“SPRINZEL SPEAKING ~ SEBRING”
An article wich appeared in the First Quarter
edition of Ray English’s ‘Marque One’
magazine. One of many such items which appear in this
brilliant little journal especially published for
Austin-Healey Sprite enthusiasts.
THAT PMO REGISTRATION ADORNED A MIDGET
FOR THE 1970 RAC RALLY
[Maybe PMO No.10 according to “Spritely Years”]
Photos kindly sent in by Colin Barnett
RACING FROGEYE FOR SALE
on ebay at £6,000 (No V5)
& minus engine, box & diff.
or contact CCK: 01825 733060
LYNDON THORNE’S RACING SPRITE
Back in Nov 2015 I was contacted by Bob Kemp (AHC registrar) as he had been asked about the current whereabouts of Lyndon’s old race car – by Alistair Emson, who had various trophies from Lyndon’s racing days. Robin Leathart has confirmed he “bought the car to use for Hillclimbs , Sprints and odd races. It had no log book and was an out and out race car, very light and highly developed with coil rear springs, and Midget front and rear (bodywork). It had no log book or registration number and was a vibrant blue with an orange hard top. It was a fantastic car, really competitive and I had a lot of success with it”. It was sold to a young guy from the Midlands though Robin cannot be sure of his name. Can anyone get us any further?
Susan and I were among the multitude who attended Allan Cameron’s celebration service in Faringdon yesterday. The church was packed to overflowing with relatives and friends from his many and varied connections. His son Drew told how Allan initially did his training in engineering but really wanted to go into the family’s dairy business which he ran into the 1980’s. When the supermarkets robbed him of that he went into his second love, classic cars with the establishment of Old Dairy Classics where he specialised in Healeys and Morgans. Several of his cars were parked outside the hotel where the wake was held though his Sprites were absent. A much-loved man taken from us by cancer at only 64, he will be much missed by all his friends in the Austin-Healey Club, Bugatti Owners Club and at the Presott Hill Climb. I am sure his sons will continue to demonstrate his lovely cars on the hills in the years to come.
Pieter Bakker still has a few grid slots left for the Spa 3 Hours race on 23-25 June. 2/3 driver teams with 2 pit stops. If seriously interested in joining in, register at the foot of this page:- http://legendary-circuits.eu/spa-3-hours/
ALLAN CAMERON’s funeral takes place tomorrow 23rd Feb at All Saints Church,Faringdon, Oxfordshire at 2 pm.
TO BE OFFERED AT BRIGHTWELLS’ AUCTION IN HEREFORDSHIRE
on 2nd March is this wire wheel/disc braked Frogeye with Shorrock supercharger (not fitted).
Guide price £8,500 to £9,500
OFFERS SOUGHT FOR 2284 WD AND LENHAM GT
Jonathan Peck is retiring and has decided to sell his Mark 2 Sebring copy complete with old log books, other papers, trailer and spares. An (?)XSP engine is also available, as is his 1958 Mk1 Lenham Sprite with 248BXN-style bonnet. Phone: 07582 808054 OR Email him for details
THE SPRITE ROOM
Ray English’s museum of Sprite memorabilia located in Victoria, Australia contains just about everything relating to Bugeye/Frogeye Sprites.
Read all about it here.
NEW WEB PAGE ~
JASON ELLIOTT’S
TIFOSI SS
SEBRING REPLICA
BRUNO’S ART
While on holiday, and looking outside at the snow, Bruno Verstraete 
thought it a good time to try his hand at some artwork. He says: “Not Picasso level, but gives some sort of impression”. Well done Bruno – any more budding artists out there?
CAN YOU HELP? WHAT SNETTERTON MEETING WAS THIS?
Pablo Raybould is writing a book “on the complete race/rally career of Christabel Carlisle, with her help, and this meeting/appearance is one that we have no knowledge of. Christabel’s Sprite can be seen clearly in the paddock next to Mike’s. It is 1963 not 1964 (as Mike thought) as Christabel’s accident was 1963 and of course the car did not exist after that. It was Snetterton and Mike seems to think it was a Healey club event?” In the left-hand photo Les Arnold in EAO leads Garton at the same meeting. Feedback please.
