Midgets and Sprites at the show
1959 Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite – owned since 1989 by Dave Sewell.
Dave bought the car as an unfinished restoration project. During the 11 year project he changed the colour from Iris Blue to Old English White to match the colour scheme of his original frogeye owned in the 1960’s. Having decided to keep the mechanical specifications as original as possible, since being back on the road Dave has made some sympathetic upgrades including servo assisted disc brakes, gas struts to lift the bonnet and led lighting.
Within a month of completing the restoration Dave was involved in a major traffic accident almost resulting in the car being written off.
1958 Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite – owned by Alan East Jones
Owned by Alan for 5 years this is a very early ‘9 stud’ model – referring to the fixings holding the hood to the top of the widscreen. This method of hood fixing was only used from the launch in May through to September of that year.
Alan’s car boasts a later 1275 engine, disc brakes and an uprated camshaft. It is also painted in Jaguar Racing Green as used on the 1955 Le Mans D type Jaguar.
1969 MG Midget Mk III – owned by Antony Wood
This example of a Midget in need of restoration spent 37 years in a garage being buried by bits n bobs before Antony purchased it in 2016. As yet it is still in the process of being stripped down prior to a ‘solid’ restoration rather than a full nut and bolt job. As part of this Antony is hoping to return it to original specification including the Blue paintwork it left the factory with.
1500 EFI Midget – owned by Malcolm le Chevalier
Many members will be familiar with this car. Having owned the car for around 15 years Malcolm has converted it to fuel injection by using a ‘home made’ design. As you might expect there are many internal engine mods as well as upgrades to the final drive and brakes.
Innocenti Coupe – owned by Matt Wrigglesworth
Between 1961 and 1968 Innocenti of Italy produced 7651 cars in agreement with BMC. These cars were a re-bodied version of the Austin Healey Sprite, with a completely new bodyshell, based upon a similar floorpan, designed by Ghia of Turin. Of these cars only approximately 775 were coupe models, built during the last two years of production. The Innocenti Coupe was never sold in the UK and Matt imported his from Denmark in 2022. The body was (is) in need of restoration but came with several panels including a new bonnet. At the time of going to press we don’t have a picture of Matt’s car so interested members should come along to see it in person.
MG Midget 1969 Mk III – owned by Nathan Mann
The second of our 1969 midgets will be the focus of our main demonstration on the stand – the engine removal and clutch replacement. Depending on progress during the weekend there may be other – smaller jobs carried out.
