Registration No: 101 APY
Chassis No: AN5/47846
MOT: Exempt

Motor Car Location: Northampton

• Built on 5th September 1960 but not despatched to supplying dealer Murray & Charleton Ltd until 14th April 1961
• Owned by Captain David Carr who served aboard the Cunard QE2 ocean liner from 1963 - 1971
• Retained by its next keeper for forty years prior to entering the current family ownership in 2011
• Partially restored in 1970 including the fitment of a GRP bonnet and understood to have covered just 43,821 miles from new
• Last MOT certificate expired during 2014 and now in need of restoration
• Offered for sale with V5C Registration Document, British Motor Industry Heritage Certificate and sundry paperwork
• Originally finished in Leaf Green with Green upholstery
• Pleasingly retains its original North Yorkshire registration number

Thanks to its prominent, bonnet-mounted headlights, the original Sprite quickly became known as the `Frogeye'. The little two-seater, designed by the Donald Healey Motor Company and built by BMC at the MG factory in Abingdon, was launched in Monte Carlo immediately prior to the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix. The unique, one piece bonnet covered a mildly tuned, 43bhp 948cc version of the BMC `A' series engine already found in the Austin A35 and Morris Minor. The suspension featured coil springs and wishbones up front, quarter elliptic springs to the rear and lever arm dampers all round. The construction was `integrated' rather than a full monocoque and employed forward projecting chassis legs of the type used in the D- and E-Type Jaguars. The specification was minimal, there being no exterior door handles and no boot lid. Some 49,000 Frogeyes are said to have been built between 1958 and 1961, when the model was replaced by the more conventional-looking MKII Sprite. The Sprite was quickly adopted for competition by privateers and the Works team - the latter's first major success being the win of John Sprinzel and Willy Cave on the 1958 Alpine Rally. The cars proved handy on the race track too and to this day can be found in sprints, hillclimbs and autotests.

For more information, please contact:
James McWilliam
james.mcwilliam@handh.co.uk
07943 584760