites, but little about others such as Alexander, Speedwell and WSM. They all designed and built coupés utilizing the Sprite floorpan and running gear. As with the Sebrings, these cars predominantly saw competition use.
The author caught unawares getting down to some serious photography during the Healey International Weekend at Goodwood on 17 May 2008. The event was held to celebrate the Sprite’s Fiftieth Anniversary.
In certain instances information is based on individuals’ recollections of events that occurred many years ago. Whilst believed to be accurate, such information cannot be guaranteed and under no circumstances should it be relied upon to authenticate any particular car, or its participation in a specific event.
I appreciate the assistance received from many fellow enthusiasts, together with past and present owners who have provided information and in many cases loaned me their precious photographs. My sincere thanks to: John Adair, Simon Agnew, John Aley, Ron Allsop, Peter Anderson, Jan-Erc Andreasson, Alan Anstead, John Anstice Brown, Brian Archer, Simon Arkless, Keith Ashby, Steve Ashby, Jack Badley, Mike Badley, Eric Bailey, Tom Barnard, Gordon Barton, Derek Bashford, Bob Beaumont, Horace Beighton, Ken Bell, Steve Bell, Tony Bending, John Bentley, John Bilton, Ian Blain, Jimmy Blumer, Mark Boldry, Julian Booty, Stephen Bowen, John & Jill Bowman, Adrian Boyd, Keith Brading, Geoff Brenner, John Britten, Bill Brown, Peter Browning, Roger Brownlee, David Bruzas, Ray Buckley, Roger Bunting, John Bury, Peter and Tony Butt, Tony Bye, Alan Cameron, John Casey, John Cashmore, John Chatham, Hervé Chevallier, Bob Chuter, Jane Clarke, Bob Clarkson, Pete Clinch, John Clower, Gerry Coker, Chris Cooke, Colin Cooper, Peter Cope, Esler Crawford, Andy Cumming, Bob Curl, Simon Curtis, Dr John Curry, Bob Dance, Robert Daniels, Peter Davey, Gary Davis, Len Davis, Piers & Anne de Leigh, Peter Denty, John Draycon, Julian Dussek, Terry Dye, Aubrey Edwards, Ron Edwards, Andrew Elshof, Gordon Elwell, Roger Enever, Ray English, Catherine Eva, Peter Eva, Chris Everitt, John Ewer, Peter Fancourt, Adrian Fawdington, Rob Fenton, Bob Ford, Bruce Foster, Ernie Foster, Steve Foster, Chris Fowler, John Fowler, Don Francis, Adrian Furness, Chris Gardiner, Mike Garton, Paul Gaymer, Butch Gilbert, Tommy Gold, Bill Graham, Ian Grainger, Keith Grant, Helen Gray, Den Green, Martin Hadwen of Motor Racing Archives, John Hall, Keith Hamer, Don Hands, Allen Harris, John Harris (Healey Motor Company works driver), John Harris (Goddards), John Harrison, Barrie Hart, Terry Hart, Don Hayter, Bic Healey, Keith Healey, Mark Heinen, Graham Heath, Austin Henry, Phil Hepworth, Joseph Hernandez, John Hewitt, Richard Higgins, Betty Hill, G. Hill, Ashley Hinton, George Holt, Ted Hook, John Hopwood, Piers Hubbard, David Hurn, Peter Jackson, Ken Jenkins, Bernard Johnson, Ian Jones, Jack Keatley, Brian Kenyon, Tony Key, Pat Kimber, Robin Knight, Maarten Krikken, Robin Lackford, Tony Lake, Elizabeth Langton, Kevin Law, Gary Lazarus, Robin Leathart, Huggy Lever, Mike Lewis, Jonas Lindquist, Donna Lodge, Barry Lowe, Norman Lupton, Rob Lyall, Margaret Mackenzie, Lesley Mallard, Brian Martin, David Matthews, Kevin Maul, Peter May, Bill McDonough, Paul McFadden, Betty and Robin McKinney, Jim McManus, Ernest McMillen, Paul Mead, Richard Melville, John Miles, Richard Miles, Jerry Miller, Adam Mills, Norman Milne, Jason Minhinett, Keith Morgan, Greg Naive, Peter Neal, Robert Nettleton, John Nickerson, John Oakley, Owen Oakley, Jim Oakman, Robin Ottway, David Owen, Mark Paine, Joyce Pearce, Ian Peart, John Percival, Iris Phillips, John Phillips, Roy Phillips, Margaret Pick, Bill Piggott, Chris Pipes, John Platt, Alec Poole, Arnie Poole, Bill Price, Wendy Price, Jim Profit, Anthony Purkiss, Stuart Radonofski, Paul Ragbourne, Geoff Record, John Redmond, Anthony Reeves, Mike Reid, Bill Richards, Malcolm Ricketts, Ann & Peter Riley, Ted Riviere, Fred Robinson, Richard Rooks, Derek Ross, Alan Rowledge, Michael Royde, Kiyondo Sato, Tim Saunders, John Scantlebury, Peter Seamen, Barney Sharratt, Tony Shaw, Barry Sidery-Smith, Roger Sieling, Tom Sims, Bob Slessor, Colin Smith, Peter Smith, Trevor Smith, Oliver Speight, Roy Standley, Adrian St Clere, Howard Steele, Colin Stokes, Ian, Lord Strathcarron, Patricia Streeter, Gerry Sturman, Nick Swift, Owen Swinerd, Graham Tabor, James Thacker, Allan Thomson, Andrew Thomson, Julius Thurgood, Margaret Tiley, John Tizzard, Rodney Tolhurst, John Tozer, Tom Tulip, Alan Twitchett, Sheridan Tynne, Ernie Unger, Dave Urwin, John & Jane Venner-Pack, Ian Ventre, John Vernon, Ivo and Robert Visser, John Walker, Peter Ward, Paul Watson, Holly Weatherby, Joe Weatherby, John Weeks, David Weguelin, Mike Welch, Dennis Wharf, Brian Wheeler, Jack Wheeler, Richard Whiffin, Mike White, Jonathan Whitehouse-Bird, Keith Whitfield, Ralph Whitmarsh, David Whyley, Graham Williams, Kath Willes, Rob Willig, Gary Wilson, Douglas Wilson-Spratt, Kevin Wittall, Alan Wood, Barry Wood, Eddie Woods, Ian Woodside, Robert Woodside, Derek Wootton, Maureen Wyatt, David Wylie, Michael Wylie, Chris Yates, John Young.
