“I am very pleased to be able to advise you that, as of early April 2022, I became the proud new owner of the Ian Ashfield Blue Fastback 5116 HN. I have owned a standard cherry red Sprite -OAS 492 – for the last 13 years (which I still have) and have long been a fan of the Sebring Sprite Coupe. I have spent the last year, keeping my eyes open for one, finally falling for this beautifully built, specified, handling and presented car. It is absolutely stunning and draws admiring smiles and comments each time that I take it out. Actually, I was really looking for a car for mainly road use, so 5116 HN is over specified for the purposes I will put it to – but it is so nice that I couldn’t resist it. Obviously, I have the usual issues with the sidescreens wanting to take off, at speed. They have a strap attached to each, at the leading edge top corner, with a popper on the frame, but this doesn’t seem to work satisfactorily. I am currently experimenting with bungee ties (the ones with a ball on the end of the loop) which I have double wrapped around the roll cage, so that I can drop the strap behind it and pull tightly – which seems to be working. When my wife and I went to collect the car, from Ben at Mather Collectable Motorcars in Blockley, Gloucestershire, he also had Charlie Clegg’s 184 FGJ in the workshop, so I was able to take a snap of the two cars, together. Charlie (and his father Chris) were on their way to the Goodwood MM, that weekend. We were able to chat and compare the cars – including Charlie’s own, very clever, sidescreen solution. Thankfully, my wife found that 5116 HN was not nearly as loud as Charlie’s out and out racer – or I am not sure that she would have sanctioned the purchase. I knew that Charlie’s Sebring had one of the original aluminium fastback bodies on it, but hadn’t appreciated that his was the body from which the Archers mould was taken – and therefore from which my Archers Fastback body would have been created. The two cars are related! I am the Editor of “Headlines from Healey” magazine, the magazine of the Healey Drivers Club so I shall certainly be writing an article about my new acquisition. I am looking forward to taking the car up to Cheshire, for the Healey Drivers Club annual International Meeting in early May and to the Le Mans Classic at the end of June. All the best Martin, Regards, Rod Graham.”
