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Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite
| Make: | Austin Healey | Model: | Frogeye Sprite | |||
| Body Style: | Convertable | Engine: | 998 straight 4 | |||
| Year: | 1961 | Band: | 2 | |||
| Seating: | 2 | Transmission: | 4 spd Man |
Austin Healeys cult baby car. Low on comforts high on fun.
The Austin Healey 3000's diminutive little brother, the Sprite, has captured hearts around the world. The trademark protruding headlights, hence the nick name "frogeye", were actually an afterthought when it was decided that a design for retracting units were decreed to be too expensive to produce. Other indications of cost saving exercises, which again enhance the character of the car, were the lack of external door handles, a one piece 'clam shell' bonnet and a boot which did not open but needed to be accessed through the cockpit! All of these budgetary constrains did however produce a very affordable route into sports car ownership. At its launch in 1958, the sprite cost £455.
Utilizing parts from other BMC creations, mostly the Morris Minor and the A35, Donald Healey's Frogeye Sprite, with its 998cc engine could top 80 mph and return 45 mpg, respectable figures for 1958. Naked of any luxuries, such as seatbelts, wind up side windows or a retractable soft top (weather protection is provided by a Heath Robinson affair, which when disassembled stores in the boot, not unlike a modern Elise!), the car is a mechanical and raw experience, which is hugely rewarding to drive. Thin tyres, a low centre of gravity and two and a third turns, from lock to lock on the steering, provide tremendously entertaining road holding. The modesty of its performance is more than made up for by the impression of speed, which is easily two fold that of the reality!