Sebring guru Tom Coulthard has endured numerous long telephone conversations. He has kindly imparted information from his research notes on topics not covered in his excellent book Spritely Years and also put me in touch with people who had eluded my enquiries elsewhere.
Martin Ingall has patiently helped me to assemble, and in some cases restore, many photographs and allowed me to reproduce information and images from his own Sebring Sprite Website: wwwsebringsprite.com
Bob Kemp has owned his Frogeye, WXM 924, since 1972 and has been the Sprite Registrar of the Austin Healey Club for over thirty years. His vast knowledge of the cars and people involved with them has proved invaluable in my research. He has also assisted with the illustrations and been kind enough to lend me a number of images from his personal collection for inclusion.
At the outset of my research, I knew very little about the Speedwell GT and much appreciate the assistance received from enthusiastic owners Dave Grove and Alistair Ross. They have shared the results of their own extensive research with me. Tony Wilson-Spratt has kindly allowed access to his large WSM archive and photographs.
Paul Woolmer, the Austin Healey Club Special Vehicles registrar, is fortunate in owning three very significant examples: PMO 200, 46 BXN and 364 EAC. Paul has shared detailed information about them and other Sprites with me.
My wife Jane has exercised her considerable proofreading skills, gained through checking the text of my other books, to keep this one on the straight and narrow.
Terry Harrison and Dave Woodgate have generously given of their time to delve into their respective back numbers of motor-sport related periodicals in search of facts on my behalf. Terry, a prolific 1960s navigator, has also proved to be a mine of information in respect of the rally world of the era.
Contemporary reports and articles from the following publications, magazines and newspapers have provided information: Austin Healey Magazine, The Austin Magazine, Australian Motor Sports, Autocar, The Automobile, Autosport, Cars and Car Conversions, Cars Illustrated, Castrol Achievements, Classic & Sportscar, Classic Cars, Enjoying MG, Healey Marque, Hemmings Sports & Exotic Cars, Marque One, Mascot, Model Maker, Modified Motoring, Moteurs, The Motor, Motor Clubman and Special Builder, Motoring News, Motor-sport, Motor Trend, Retro Cars, Rev Counter, Roadster, Safety Fast, Sheet Metal Industries, Sports Car and Lotus Owner, Sporting Cars, Sports Car Graphic, Sports Cars Illustrated, Thoroughbred and Classic Cars, Torque, The Woonsocket Call and Evening Reporter. To their editors and writers past and present, thank you.
John Baggott, 2013
TIMELINE
A Brief History of the Austin Healey Sprite Mark One
1956 Gerry Coker commences design work for a new Austin Healey small sports car.
31 January 1957 Geoffrey Healey delivers prototype Sprite Q1 to Austin at Longbridge for approval.
8 March 1957 Ql photographed at Longbridge by Austin photographer.
26 June 1957, John Sprinzel, George Hulbert and Len Adams found Speedwell Performance Conversions, which would later produce the Sprite-based Speedwell GT coupé.
3l March 1958 Sprite production line begins in earnest after at least one false start.
20 May 1958 Austin Healey Sprite launched in Monte Carlo.
24 May 1958 Douglas Wilson-Spratt records Sprite’s first competition victory, winning Sporting Owners’ Drivers’ Club Millimar Rally.
7/12 July 1958 Three Sprites take first, second and third in class in the Alpine Rally.
12 July 1958 John Anstice Brown records the Sprite’s first race win at the Leinster Trophy Race.
September 1958 Rear box section rails added to strengthen the chassis.
16 October 1958 Nine-stud fixing hood replaced by more waterproof metal securing bar that fits under top of windscreen frame.
19 March 1959 John Venner-Pack wins 1000cc Sports car race at BRSCC Goodwood Members Meeting in his Sprite VP 7.
21 March 1959 Sprite first International race outing in the Sebring Twelve-Hour Race.
May 1959 Graham Hill races the first Speedwell GT prototlpe at the BRDC Daily Express Silverstone meeting.
4 October 1959 Geoff Williamson’s Alexander GT wins class at Montlhéry.
4 March 1960, Peter Jackson buys the frst Sprite to be exported to Jamaica. On repatriation to England it is registered as 46 BXN and gains quite a racing history.
March 1960 All Sprites fitted with sliding side screens as standard.
3 July 1960 Dental Student Keith Spellman wins 1000cc GT race at La Chatre in his Speedwell-tuned Sprite.
1/4 September 1960 John Sprinzel/John Patten take class win in Liége-Rome-Liége Rally – the first time a car is entered as a ‘Sebring Sprite’.
21 December 1960 Last right-hand drive Sprite comes off the production line.
February 1961 Production line closed.
May 1961 Mark Two Austin Healey Sprite is launched as the replacement for Mark One.
CHAPTER 1
HERITAGE AND DEVELOPMENT
The Austin Healey marque came into being after Leonard Lord of Austin admired the Healey Hundred on the Healey Motor Company stand at the 1952 International Motor Show in Earls Court, London. Donald Healey and Lord then struck a deal for the car to be assembled in the Austin factory at Longbridge, Birmingham. That said, the Healey Hundred was not the first open sports car to carry an Austin badge.
