Origin

Conceived during the early months of 1956 at a meeting between Leonard Lord and Donald Healey, to fill a gap in the market left by demise of the MG midgets, which were 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 a gap in the existing market.

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© Copyright 2024, John Bowman

The target was to produce a sports car for the price of a Morris Minor - around £600. Primary responsibility for the new sports car was 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 acheived with the cheeky looking car, which rapidly became known as the Frogeye (UK) or Bugeye (USA) due to the headlights standing up on top of the bonnet.

Components from the BMC store had to be used with the primary donors being the Austin A35 and the Moms Minor.

The first Sprites, with chassis numbers beginning AN5, were built in 1958.

Despite its small size and low powered engine, the Sprite had considerable competition success partly due to its exceptional handling.

Although often overshadowed by the Big Healeys, the Sprite offers fair performance and excellent handling with a smiles per £ ratio at least as good, probably better than its big brother.

Later cars had chassis numbers commencing HAN 6 etc, the H indicating Healey. MG Midgets used GAN, and the Austin Sprite AAN.

Design

Chassis/Body

The design was revolutionary for a sportscar, as there was no separate chassis, the floor pan, sills and transmission tunnel providing the strength.

In 1962 when the Mk2 was released, a new version, the MG Midget Mk1, joined the range. As there was no MG version of the Frogeye, the A-H was always 1 version ahead; for simplicity the details below always refer to the Sprite model.

Engine

The Mk1 and Mk2 Sprite engine is the four cylinder 948cc version of the BMC A series which started life at 803 cc in the Austin A30 and was used in many BMC models through the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s including the Morris Minor, Mini, Marina, Maestro and continued in 1275 cc form until the last Mini was built in 2000. Later Spridgets continued to use this engine in 1098 and 1275 cc form.

Brakes

Drum brakes were used on all four wheels until the introduction of the 1098cc Mk2 when discs were fitted to the front.

Variants:

The Mk1 can be split into 2 versions; early cars which are distinguished by the 9 studs along the windscreen frame to secure the roof, and late which have a bar in the leading edge of the roof which fits into a slot in the windscreen frame. This change improved the seal and prevented rain leaking over the top of the screen.

At around the same time, the range of colours was revised, flexible side screens were replaced by perspex sliding windows, the rear shock absorbers mounted in a more upright position and extra stiffening added to the chassis.

The early Mk2 was basically still a Frogeye underneath, but with a more modern body, the front styled by the Healey Company, and the rear by MG, which included an opening boot (trunk). A Healey prototype was built with a Mk2 front and Mk1 rear.

The late Mark 2 were upgraded to the 1098 (10CG) Engine in order to provide increased power.

The Mk3, retained the 1098 engine, but with larger big end bearings. This is known as the 10CC engine. Also, the quarter eliptic rear springs were replaced by more conventional semi eliptic ones, and improvements to comfort were made including wind up windows.

The next upgrade was the Mark 4 with the 1275cc engine, giving a further increase in power.

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© Copyright 2024, John Bowman

The final version was really still a Mk4, but was sold as the Austin Sprite, due to the withdrawal by British Leyland of agreements with outside companies (eg Healey, Cooper). This is the rarest of all the variants with only 1022 being built.

Sprite production ended in 1971, with the MG Midget continuing until 1980.

All models are 2 seater, convertible with 4 speed gearbox.

• Mk1, AN5, Frogeye, 1958, 948cc, early (nine stud) windscreen.
• Mk1, AN5, Frogeye, 1958-61, 948cc, late windscreen. 49,616 Frogeyes built in total.
• Mk2, HAN6, 1961-62, 948cc, 'Spridget', 24,631 built.
• Mk2, HAN7, 62-64, 1098 10CG engine. Front disc brakes replace drums. 14,097 built.
• Mk3, HAN8, 1964-66, 1098 10CC engine (larger main bearings), semi eliptic rear springs, wind up windows 25,906 built
• Mk4, HAN9, 1969, 1275cc, 20,357 built
• Mk4, HAN10 1969-70 Facelift model, including rear 1/4 bumpers inplace of full width, Rostyle wheels, reclining seats with headrest slots, 1,411 built.
• Mk4, AAN10, 1971 Austin Sprite, 1,022 built.