1960 Austin Healey austin-healey

Sprite Convertible

4 - Cyl.

Manual

Gasoline

You are bidding on a 1960 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite. This car was featured in the Austin-Healey Club of America magazine “Healey Marque” last June. The article “Rescued from the Crusher” relates the story of this Bugeye languishing in a Houston man’s garage, not seeing the light of day for forty-two years. The story goes on to explain how the owner had passed away and his estate was going to junk the car if no one made a quick offer. The Sprite was saved, and the rescuers were amazed at its low mileage and original condition. In spite of its shabby appearance, the body has not even a pin hole and less that 29,000 mile on the odometer! The ownership changed hands a few times before I got hold of it. I was genuinely excited to have an unmolested time capsule from the Sixties in my possession. It took me back to my youth, when a tired old sports car could be had for a few hundred dollars and nursed back to health on a shoe string budget. A good scrubbing revealed a worn out paint job that has peeled off in many places, leaving surface rust on the bare metal. The floors, A-posts and rockers are completely solid, and there is no evidence of collision damage, just a few minor dents. The interior looked to be completely original, but has been mostly removed due to its unpleasant odor. The dash is still covered in the now faded dark blue vinyl that the factory used to trim the interior. The fifty-one year old seats are in very good shape. The bumpers and other bright work are in need of re-chroming or replacement. The windshield is just about perfect and still sports a 1968 Texas inspection sticker. The gauge faces are very nice and they all work...in fact everything on the car works. The wiring harness is in really good shape. The gas, brake and clutch pedal pads show no wear at all, which makes the mileage claim quite believable. Actually, I have many weeks of hard work invested in making this survivor run again. New 165/80-13 steel belted radial tires, muffler, fan belt and radiator hoses have been installed. Naturally, the brakes and clutch hydraulics required a major overhaul. The valves were lapped and the cylinders were honed before starting the engine. The starter, voltage regulator, wiper motor and generator came to life with no coaxing, but naturally, the fuel and water pumps had to be replaced. The motor still had the original cast iron water pump! I replaced the gas tank, which had an incredible amount of crud in it. Judging by the position in which the sending unit was frozen, the tank was full when parked in 1968. It turns out that the gas tank was the source of most of the foul smell coming from the car. I suspect crud in the fuel line is what took this car off the road. This Healey has some interesting period modifications. It appears that the car never had a heater…I suppose that you don’t really need one in Houston. The front (not shown) and rear bumpers have crash bars, the seven inch front brakes have been replaced with eight inch brakes from a 1960’s Morris Minor, and an anti-sway bar has been installed on the unusually tight front suspension. Best of all, the engine has a Judson supercharger! I have been going to Austin-Healey shows for twenty years and have only seen one of these on a Sprite. It makes the usual upgrade to a later 1275cc engine completely unnecessary, and “oh, the bragging rights!” This Sprite runs very well, with 135 psi of compression and upwards of 70 psi of oil pressure. The clutch and smooth case gearbox work nicely. Bugeye handing is legendary, and this car is no exception, with no play in the king pins. I have replaced the original fan with a later eight bladed model to insure optimum cooling. The Morris Minor brakes stop the car better than the discs on my other Bugeyes. My little jewel still needs a new top, interior, paint and other appearance items to be considered fully restored, but is perfectly drivable. Here is your chance to own and enjoy a truly unique Austin-Healey for well under $10,000. For more information, contact me at mmcphail@austin.rr.com . Good luck bidding!