HERITAGE
Austin Seven Ulster
As long ago as 1930, Austin introduced its first open sports car, the Seven Ulster. The 747cc engine produced just 24bhp, though a supercharged version boasted a then mind-boggling 33bhp, which at 5,000rpm would propel the vehicle to 75mph (120km/h). Between 1930 and 1932, just 168 examples were built of what could be regarded as the forefather of the Austin Healey Sprite. However, over the years, enthusiasts have rebuilt other models of the Seven into a sports car, so there are probably more in existence now than in the 1930s.
Austin A40 Sports
Though the Austin Healey Sprite was definitely not an A35 sports car, Austin’s first post-war convertible was a soft-top version of one of the company’s saloons, the Austin A40. Although the chassis for this example was manufactured at Austin’s Longbridge factory, the body was subcontracted to Jensen of West Bromwich. However, as a four-seater, it was surely more of a replacement for the pre-war Austin Ten tourer than an out and out sports car. As many of these A40s were exported, this particular model is now a rare sight in the United Kingdom.
‘Super Sports’ Morris Minor
Prior to the development of the Austin Healey Sprite, Donald Healey was in discussion with Alec Issigonis, who designed the Morris Minor, about creating a Super Sports version of the model. However, this was around 1952, just before Alec left Morris Motors to work for Alvis. Issigonis would, of course, subsequently rejoin the fold and design the Mini, the car for which he became most famous.
In his book Austin Healey: The Story of the Big Healeys, Geoff Healey talks of the company’s special project, X3, which was built in 1953 using an Austin Healey engine, with part of the chassis, in a Morris Minor bodyshell. The object was to see if it was possible to create a sports car utilizing a low-cost production saloon body. They were evidently not pleased with the result, as the car was sold for scrap. One assumes, given the year, that the engine was derived from a Healey 100 and was not A Series.
Whilst the project came to nothing, it is interesting that in 1961 a John Cooper tuned engine was put in the Mini to create the Mini Cooper. Thirty-three years later other manufacturers would put a hot engine in a saloon body to create the GT-badged saloon car, later christened the ‘Hot Hatch’. Whilst the Minor was definitely not a hatchback, this particular Healey project was obviously way ahead of its time. What a shame it was scrapped.
Curious to see the new car they kept hearing about, four Donald Healey Motor Company apprentices sneaked into the Development Department when Donald and Geoff were at lunch. One took this photograph, which shows Derek Westwood (L) and Gordon Barton (R) sitting in the first prototype. Gordon admits he was really nervous, convinced they would all have been sacked if found out.
Austin A30 Sports
The Austin A30 Sports was another stillborn project, based on clay models produced by Dick Burzi. The running prototype, built in 1953, had a tubular space-frame chassis with a two-seater fibreglass body and utilized mechanical components from the A30. Apparently Austin employee Johnnie Rix had a habit of taking it home every night in the summer and pushed for the car to be further developed. Despite Leonard Lord initially favouring production, it was finally decided that it would be impractical for the company to consider volume production of a car with a fibreglass body. It was therefore shelved.
The stillborn A30 Sports never went into production, as Austin felt unhappy about making a car with a fibreglass body on a steel tubular chassis. Austin employee Eric Bailey took these rare sneak snapshots.
HOW THE SPRITE EVOLVED
In 1956, following the success of the Austin Healey 100, Leonard Lord suggested to Donald Healey that there was a niche for a small low-cost sports car that would in effect replace the pre-war Austin Seven models. Having obtained detailed specifications of available components from Austin, the Healeys set about designing such a car. It was decided to utilize the engine, gearbox, back axle casing and front suspension from the Austin A35. Respective in-house specialists Barry Bilbie and Gerry Coker designed the chassis and body.
The brief from Leonard Lord was to keep costs to a minimum and use very simple tooling to make the car. To comply, Donald Healey initially instructed Gerry to come up with a design that utilized the same pressings for both the front and rear panels. Eventually, it was found this was not possible and, as we will see, the different front end became the Frogeye shape that enthusiasts now know and love.
The front of the original prototype designed by Gerry Coker was inspired by the Ferrari Testa Rossa, as can be seen from this picture taken at the premises of Panel Craft in Birmingham.
Gerry Coker
Interested in vehicles from childhood, when he was always doodling car designs, Gerry Coker joined Rootes as an apprentice in 1939. Following a spell in the aircraft business, he became bored and wanted to return to the motor industry. In 1950, A.C. ‘Sammy’ Sampietro, a former employer, told him that Donald Healey was looking for a body designer and convinced him he should apply. Following an interview with the man himself, Coker joined the Donald Healey Motor Company and set to work designing the 100. His next project was the small low-cost sports car that was to become the Sprite. Gerry recalls:
In 1957, the body style and structure of the proposed Sprite was to make a car with minimum weight and uncomplicated sheet metal formation. Donald described it as ‘Something a chap could keep in his cycle shed.’ My proposal to was to have no boot lid, thus deleting a lot of structural weight and cost, with a lift-up front end for the do it yourselfer and weekend racer. The original oval grille, based on the 100S, looked a bit dull, so I added a nice piece of chrome above it with the ‘V’ on the top, which brightened it up. To have a clean, simple shape I proposed concealed headlamps, but these were later deemed too expensive for a cheap car.
Gerry Coker checks the original design.
