1962-67 MG Midget and Austin-Healey Sprite

by Gary Anderson

Go flat out and never worry about a ticket.

In the mid-’50s, as the costs of Austin-Healeys, Triumphs, and MGs began to increase with each new model year, Donald Healey saw a niche opening up for a car that would be fun to drive, inexpensive to own, and “small enough to store in a chap’s motorcycle shed.” From that inspiration was born the Austin-Healey Sprite, introduced in 1958. In its first “cheap and cheerful” form, it used simple body panels, had no outside trunk lid and was powered (if 35 horses can be called power) by the Austin 948-cc A35 engine. A grinning oval grille and two headlamps fastened to the bonnet gave it a bug-eyed look that has endeared it to classic car collectors out of all proportion to its actual utility. In 1962 a new and improved model was released, with the fenders, hood and trunk lid of a real car. It even had bumpers. Nevertheless, the Sprite Mk II was built on the same chassis and used the same floor pan, bulkhead and doors as the Bugeye. More significant, British Motor...