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Welcome to the Sprite restoration page
This was the biggest restoration I have attempted. I saw the car advertised as an Austin Healey Sprite barn find project in Norfolk that had last been on the road in 1981. Having seen the car, decided to take on the challenge and agreed a price, research into its history revealed it to be not an Austin Healey but an Austin Sprite.
During 1971, due to a contractual disagreement between British Leyland and Donald Healey, the last few months of Sprite production had all traces of the Healey name removed, hence the last 1022 were badged Austin and not Austin Healey. Future production would be limited to MG Midgets.
I don't have many early pictures, but you can get an idea from this one what a terrible state this was in when I started to strip it down. The more rusty metal I removed so the more I found. If you imagine that I ended up with the transmission tunnel and rebuilt all the car outwards from there you won't be far off the truth.
After 3 years in total of welding and grinding, albeit including a couple of breaks away from the project to refresh my enthusiasm, the bodyshell was finished and I set to spraying it in my garden.
Some friends that saw the finished car were kind enough to say they couldn't believe it could have been painted outside, but here's the proof.
It had 3 coats of etch primer, hammerite stone chip on the underside, and then finished inside and out with 5 coats of red cellulose, lightly rubbed down between each coat.
Once the body was painted the project really gathered some momentum as I could see progress with every part I fitted.
The front suspension was completely replaced with new parts, courtesy MG Owners Club; the steering rack rebuilt; new brake discs and calipers fitted.
The rear axle was checked, which was about the only part that turned out to be reuseable; new springs, shocks and brakes fitted.
I used copper pipes throughout for fuel, brakes and clutch plus stainless steel braided flexibles.
The engine was rebored by 30 thou, and the crank reground by 10 thou. All new pistons and bearings, new standard cam, new oil and water pumps fitted.
The head was reworked to convert to unleaded spec and the valve seats recut to triple profile.
The carbs were rebuilt with rich needles to match the improved air flow through the K and N filters and the tubular exhaust manifold and sports system.
The original colour of this car was green with tan trim...how lovely is that?
Very 1970's British Leyland, but too horrible to contemplate after all the work that had gone into this car, so I decided on flame red with magnolia trim supplied again by the MG Owners Club at Swavesey, Cambs.
It was all finished off with new hood and tonneau, plus a set of minilites with Yokohama tyres
In total it took 6 years to complete.
I kept most of the receipts and including the initial purchase price it cost around £6200 and absorbed around 1500 man hours.
I sold it in 2006 and recovered most of costs, which seems OK for a hobby. It certainly doesn't open up a new career!.