Barry Bilbie worked on the chassis design with Geoff, whilst Gerry conceived the body, which he admits was inspired by the Ferrari Testa Rossa. His body design was then made into a wooden buck. Panel Craft in Birmingham, the company that had previously worked on the Nash and Alvis Healeys, made two prototypes under the direction of its MD, Norman Sharp. Gerry was delighted with the company’s handiwork. However, in January 1957, Gerry left Healey’s to work for Ford in America. The production version differed in shape around the grille area; the grille became vertical instead of angled forwards 15 degrees as Gerry originally designed it. Also the Frog Eyes had replaced the envisaged retractable headlamps. Years later, Gerry stated:
In 1958, when I saw the production Sprite in a Detroit showroom, I nearly croaked. It looked like a headlamp test vehicle. Since my successor at Healey’s was simply a body engineer, he would not have had the aesthetic interest in the project that I had; naturally he did not have the required determination to fight for the cause. One has to fight for what one believes in. One also has to be a sports car enthusiast to achieve the desired results. My big regret was that I was not able to follow the project through!
When Coker departed for America, he was replaced at the Donald Healey Motor Company body engineer by Les Ireland, who had worked with Donald at Triumph. Les joined the firm on 1 April 1957.
COMPONENTS OF THE SPRITE
In the best of BMC traditions, the Austin Healey Sprite maximized the use of existing components, already being manufactured for other vehicles. As well as keeping development and productions costs down, this led to better reliability, as such items were well tried and tested.
Power Unit
The BMC A Series engine that powered the Sprite was conceived in July 1949, but its origins date from the earlier designed 1200cc overhead valve engine, which propelled the Austin A40 Dorset/Devon models, produced between 1947 and 1952. The overhead valve A40 engine had a bore/stroke ratio of 1.3:1, resulting in 63.5mm x 88.9mm. It ran a compression ratio of 7.2:1 and produced 40bhp at 4,200rpm. The maximum torque was 62lb/ft @ 2,200rpm and the Autocar road test quoted a maximum top speed of 71mph (114km/h). It should be borne in mind that this was in a vehicle having a separate body and chassis, with a kerb weight of just over 1ton.
The 948cc BMC A Series engine, with its original twin 11/8in H1 SU carburettors, fits snugly into the engine bay of the Sprite. There is still ample room to work on it.
Eric Bareham, then Deputy Chief Designer of engines and gearboxes at BMC, was largely responsible for the A Series engine, originally intended to be 800cc. Throughout its development, the power unit was initially known as the 7hp, or AS3 engine, and only gained its final designation late on. It was a scaled-down version of the successful A40 engine and utilized its 1.3:1 bore/stroke ratio, resulting in 76mm x 58mm, which helped to minimize the length of the block. It first appeared under the bonnet of the Austin A30 that was launched in 1952.
Previous Austin engines were noted for their low-speed pulling power, so the new A Series retained this characteristic and thus had a heavy flywheel. The original camshaft timing was designed for relaxed running at the expense of outright power. In later years, BMC Special Tuning and many other aftermarket companies would design camshafts that radically increased the engine’s power output.
The A Series engine was the first in Britain – and one of the first in the world – to be produced on transfer machines, which heralded ‘The Age of Automation’. On arrival from the foundry, each block casting was gripped from its rough cylinder bores and had two recesses drilled into the flange, upon which the sump would eventually be mounted. All subsequent procedures were based on these two references.
The casting was then sent along 150yd (137m) of rollers, flanked by twenty-nine machines that each executed a different procedure in order to convert it accurately into a finished engine block. At the end of the run it was bored and the cylinders finished to fine tolerances. One finished block a minute came off the production line every working day and the cylinder heads were produced on a similar transfer system. Components were subjected to rigorous cleaning and quality control procedures, including pressure tests. Flywheels and crankshafts were balanced and conrods matched in sets of four, to within 2g.
Ten engines, each minus its sump, were then bolted to a revolving turntable and fed with filtered oil at 75psi. The crank was then driven at 1,500rpm for 17min before final assembly was completed and the engine dispatched to the transmission shop to be fitted with clutch and gearbox. Final quality control saw two in twenty engines subjected to further tests. One was run on a test bed for 1¾hr, whilst the second was dismantled and checked. From inception in 1952 to November 1960, 1,409,000 A Series engines were produced.
Front view of the Sprite prototype Q1 with retractable headlamps and external door hinges. BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY HERITAGE TRUST
Transmission
The 4-speed gearbox, with synchromesh on second, third and top, was based on the A35 and Morris Minor unit. The prop shaft came from the same source. Further raids on the BMC parts bins produced the Austin A35 back axle casing, manufactured by Rubery Owen Components from Wednesbury in Staffordshire, which, with suspension mountings modified, completed the transmission.
Steering
The Sprite’s nimbleness is mainly due to its light, positive steering, utilizing the rack and pinion system culled from the Morris Minor. It was the Minor’s designer, Alec Issigonis, who first specified the rack and pinion system for the stillborn MG saloon conceived in the late 1930s, but not built then owing to the outbreak of the Second World War. Following the cessation of hostilities, the car appeared in 1947 as the MG Y-Type.
Seeing a steering rack bolted on to the cross member below the Sprite radiator, one can be forgiven for believing that it had been designed especially for that particular car. The less precise Austin A35 steering box would have proved difficult, if not impossible, to accommodate in the tight confines of the engine bay underneath the Sprite’s low bonnet.
Cylinder Head
If there was a ‘trick bit’ to the A Series engine it was its cylinder head, with its unique heart-shaped combustion chamber, designed by Harry Weslake. In April 1935, Weslake had left the employment of Automotive Engineering to set himself up as a freelance development engineer. He traded under the title of Weslake and Taylor Limited, as he rented part of the premises of Alta Cars in Fullers Way Tolworth, Surrey; Geoffrey Taylor owned Alta. Harry then acted as trouble-shooter for most of the major car, motorcycle and, particularly during the war years, aircraft manufacturers in England. Fiercely independent, he declined offers to join the payroll of many well-known companies, preferring to act for them on a consultancy basis.
During his early research, Harry accumulated a wealth of data on combustion chamber and port development, discovering how to regulate turbulence and the rate of flame propagation. Much of his information came about as the result of his groundbreaking and sophisticated (for the time) airflow experiments and measuring techniques. His methods provided the means of achieving a much more efficient burning of the charge. What he discovered in effect reset the baseline for all engine designers.
