Phil Gardner: “I completed my build in the Autumn of 2017 and used the car for two seasons with Healeysport, with a modicum of success. I put hours of work into the Sebring and I will hate to part with it!! I built the Sebring to replicate the Peter Clarke “Peel” bodied JT 51. The car is built onto a 1959 Frogeye shell, a car that I had owned for quite a while prior to my decision to build a Sebring. It was built as a fast road car but with the intention of perhaps trying a hill-climb or two!! The car is now purely used on the road and I have had to change some of the setup to make it friendlier to drive on the roads. It has a 1310cc engine with Omega cast pistons on a standard crankshaft, a Piper BP285 camshaft and 1.3” roller rockers on a stage three big valve head. It runs twin 1.5” HS4 carbs and a Maniflow inlet and exhaust system. Once run in it was put on the rolling road and had 101bhp at the flywheel. The flywheel and clutch are 7.5” MED lightened and balanced. The front suspension remains modified to 400lb springs, 25% uprated shock absorbers, adjustable top trunnions, with the Peter May top arm kit. The roll bar is 11/16th. The rear suspension has been returned to road specification as it was too soft for the road. The car has front disc brakes and Riley rear drums as per the original cars. It also has a Sebring type pedal box and master cylinder setup. I used to run with either a 4.2 or 4.5LSD Diff, but it now has a 3.9. The car has a full roll cage and was originally fitted with Cobra Classic one piece seats. Currently I am changing these back to standard Frogeye seats but with the exact colour match.During lockdown I decided to build another Hill-climb car, this time for competition use only and with significantly more power. This car is Ashley based and runs a 1380cc engine with multi-webbed Steel crankshaft, forged Omega pistons, Arrow rods and Weber power 45DCOE. An altogether different beast!! I have had two good seasons with it.
