Beschreibung:

Registration: 994 DTA Chassis Number: AN524345 Engine Number: 8G10/R/J6585 Number of cylinders: 4 CC: 998 Year of Manufacture: 1959 RHD/LHD: Right Hand Drive
Bought by our vendor in 1990 and prepared for Rallying with regular success Laid up for 10 years until 2006 when it was rebuilt as a 'Sebring Sprite by the late Brian Archer New fastback, bonnet, roll cage, Bill Richards engine, CR box, discs, alternator etc Several years sprinting & hill climbing. Won the Phil Meek Handicap Trophy in 2010 Engine fully rebuilt by Race Techniques in 2013. Not raced since The Austin Healey Sprite was conceived during the early months of 1956 at a meeting between Austin's Leonard Lord and Donald Healey, to fill a gap in the market left by the demise of the MG TD and TF Midgets, which had been replaced by the larger MGA. The go-ahead was given for Donald Healey to design a small, inexpensive and fun sports car capable of filling the gap in the existing market. The target was to produce a sports car for the price of a Morris Minor - around £600. Primary responsibility for the project lay with Geoffrey Healey, son of Donald, with the chassis designed by Battle Bilbie and the body styled by Gerry Coker, the designer of the Austin Healey 100. The design had to be simple and inexpensive to produce - and this was certainly achieved with the new 'Sprite' which with its cheeky looks and smiley face rapidly became known as the Frogeye Those of us with grey hair will remember the days when Club Motorsport was just that, a bunch of enthusiasts using their day to day transport for Autotests, sprints and hill climbs. The gradual addition of big-bore exhausts, lowered springs, an extra carburettor or a skimmed head made all the difference to your times and an extra 8bhp on top of the original 42 was significant. The nimble Sprite naturally fitted well into this lifestyle and readily responded to the growing number of performance parts advertised in magazines like Car and Car Conversions. However, no matter how your Frogeye went and handled, or how smart it looked, your world would have been turned upside down by the arrival of John Sprinzel's simply beautiful Sebring Sprite. The Sprinzel Sebring Sprite Coupé was introduced to the world at the London Racing Car Show in January 1961, and whilst only six examples were originally produced, two of these were raced at Sebring in 1961 in the hands of Pat (S221) and Stirling Moss (PMO 200) thus enhancing the marque's pedigree. Lots of attempts were made, in period, to give the Austin Healey Sprite a competition advantage, some less than successful and some like Lenham and WSM did very well, but none ended up as revered as the John Sprinzel cars. Archers Garage located in Oldbury, nr. Birmingham has been long associated with British Sports Cars and re-created the pretty, streamlined hardtop and bonnet in the early nineties from an original Sprinzel car. Their work includes routine servicing of customers' cars, production and assembly of Sebring Sprite body sections and, occasionally, complete cars. Brian Archer had wanted to re-produce John Sprinzel's very pretty streamlined Sebring Sprite for some years and was finally able to do so in the early 1990s. The hardtop from the original WJB 707 and a good Sebring bonnet were the basis for the creation of the moulds, and from these many fibreglass replica parts have been produced and marketed for 20 years. Incidentally, Archers are the only company to have gained John Sprinzel's approval. This is the story of a Leaf Green, Austin Healey Sprite dating from 1959 that had been leading the sort of normal life that Frogeyes do until one day in 1990 it became part of a new family. In our vendor's words, “Our family bought “Kermie” in 1990 after one of our daughters fell in love with Frogeye Sprites at a race meeting in Silverstone. The car was rebuilt for rallying, competing in all manner of events. Starting from Berlin in 1992 we were in a class winning position in The Monte Carlo Challenge, when, high up in the Savoy Alps, the engine blew up…big time! Later, it went on to finish 2nd overall in the Speed Sport Night Rally Champio