To carry out his airflow experiments, Harry used a powerful electric fan and an orifice flow meter. Visual evidence of turbulence was provided by adding a spinner to the system; when it started to move, he knew he was heading in the right direction. Attaching a rev counter quantified the improvement. Prototype combustion chambers were constructed from wood, using the real valves and guides. This method facilitated the easy removal of material from the chamber; if it needed to be added to, plasticine was used. Airflow patterns were traced by lightly oiling the inside of the chamber, then injecting French chalk into the air stream.
Weslake conceived the cylinder head that would eventually end up on the A Series engine during the closing stages of the Second World War. This period saw many unofficial development projects being carried out in factories that had ostensibly turned 100 per cent of their production over to the war effort. However, many, Harry included, looked to the future, knowing that when the hostilities were over, manufacturers would need something up their sleeve to ease the transition back to their mainstream line, in his case cars.
So he had spent what little spare time he had on evolving a new combustion head. Like others, he found that such projects were acceptable if the engine in question was tested in a truck, as this could still be deemed as being part of the war effort. Indeed, Harry had shown Leonard Lord, then Managing Director of Austin Motors of Longbridge, some figures he had obtained from a 6-cylinder engine fitted with a head, which he designed with heart-shaped combustion chambers that had been installed in a truck.
During one intensive research session, Harry discovered that introducing a projection in the combustion chamber between the inlet and exhaust valves would result in the air charge swirling round the chamber and depositing the fuel adjacent to the sparking plug. Refining that projection to give the optimum result produced that famous heart shape. He patented his concept on 11 August 1946, initially under number 565 394, which covered the projection in the chamber.
Immediately after the war, Austin concentrated on developing a 16hp saloon car that utilized a cylinder head of the company’s own design. The car was a failure, the head being cited as the vehicle’s problem. Harry was called upon to utilize his invention and make the next-generation Austin a success. The 1200cc Austin A40 Devon, introduced in 1947, marked the debut of the Weslake heart-shaped combustion chamber on an Austin engine. It heralded the start of Harry’s long association with what would become the British Motor Corporation. That cylinder head would go on to be utilized on vehicles from the 803cc Austin A30 and Morris Minor, to the 3993cc Austin Sheerline.
The 948cc BMC A Series engine installed in the Sprite was, of course, the next progression from that original 803cc unit, which would eventually be bored out to 1275cc. Whilst the bottom end was basically the same as an A35, the head had different valves with stronger springs. The A35’s single Zenith carburettor was replaced with twin H1 11/8in SUs. These modifications, overseen by Eddie Maher from the Morris Engine Department at Courthouse Green, Coventry, combined to increase the power output from 34bhp to 43bhp.
In 1965, Harry conceived a redesigned loop cylinder head for the BMC A Series engine. Externally, it was identical to the standard item, but it evidently gave more power as Pat Moss and Doc Shepherd used it for racing.
It speaks volumes for Weslake’s invention that, despite advances in technology, his cylinder head could be found on the Morris Marina and it successor the Ital, which was in production until 1984.
Suspension
The wishbone and coil front suspension, together with its Armstrong lever-arm shock absorber, was taken directly from the Austin A35, but the rear suspension was altogether more radical, utilizing quarter-elliptic leaf springs. The idea behind this was to enable the rear section of the car not to carry any of the suspension load and thus need to be less engineered. Fine in principal, but as owners of very early cars found, this strategy was not without its problems. The original Bramber-manufactured springs had fourteen leaves, but today’s remanufactured items have fewer.
Braking System
Though most other components had been borrowed from the A35, that model’s mechanical rear brakes were not considered suitable for a sports car. The Sprite ended up with hydraulic brakes all round; these were A35 front and Morris Minor rear, although Lockheed, which enjoyed a close working relationship with Healey, recalculated the piston bore sizes to suit the new vehicle. The combined brake and clutch master cylinder was borrowed from the MGA.
The long chrome handbrake lever was bolted to the passenger’s side of the transmission tunnel, with the cable running through the tunnel to connect to the back axle. The pawl provided an ideal opportunity to be reversed to convert the handbrake to a ‘fly-off’ version, which meant that the lever could simply be flicked up without needing to press in the button – ideal for those racing starts away from the traffic lights. The author owns this conversion, made years ago by his original motor-racing partner Martin Ingall, on all his Spridgets. Once a racing driver always a racing driver! The 15¼in (387mm) long handbrake lever was unique to the Mark I, as those on the later Sprites and Midgets were shortened by some 2in (51mm).
GWS 211 – the first Sprite to arrive in Australia on display at Fisherman’s Bend Circuit on 18 October 1958. The model now has a large following there.
Wheels and Tyres
In designing the Morris Minor, Alec Issigonis was keen to maximize the passenger space within the vehicle and to help achieve this he specified 14in-diameter wheels. Previous Morris models had run on higher wheels. When the Austin A30 was announced on 16 October 1951, the wheel diameter had reduced a further inch to 13in.
The Frogeye kept to the same diameter, though Dunlop was commissioned to design a more sporty version that incorporated twelve cooling holes around the circumference of the outer rim. Painted metallic silver, they were manufactured by Rubery Owen Components, which also made the back axle casings.
Chrome hubcaps, stamped with a distinctive ‘AH’, really set off the wheels. These ‘vented’ rims were unique to the Mark I, as the subsequent Mark II and later models reverted to the more traditional design. Of course, when the Sprite was first announced, radial-ply tyres were not available, so the car came on 5.20 × 13 cross-plys, which probably made the handling a little more interesting than what we enjoy on today’s 145 × 13 radials.
