1961Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite Review and Buyer's Guide

Awell-driven lightweight Sebring Sprite is quite capable of worrying a LotusElite on the race track. Who’d have thought it?

by ThorThorson

In1958, following the Austin-Healey 100, Donald Healey and BMC (British MotorCorporation) teamed up to introduce the little Sprite. Speed parts were soonavailable from tuning firms, most notably Speedwell Performance Conversions. Thefirm also collaborated with Frank Costin and the Williams and Pritchardcoachworks to produce a number of lightweight body components, including the “Monza” bonnet and theSpeedwell Sprite GT fixed-head coupe. Sprites were campaigned in the mostimportant rallies and sports car races, with particular success at the Sebring12 Hours, where three standard-bodied Sprites swept the podium in 1959. Aslater described by John Sprinzel and Tom Coulthard in Spritely Years, “SebringSprite” was a catch-all term for racing Sprites homologated under FIAguidelines in 1960, with various upgrades and other modifications, includingbodywork.

The1961 Sebring Sprite offered here is listed within Spritely Years as having beenoriginally fitted with lightweight alloy door skins and rear bodywork. It wasfirst owned by Jack Wolchover, an English rally driver of note who competedwith it in the October 1961 Bournemouth National Rally, the March 1962 BoltonRally, and then a number of club events. The Sprite found its way Stateside,where it was restored by Jeremy Bowkett and raced by Peter McLaughlin. At the1996 Monterey Historics, the Sprite achieved a podium finish with Stirling Mossdriving. As offered, this car is fitted with a fiberglass bonnet and a lift-offhard top, as well as being fully sorted with Tilton clutch and brakeassemblies, an ATL fuel cell, and Minilite racing wheels.

This1961 Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite Review and Buyer's Guide appeared in theJune, 2010 Issue of Sports Car Market Magazine.

  The SCM Analysis 

Thiscar sold for $44,000, including buyer’s premium, at RM’s Automobiles of AmeliaIsland Auction in Floridaon March 13, 2010. All net proceeds benefited the Amelia Island Concoursd’Elegance Foundation, Inc.

Thiscolumn will endeavor to address those burning questions that lurk somewhere inthe back of every vintage racer’s mind: “Just what is a Sebring Sprite, anyway?How are they different from a garden-variety Bugeye? And why are they worth somuch more money?” If these hadn’t been haunting you, hopefully this mishmashwill now keep you awake at night.

Let’s start with someBugeye basics

Inthe late 1950s, BMC and Donald Healey decided there would be a good market fora true entry-level sports car, something that was tiny, cheap, and fun, to sellto the rapidly expanding post-war British market. They came up with the Sprite,which was introduced in the spring of 1958. It was a very innovative design,using stressed body panels as part of the structure, similar to the D-typeJaguar, and it was the first volume-production car to try it. The peculiarfront design was the result of an intent to incorporate pop-up headlights inthe bonnet. With an eye to keeping costs down, the idea was dropped but the lightsstayed where they were, thus the “Bugeye” (“Frogeye,” if you’re a Brit) look.The car was an immediate success both in the U.K.and in America.They weren’t fast (43 hp stock, 80 mph top speed, 0–60 mph in 20 seconds), butthey were an absolute giggle to drive and cheap enough (about $1,600) that theywere accessible to virtually anyone who could fit in one. The early BabyBoomers learned about sports cars in them.

Amateurmotor racing was just coming into its post-WWII glory years, and some internationalracing exposure for the car was an obvious marketing approach, so BMC workedwith Donald Healey to build cars to compete at the Sebring 12 Hours in thespring of 1959. Healey immediately saw a chance to create a smaller version ofhis 100M competition car with alloy bodywork and the like.

Huge power increase, arelative term

Themoney people at BMC wouldn’t go for it, though, so a team of four stock-body“Sebring Sprites” was prepared. The engines got bigger SU carburetors andgeneral race mods to produce a whopping 57 hp (don’t laugh, that’s a 33%increase from stock), close-ratio transmissions, and a lightweight fiberglasshard top. The other big change, and what really defined these four, is thatthey received four-wheel Dunlop disc brakes and wire wheels. Wire wheels mostlyallowed for quick tire changes, but the brakes were a huge advantage—theSprites could virtually out-brake everybody in the race. All four cars went toSebring but only three raced (the fourth was a spare) and they finished 1-2-3in class. The Sprite, from then on, had serious racing credibility and the term“Sebring Sprite” came to mean “race car.”

Overthe next few years, both the factory and independent speed merchants(particularly Speedwell of north London)developed a number of racing modifications. Williams and Pritchard (also in thearea) worked with John Sprinzel to build a more aerodynamic fastback hard top,and though I don’t think it was on the published options list, the factoryproduced door skins and the rear body in aluminum. It was not exotic, mostly amatter of putting an alloy sheet instead of steel into the body stamping press,then pop riveting the result onto the subframe, but it saved significantweight. Building the one-piece bonnet from aluminum never caught on; fiberglasswas the preferred way to improve aerodynamics and save weight up front.

FIA vs. SCCA specs makethe difference

Acritically important distinction needs to be mentioned here. All race car prepis done in accordance with specific rules, and since the 1950s there have beentwo very distinct sets; the European way (well, really the rest of the world)via FIA rules, and the American way via SCCA rules. For international races(like Sebring) the FIA rules apply. At the time, FIA rules for productionracers allowed “alternative bodywork” to be used, mostly alloy and fiberglasspanels. The SCCA’s approach was “if it came off the showroom floor with steelbodywork, that’s how you’re going to race it.” The result is that there can bea substantial difference between a car prepped to SCCA racing rules and one toFIA rules. The FIA cars are what we generically call “Sebring Sprites.” Most“Sebring Sprites” never raced in Florida, oranywhere in the U.S.,and some only did rallies.

Thereisn’t a lot of difference between a well-prepared SCCA-spec Bugeye and aSebring Sprite in today’s vintage racing world. There’s no difference inhorsepower or gear ratios, and nobody uses wire wheels to race. The onlyfour-wheel disc brake Sprites were the original 1959 Sebring cars; everythingafter that went to a Lockheed disc front and an eight-inch drum rear, whichworks just as well. The FIA cars are allowed to be a bit lighter (150 lb, as infiberglass bonnet and alloy door skins) but most U.S. clubs aren’t inclined tonotice that kind of thing, so both the experience and the lap times areeffectively the same. The difference is collectibility. The whole SebringSprite idea is that it was originally built for international competition, andthat gives it a cachet that somebody’s entry-level club racer just can’t have.In the marketplace, such a distinction counts for a lot.

Justhow much might surprise you; $25,000 is all the money in the world for anexcellent vintage racer Sprite, but depending on history and specific cardetails, a Sebring Sprite easily can be worth multiples of that. The 1959Sebring winner is the most iconic, with a reputed value well over $100k, andthe 1961 class winner sold a year ago for close to $70k with a disappointedseller. Our subject car doesn’t have much period history, but it is alegitimate FIA racer that came with “factory” aluminum body panels and has beensuperbly prepared as a vintage racer. Combine that with the fact that theproceeds went to a good charitable cause, and I’d say the car was fairly boughtand sold.

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