812 UYS – To which Mike Authers replied: “Hi Martin, Many thanks for passing this on. Unfortunately I’ve been unable to find out a date of when the steel bonnet was modified or if it had any connection with the J and S bonnet. I was emailing with Ray English but he’d no information. I’ve been unable to trace anyone who worked at Blackheath SA. All I know is the first owner Ralph Clarke was the engineering director and did other steel bonnets and rear ends on normal BMC cars for their local market. There’s a slight confusion on the caption of white Sprite photo outside Stanley’s in South Africa. This isn’t my car. I sent it to you out of interest as it’s taken days after the launch of the Sprite and the passenger is Ralph Clarke the original owner of my car. My car was produced until November 1958. This white car has a standard steel bonnet and the brackets you spotted were for spotlights that are shown in another photo I have. Kind regards Mike, Mike Authers Classics Ltd”
And another from Peter Wescott to Mike Authers: “It appears I went a bit early, I didn’t realise the bonnet of 812 UYS was steel, not glass. It is though the same shape as the J&S bonnet for which the earliest image I have is 1961. I wonder which was the chicken and which was the egg? Do we know when 812 UYS was fitted with its current front? Maybe it was a Works prototype but then how did J&S come up with the same shape? Also, for what it’s worth, we had a local competition Mk2A Sprite that also had a vacuum catch tank but it was discarded after a few events as it provided no tangible benefit. It’s an interesting idea that’s supposed to let the engine rev more freely. By the way Martin asked about the brackets on the front of the car when it was still a Bugeye, it looks in that photo outside Stanleys that it’s a standard shape glass front, forward hinged (not T handle) so perhaps they’re part of the hinge arrangements? Best Regards Peter Westcott”
Peter Westcott to Mike Authers: “Looking back at some old posts on sebringsprite I saw Mike Authers’ Blackheath car 812 UYS with its fibreglass bonnet which isn’t unique but is now rare, it is an Australian J&S product. Martin posted some J&S info on the website just a couple of days ago”.
My apologies for the lack of updates during the last 6 days. This was due to my web hosting company having made some updates to their ‘platform’ after which I could not upload anything. Hopefully now remedied. I have added various notes on DHMC hardtop fitting, steering wheels, etc, some of these lower down the page in the August listings.
ANOTHER INTERESTING STORY SUPPLIED BY PETER WESTCOTT IN AUSTRALIA:
Hi, Martin. I won’t be sending you every single thing about every single modified Sprite but I think this one fits in with the ’Special Sprite’ flavour of your site. It’s a piece (from Sports Car World Nov 1961) about the BRIAN FOLEY Mk1 that achieved third overall in the local GT championship in 1961. The specialness is that the engine was built using Paddy Gaston’s bits, including a FJ cam, and the car is fitted with wire wheels, front disc brakes and larger rear brakes (possibly not Riley 1.5, which didn’t come to Australia, but the locally produced Wolseley 1500/Morris Major/Austin Lancer units) which could be Healey special tuning parts? The body has alloy door skins, fibreglass bonnet, is fitted with a J&S ’Small’ hard top and the general presentation of the car is very much in the Special Sprite mould of the cars on your site. As far as I know Brian is still around but will be in his late eighties. I think he’s still in Sydney so maybe one of your Sydney contacts could chase him down if you want to find out more about the car? Best Regards Peter Westcott.
Link to the story.