Electrical System
The positive earth system utilized Joseph Lucas components, which were again common to the A35 and Minor. The rear light cluster was Morris, with the A35 indicators front and rear; the fronts had white lenses and a double filament bulb to incorporate the side lights. The only radical departure was the dynamo, which was modified to incorporate an output for the mechanically driven rev counter. Smiths Industries manufactured the reduction gearbox to provide the correct dial reading. Many owners ignored the handbook warning not to over-tighten the large nut, which secured it to the dynamo. This resulted in failure of the unit.
THE FIRST PROTOTYPES
John Thompson Motor Pressings, which ultimately got the lucrative contract to produce the chassis for all Sprites and Midgets, made two prototypes. Gerry Coker’s body design was converted into a wooden buck and Panel Craft was commissioned to make two bodies, then weld them to the chassis. In recent years, a stress analysis has indicated that 20 per cent of the body’s strength is provided by the transmission tunnel. Given the usual oil leaks from the engine and gearbox, a Sprite tunnel rarely corrodes.
‘The Frog Eyes’
The Sprite’s distinctive 7in headlights were originally designed to be retractable. A cable and lever folded the units back into the bonnet to lie flush when not in use. However, during testing it was found that it was impossible to get the lights to come up when travelling in excess of 60mph (96km/h) as the operating mechanism was not able to pull against the wind rushing over the bonnet.
Leonard Lord deemed the feature to be too complicated and the cost out of proportion for the perceived reduction in wind resistance, so the idea was dropped – this despite the fact that in real terms the cost would only have amounted to around an extra £1 per car. The headlights, though, remained in the original position, in the middle of the bonnet. This, particularly in the model’s later history, endeared people to the Mark I. It also gave rise to the ‘Frogeye’ nickname, which in America became ‘Bugeye’.
Gordon Barton, who worked in the stores at the Cape (Healey’s factory in Warwick), remembers chassis designer, Barry Bilbie, road-testing a bare Mark I Sprite chassis on the highway. To make it legal, it had lights mounted on boards front and back and also displayed a set of trade plates.
On 31 January1957, Donald and Geoffrey Healey drove the first prototype Austin Healey Sprite, codenamed Q1, to the Austin factory at Longbridge for approval. As well as the retractable headlights, Q1 had other features that were later superseded. These included external door and bonnet hinges, an Austin Healey badge attached to the top chromed section of the radiator grille and a different method of securing the bonnet.
George Harriman, Chairman and Managing Director of BMC, was impressed, but, as a formality it seems, wanted Sir Leonard Lord to give it the once over on his return to the factory on 20 February. Following his inspection, Lord immediately gave the go-ahead.
Some distinctive features of the later prototypes would be changed prior to production. The somewhat rounded gear lever surround was replaced by the squarer version that stayed with the Sprite for many years. The Mini type plasticized wire internal door pulls were replaced with short, stubby handles with chromed knobs. Whilst the polished aluminium cockpit trim remained, the section above the dashboard was covered in matching Vyanide, to reduce glare.
The prototypes had steering wheels more usually found on Healey boats, but the production cars had their own very distinctive, twin-spoked 16in black wheel. Many owners replaced them with smaller wood or leather-rimmed aftermarket versions. In later years, when the Frogeye began to enjoy cult status, original steering wheels became hard to find and pristine examples commanded a high price.
The interior of Q1 features the Healey boat steering wheel, white instruments and two-tone upholstery with higher door pockets. The rubber gear lever surround has obviously been borrowed from another vehicle and the horn slip ring moulding is much higher up the dashboard. BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY HERITAGE TRUST
Q1 Survived
The original prototype, a red car, had a chequered history following its use for development work prior to the first production Mark Is being produced. Originally run on Healey Motor Company’s General Trade Plate 116 AC, it was registered YNX 684 in May 1958. The car was subsequently sold to a Dick Portsmouth, Production Manager at Healey Marine, who disposed of it when he got married. The car is known to have been raced, still with retractable headlights, in 1964.
Surviving original prototype Q1, later registered YNX 684, racing in private hands during 1964. The car still retained its external door hinges and pop-up headlamps and has the higher profile Donald Healey Motor Company hardtop.
BODY/CHASSIS
Two different companies made the monocoque of the Mark I Sprite. The underbody, including ‘H’ frame, suspension mountings, floorpan, transmission tunnel, bulkhead, battery tray, inner sills, footwell tops and sides, front inner wheel arches and rear cross member, came from John Thompson Motor Pressings at Beacon Works, Wolverhampton. Fabricated from over fifty major components of varying sizes and thicknesses of steel from 21-gauge to 1/8in plate. Assembly involved 2,066 spot welds, with arc welding used to give additional strength in certain places, or where it was not practical to spot weld. Projection welding was used to attach the captive nuts. The front suspension mountings, the most complicated components, were fabricated from 14-SWG EN2A steel, which had a 12 per cent carbon content.
Pressed Steel Company of Swindon manufactured the bonnet section, scuttle with A-posts, outer sills, doors, boot floor, rear inner and outer wings and rear shroud.
John Thompson Motor Pressings produced the floorpan shown here with the H Frame and cross member, which also carries the jacking points.
The basic floorpan now has front and rear bulkhead panels, transmission tunnel inner sills, footwell tops and sides, together with the front inner wings and longitudinal stiffener chassis sections; this was officially termed ‘the underframe unit’.
Setting Up Production
It was originally intended to build the Sprite, by now type-prefixed AN5, on the Austin A35 production line at Longbridge, presumably as both cars shared many of the same components. However, the assembly process for the A35 involved the engine and transmission being installed from under the bodyshell. The Sprite’s chassis layout precluded this method and after considering a redesign, which was ruled out, it was decided that the Austin Healey Sprite would be built in the MG factory at Abingdon.
