1963 White Austin Healey Sprite available in Northwich for £21,995.

Description

The Austin-Healey Sprite was a small open sports car which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1971. The Sprite was announced to the press in Monte Carlo by the British Motor Corporation on 20 May 1958, two days after that year's Monaco Grand Prix. It was intended to be a low-cost model that "a chap could keep in his bike shed", yet be the successor to the sporting versions of the pre-war Austin Seven. The Sprite was designed by the Donald Healey Motor Company, with production being undertaken at the MG factory at Abingdon. For the 1963 Austin-Healey Sprite, things got a bit bigger and more powerful, but only slightly. This model of the Sprite is powered by a 1098CC 1.1-liter straight-4 engine. It produces a max horsepower of 56 at 5500 rpm and has a compression ratio of 8.9:1. Like the 1961 model, the transmission featured is a 4-speed manual. The 1963 Austin-Healey Sprite has a top speed of 88 miles per hour and can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 21 seconds. So, not much change from the original, but you can tell the company was trying to find ways to make this beloved car even more exciting for buyers. It should be noted that the mark II models were where the company really started to modernize things. While the second generation of the Sprites was a tad bit more advance than the first, there were only slight improvements between the two. The Mark II announced at the end of May 1961[8] used the same 948 cc engine (engine code 9CG), but with larger twin 11⁄4 inch SU carburettors, increasing power to 46.5 bhp. A close-ratio gearbox was fitted. The bodywork was completely revamped, with the headlights migrating to a more conventional position in the wings, either side of a full-width grille and a conventional bonnet. At the rear, styling borrowed from the soon-to-be-announced MGB gave a similarly more modern look, with the added advantages of an opening boot lid and conventional rear bumper bar. The addition of the boot lid required the introduction of squared-off rear wheel arches to retain enough metal in the rear structure to give good rigidity. The result was a much less eccentric-looking sports car, though at the expense of some 100 lbs extra weight. In contrast to the 'frogeye', the later cars are often collectively referred to as square-bodied Sprites by enthusiasts.