Ithe sports cars to emerge

le, the Austin Healey, Sprite. Much of its visual

-^^f, character, in its Mk1 form,stemmed from what in fact was its basicugliness. Cost control enabling the car toslot into a popular price bracket and arequirement to meet lighting regulations,universally, determined that the luxury of

pop-up headlamps was outside thespecification. Similarly it was consideredthat a lid to gain access to its cavernousboot was an unnecessary luxury.

Geoff Healey's design was based on aformula where vehicle mass, material andproduction costs, plus power to weightratio and the resultant economicalperformance were prime factors in thesuccessful reintroduction of low cost sports

// T

39

car motoring to the general public. Therewere Fairthorpes, Falcons, Elvas, Marcos,Turners and such like in the market, at thetime, but none were rolling off purpose builtassembly lines at a programmed hourlyrate.

Introduced in May 1958, the 'Frogeye' asit is now affectionately known was poweredby a twin-carburettor version of the alreadywell proven BMC 948cc A-Series engineand running gear from the Austin A35model range.

True to British sports car tradition andpractice, it was not long before the car wasengaged in club, national and internationalcompetition. Inevitably the specialsts werealready devoting their attention to tunedversions and elements of 'body tuning', inparticular hardtops and alternative bonnetswere appearing on the market. In parallelwith this 'open' market activity, Healey fromtheir home base at Warwick had mounted acompetition programme of their own, whichwould prove successful.

North America in the 50s and 60s was ahighly lucrative market for European sportscar manufacturers, in particular for Triumph,MG and Austin Healey. Sales promotionrelied heavily on the sporting appeal of thethree marques and their ability to performreliably and competitively in both rallies andcircuit racing.

The name Sebring was foremost in theAmerican sports car enthusiasts dictionary,the Florida airfield circuit hosting, annually,America's international status longdistance, 12 hour sports car race. In 1960the organisers introduced an additional fourhour race for the small capacity GT cars.Because of a wealth of top line race driversbeing on hand for the '12 hour', there wasnaturally an overspill of this professionaltalent into the shorter distance event, oftenduplicating their 'works' drives.

The importance of this Floridaappearance can be gauged by the ten carBMC entry spread across the two races in1961. In addition to three Warwick factorySprite entries for the four hour race,Londoner John Sprinzel entered two of hisSebring Sprites to run in both the 12 and 4hour races. The driver 'pull' that thesespecially prepared Sprites attracted can bemeasured by the names who were lined upover three years. Walt Hansgen, BruceMcLaren, Stirling Moss, Pat Moss, PaulHawkins, Briggs Cunningham, InnesIreland, Pedro Rodriguez and SteveMcQueen are just a few that found theirway into 'works' and 'special' competitionSprites over the years.

The interwoven connection of John

But it is not all steelwork.

Sprinzel, with Healeys at Warwick, withSpeedwells, with body shell men Williamsand Pritchard and Speedwells withaerodynamicist Frank Costin, contribute tothe eventual development and theexistence of Sprinzel's Sebring Sprite.Costin had worked on that classic shape,the Lotus Elite, and this was reflected in theSprinzel Sprite top.

PMO 200 tested by Autosport's JohnBolster in February 1961 sported a glassfibre bonnet, aluminium skinned doors andaluminium bonnet, GRP seats and a GRPhardtop. A 62bhp rally engine revving to6000 rpm was fitted, the gearbox hadstandard ratios. Stopping power wasprovided by Girling discs and Dunlop shod13 inch wire wheels supported a carweighing around 12cwt. Weighing, in atapproximately 2cwt lighter than the

1

Just add the finishing touches.

That is what you call replication.

standard road going hardtop Sprite. Thecar's exceptional road holding capabilitieswere aided by an almost perfect 50/50weight distribution. A Sprinzel Sebringcould be specified with one of four steps ofengine tuning, 55, 62. 70 or SObhp, thelatter were based on engines increasedfrom 948cc to 995, and the SObhp unit wasa full Formula Junior (single sealer formula)engine with a special crank. Sebring Sprite,registered S221, which is just being rebuiltby Brian Archer, is the ultra lightweightexample driven by Stirling Moss at Sebringin 1961. It has an aluminium tail and evenwith its 12 gallon tank and spare wheelstowed, only weighed 11.75 cwt.

The Sebring Sprite, a separate model anddistinct from the Sprinzel car, was createdby the Healey Motor Company, made up ofengine and body tuning parts directlyrelated to those successfully used by theHealey 'works' team in the Florida races.

40 Sebring Sprite

The combination in the Sprinzel car of itsWilliams and Pritchard fibreglass/aluminiumbodywork, the highly tuned Formula Juniorengine, at a total cost more than doublethat of the normal road going Sprite, addedup to - exclusivity - only six were produced.Brian Archer's replication of the SprinzelSebring Sprite is closely related tocustomer and supplier Brian Wheeler.

Basically the two Brians collectivelyproduce the components which provide apotential customer with a number ofapproaches to the ownership of a Sebringreplica, from a kit of components to a nearfully built car. All the parts have beenfaithfully reproduced using componentsfrom one or other of the original six cars aspatterns, including the ex Andrew Hedges,Cyril Simson and Ian Walker cars.

Power potential is an interesting subjectand affords the widest choice, starting with

traditional A Series. First, all the knownvariations of the day when the original sixwere used in road and circuit competitions,are available. Then you can explore thedevelopments of A Series, up to the presentday, in blown or unblown form up to andincluding 1480cc. Beyond this there areTriumph engines that will fit under thebonnet, including Dolomite Sprint and a few'foreign' four cylinder devices that could beeasy to live with, and their five speedgearboxes. But, in the case of the latter,don't expect to gain approval or drawadmiring glances from the purists.

Archer's Garage prime function is that ofa restorer, mainly Austin Healey, but alsoMG and Triumph.

A digression into the world of originalSebring Sprite caused Brian Archer toreveal some of the physical anddimensional anomolies encountered in

ABOVE & BELOW: Traditional skills go intothe Wheeler and Davies cars.

Sebring Sprite 41

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