The chassis travelled from Thompson’s at Wolverhampton to Pressed Steel, Swindon, where the body components were fitted, then on to Morris Motors paint shop at Cowley to be sprayed, before being transported to Abingdon for the assembly process. It is a good job that there were no concerns about global warming in 1958, as each Sprite shell must have travelled approximately 90 miles (150km) before it became a car.
TESTING THE SPRITE
Paul Ragbourne, in the final year of his apprenticeship at Longbridge, recalls that Austin had three prototypes, respectively red, white and light blue in colour, which were used for testing. Paul drove the light blue example from the factory to Halfpenny Green Aerodrome, near Bridgnorth, for grip testing. There was no disguising new cars on test in those days, so the car was driven there via a tortuous country lane route in an attempt to avoid other traffic. On one such journey, bump-steer manifested on a section of road with an adverse camber. This was cured by altering the ball-joint position. Paul says:
Off side of ‘QI’ with the hood in place. Photographed at Longbridge on 8 March 1957. BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY HERITAGE TRUST
Whilst working at MG, Bill Price took this photograph of Mark I Sprites in the Abingdon compound awaiting export.
The very early Mark I Handbooks had similar covers to those of Austin saloons of the day. By the end of the year, they had their own distinctive blue cover.
There I was, twenty-one years of age, being paid to drive a sports car round and round the airfield’s perimeter road as fast as I could. It was a high friction surface and the car really hung on. One lap, I heard a strange noise and pulled up: a section of the wheel rim had fractured away from the centre, causing the tyre to foul the bodywork. I changed the wheel and carried on. We were told to keep the car going as long as possible. It was up to the drawing office boys to sort out any redesign required, when the car returned to Longbridge.
There was a Wöehler test rig in Bernard Johnson’s shop that had come up from East Works. The redesigned wheels were put on that and subjected to a lot of stresses before we tried them out again on the car. I was allocated to two test drivers when the Sprite was run on the pavé at the MIRA test track. It was not much fun pounding round there so they were quite happy for me to do most of the driving whilst they sat in the rest room with a cup of tea and a cigarette. If I remember the first time out the car did not last long, with damage round the bump stops and severe fractures on the rear bulkhead.
Bernard, Austin’s Chief Experimental Engineer, also recalls the prototypes failing during pavé testing: ‘The constant pounding revealed a weakness where the bump stop hit the body, causing cracks to appear. I put the car up on the hoist to show the designers and they didn’t like it much either.’ He resolved an overheating problem that came to light during testing. The Austin prototype overheated when driven flat out round the MIRA banked circuit, but the Donald Healey-built car did not. The fan was moved nearer the radiator and a cowling added, so as to concentrate the air, but it still got too hot. Bernard put the Healey radiator, built by Coventry Radiators, in their prototype and it stopped overheating. Austin had used a different radiator manufacturer and their version was not conducting the heat away.
THE SALES BROCHURE
Aubrey Edwards, Austin Sales Literature Department Manager, always maintained that he needed twelve weeks in which to prepare a brochure for an impending new model. Trevor Taylor, Director of Marketing, usually only gave him six. Aubrey remembers the Sprite brochure as one of the first for which he was responsible. It was subcontracted to Hurston Design in Birmingham. He also freelanced for this firm and did a number of the illustrations and some lettering on his drawing board at home in the evenings. Once asked to name the typeface used in one section, he replied: ‘What typeface? That’s my handwriting.’
The front cover of the original sales brochure prepared by Aubrey Edwards.
Most of the illustrations were drawn artwork and only a small number of photographs were utilized. The cockpit shot was a photo of the prototype, complete with the Healey boat steering wheel and non-standard gear lever surround. The under-bonnet view was also a photograph, as was the illustration of the boot and spare wheel. Aubrey admits that was retouched; certainly, it makes access to the spare appear much simpler than it is in reality. He obtained the technical details from the various departments, then one of his team of copywriters put the wording together for the brochure.
One of the pages from the original sales brochure prepared by Aubrey Edwards.
The rear of ‘QI’, showing rubber-faced over riders and no number plate recess. The fuel filler and exhaust are reversed. BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY HERITAGE TRUST
Following the launch, Aubrey had to organize further pictures, so went with a photographer to Abingdon, where they were entertained to lunch by Syd Enever and John Thornley. They were then provided with a Sprite, which was photographed on a riverbank. Many of the girls featured in the early brochure and advertising shots for Austin cars were picked at random from the Longbridge office, but eventually photographer Ron Beach used professional models from a Birmingham agency.
Austin Healey Club stand at the 2008 NEC Classic Motor Show. To mark the model’s Fiftieth Anniversary, the club recreated the photograph in Geoff Healey’s book showing Sprites parked outside the Monte Carlo Hotel at the model’s launch in 1958.
One publicity shot of the time featured the apprentice photographer, John Chasemore, sitting at the wheel of a Sprite bearing the number plate MXH 181 with Celia Overthrow from the Austin Publicity Department, sitting on the back wing. John admits that this was a contrived registration that he made up by sticking the digits on a back plate with plasticine. The combination enabled the negative to be reversed to show the car as a left-hand drive example.
‘Q1’ headlights raised with the sprite badge between them. The side light lenses are flatter than the production version and there is an Austin Healey badge on the top of the grille surround. BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY HERITAGE TRUST
CHAPTER 2
THE FROGEYE IS BORN
The Austin Healey Sprite was introduced on 20 May 1958 priced at £678 17/- (£678.85p), including Purchase Tax. Early advertisements made great play on the fact that for the money it was: ‘Everything a touring car ought to be and yet costs no more than a small saloon.’ After one apparently false start, the production line proper started on 31 March 1958 and the first chassis number was HAN5 501. Manufacture ceased on 21 December 1960. However, a few of the very early vehicles were actually made before March 1958. At the end of the run, in January 1961, some completely knocked-down (CKD) examples were produced for export.
