With the Classic Car show at the NEC Birmingham being cancelled this year, I made the decision to award the Brian Archer Trophy established by the late Ian Ashfield, to Dave Marriott who is in the process of completing his new Sebring. Below is his story:
“I started the build in 2012 after I found a 63 Mk 2 Sprite walled up in a garage in Leicester. I was going to use this for the basis of the build, but after speaking to Gordon Ellwell one day who said he had a bare tub from a ’59 Sprite with ID and loads of history (he got it from a deceased spinster’s estate) and as I knew I was going to alter it from standard I decided to use this instead of the Mk 2. The tub was rotten and wanted a lot of work so I bit the bullet and ordered a new monocoque from Brian Wheeler. After a long wait (nearly 2 years) it turned out to be the last he did before retiring and selling up.
We moved house in April 2014 so the project was put on hold for quite a while. I picked up the tub in July that year along with a Sebring pedal box. I then ordered the bodywork from Andrew at Archers Garage along with a pair of alloy doors and hinges. I picked them up from Andrew in Feb 2015 after the fire at Archers. First job on the tub was to weld in fixings for the roll bar and alter the tunnel and cross member to accept both standard gearbox or a Datsun Rivergate set up I had found. While I was waiting for the tub to be made I had refurbished/rebuilt all the suspension, axle, petrol tank and steering ready for the rebuild. I’m not a bodywork man at all so I contacted Halls Garage at Bourne to see if they would fit the body onto the monocoque and prepare and paint it for me. This turned out to be a good move on my part as Jason at Halls had found some problems, mainly the alloy door fit on drivers side and bonnet alignment at the bulkhead.
He also said fitting the rear window was in his words “ a right B@%&ARD “. I finally decided (changed colour 3 times) on Old English white with a red tartan stripe. Halls did a fantastic job on the body and paint and I love the colour. I purchased a few bits from Peter May, rear link arms, front link arm kit , panhard rod kit, braided front and rear brake hoses and clutch and oil gauge pipe. I also got a pair of Peter May lowered rear springs and a 3.7 diff from Martin Ingall.The engine is a Marina 1300 bored to 1330, fast road cam & duplex timing gears, high lift rockers etc. with a 45 DCOE Weber on a Maniflow inlet and Maniflow exhaust manifold and system. The seats are Healey replica bucket seats trimmed in black with tartan red carpeting, finished off with a 15” Les Leston steering wheel. There are still a few tweaks in the pipeline to do but really chuffed with how it has turned out”.