A rare surviving Body Production Windscreen Card, which was attached to the screen of each vehicle during its build.
CKD cars were exported in kit form to be assembled by local labour in the country to which they were sent. BMC had a separate department, off the Watlington Road at Cowley, next to the Pressed Steel body plant. Here, under the direction of the aptly name Mr Morris, all the components for these vehicles were collated. They were then crated up and transported to the docks to be shipped out.
The total number of Mark Is produced was 48,987 cars. It would seem that of these, only 8,000, just over 16 per cent, were built for the home market. In addition, 624 Innocenti Spiders, based on Mark I Sprite floorpans, were built in Italy.
Considering corrosion, from which unloved examples suffered badly, and accidents, one wonders how many still survive today. Over the twenty-year period he has been the Austin Healey Club’s Sprite Registrar, Bob Kemp has recorded about 3,500 Sprites on his list, of which approximately 2,000 have been Mark Is. But of course not every Mark I owner in the world is a club member, nor has recorded their vehicle’s existence.
DEALER PUBLICITY FILM
In March 1958, the BMC Publicity Department shot a promotional film at Silverstone about the Sprite. It was introduced by well-known motoring journalist John Bolster, who is shown arriving at the circuit gates in the pouring rain driving an Austin Healey 100 Six, to be greeted by a saluting RAC patrolman. Bolster then introduces himself and sets the scene in his own inimitable way:
My name is John Bolster, motoring correspondent and ex-racing driver. Today I have been invited to Silverstone to see something extra special, but I thought as I arrived the weather would spoil the fun. Waiting in the paddock was Roy Salvadori with the new Austin [pronounced ‘Orrstin’] Healey Sprite and extra special it really was. The great thing about the Sprite is that nearly all the mechanical parts are A35 components. The engine is a tuned version with twin carburettors.
Roy was as excited as I was and decided to try one fast lap. That was when I realized that the appalling weather could make little difference to the way the car handled. See how Roy takes the bends, no braking even in the wet.
Under the watchful eye of commentator John Bolster, Roy Salvadori sets off to drive PBL 75 round Silverstone in front of the film cameras.
The car used, PBL 75, was filmed in the paddock, then racing driver Roy climbed aboard and did his rapid demonstration lap of the circuit, probably filmed from the 100 Six. The closing shot shows Salvadori driving the car towards the camera, then away from it, before, deliberately one assumes, spinning it with a closing comment from Bolster: ‘Hey, come back!’ The film was used to promote the forthcoming model to Austin dealer staff.
Roy Salvadori corners PBL 75 for the promotional film, probably made in March 1958.
Stills from the film were utilized in a two-page advertisement on the inside and outside of the back cover of the 23 May issue of Autosport. The same issue carried Bolster’s first report on the Sprite and refers to himself and Salvadori driving the car at Silverstone. The layout drawings of the car’s interior may have made access to the luggage area behind the seats appear somewhat easier than it was in reality, but after all the object of the brochure was to sell cars. Following his Silverstone trip, Bolster wrote:
When Roy Salvadori and I were given a pair of prototype Sprites to make a film of the new cars, our first action was to dice them round the circuit. Afterwards I whispered ‘I’ve been revving mine at seven thou without bursting it’ and Roy confided that he had as well. Thus early on, the near-indestructibility of the Sprite was proved.
Some ten years later, Bolster admitted in print that, following the filming, he and Roy drove it to the local (probably ‘The Green Man’) for a beer. ‘I remember what a furore it created when we rather naughtily parked the Sprite outside a pub – it was supposed to be top secret then.’
Great Australian Bugeye aficionado Ray English with his car GWS 211. This is one of a batch of three shipped there in September 1958. Ray, who produces the excellent quarterly bulletin Marque One, has owned it since 1978.
THE LAUNCH
Keen to maximize the publicity from the launch of his new baby sports car, Donald Healey arranged for the model to be unveiled to the press in Monaco on 20 May 1958. The time and date were fixed to coincide with the Monaco Grand Prix, which would see a large number of the world’s motoring correspondents in the Principality for the race. Geoff Healey met a number of the British press boys at Heathrow and they all flew out together to Nice airport, from whence they continued by coach to Monte Carlo. On the journey they were provided with publicity handouts and photographs about the cars they would shortly be driving.
May 1958 – the gentlemen of the press about to take to the streets of Monte Carlo to road test the new Austin-Healey Sprite. BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY HERITAGE TRUST
Six vehicles, a mixture of both left- and right-hand-drive examples, were prepared for the gentlemen of the press to test around the streets of Monte Carlo. These carried Paris provisional registration plates: 1461, 1462, 1463, 1464, 1465 and 1466 WWO. These plates were to provide temporary numbers for new cars that needed to go on the road immediately. In addition, Donald and Tommy Wisdom drove out another, slightly tuned example, a yellow car with the plate YAC 740. The old factory records reveal the details of the six cars along with two other early examples, originally built for the 1958 Geneva and Vienna Motor Shows.
With the bonnet raised, it is apparent that prototype ‘Q1’ has vastly different inner wings, with a higher sill line and an elongated radiator filler. However, a significant difference to the production model is the lack of a pedal box. This prototype’s pedals were on two rails mounted on floor brackets with rods connected to cylinders in the engine bay, on the panel behind the driver’s feet. BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY HERITAGE TRUST
It would seem that two of the left-hand-drive cars were sold soon after the launch to AFIVA of Neuilly, near Paris – the French Austin importer. The right-hand-drive examples were returned to England and two were sold privately as second-hand cars. The further history of PBL 74 is detailed below. The two cars, intended for European motor shows, were:
Both of these motor show cars are described as having ‘red and white flashers’. It appears that neither vehicle made it to its respective show and they were probably diverted to development and tested to destruction, then ‘reshelled’ before being sold. However, note the original February build dates of these two examples. They were built very early in the production run.