RALPH ZBARSKY on 505 CYF
Hi Martin, thanks for the note and the amazing photos!! I am very grateful for any history on this car. I purchased the car from a fellow in California, I presume he imported it from the UK, and had done nothing with it. It was still a gastly purple-ish colour, with the 1275 engine. The engine tag translated to a ‘Warranty Replacement Gold-Seal’ engine, and was totally worn out. He had advertised it as a Lenham, and to me, it looked like Lenhams that I saw on the always-correct internet. A Lenham website co-ordinator thought it might be the Lenham prototype, based on discussions he had with some Lenham folks, but no proof. If this was built by the fellow from Wales, he did a fantastic job…… I think there are definite Lenham features, but have nothing to compare it to here…. Any further info/photos would be very welcome! Regards, Ralph.
DAVE MATTHEWS ON 505 CYF
As I recall Ralph contacted me many moons ago about this car and I spoke to Lenhams at the time. Iit appears they made a couple of these incorporating Spitfire windscreens in to the hardtop; one was for their accountant** who lived in Crowborough and for the life of me I cannot recall his name! The car has an early bonnet with no carb bump in it yet I believe it has a 1275 unit which should foul the bonnet! Based on a Lenham GT.
[** I think Dave is referring here to Tony Pay who was in fact a Crowborough solicitor, now retired and living in Scotland, who owned 347 RAL. MEI]
6943 MM ~ SPEEDWELL GT
I have now completed the re-vamp of this web page showing Richard Rooks’ unusual car.
A RATHER DIFFERENT LENHAM GT
Brilliant motoring photographer John Bowman sent me the above photos of 505 CYF which he took some “25 years ago at least on the mountain road B4407 Ysbyty Ifan not too far from Betws Y Coed. I remember it well and speaking to the driver seen in the photograph. He was a local lad who I believe lived in the village. He told me that he had built the car himself and I am sure claimed it was an own design. There are quite a few quite clever chaps in Rural North Wales and this could have been true but I honestly do not know. The car was maroon at the time and is still on the UK DVLA as a 1275 1961 Austin. I never saw it again and wondered where it was and if it still existed, please use the pictures if you wish and I do have a couple more taken at the same time”. The car today.
ARCHERS GARAGE CLOSES (10 February 2016)
Andrew Forster wishes to make the following announcement:
“Dear Martin and fellow Sebring Sprite owners,
It is a very sad day for me to announce that due to circumstances beyond my control I have to close the doors to Archers Garage Limited. The fire that happened a year ago to the day causing severe smoke damage to several cars and resulted in the insurance company claim which was drastically reduced due to it being under insured and then to have a major argument with a trusted customer to again lose a considerable amount of money has brought me to this decision. I would like to whole heartedly thank all of my customers from all the years that we have been in business for their support and friendship. I have been offered full time employment by Aldon Automotive in Brierley Hill where I will be working on classic cars. If any of you require any work to be carried out you can contact me there or on my mobile 0772 984 8213 or my email address . I still intend to continue to produce the Sebring panels and items that we already make, in my spare time from home. Again I would like to thank everyone during this time and hope to be producing many more Sebrings in the future. Andrew Forster”.
[I understand that Andrew will be processing the outstanding orders for pedal boxes, side-screens and other items over the coming weeks.]
SEBRING BONNET FOR SALE
Barry McCann is offering this bonnet located in Peterborough on ebay SOLD for £398 on 20 Feb
Peter Rogers once owned this Sprite with W & P Sebring bonnet. Bored to 997cc it had its exhaust exiting under the sill. Anyone know its history? Feedback
COMING SOON
I am going to prepare two ‘new’ web pages shortly. The first will be a re-vamp of the existing page on Richard Rooks’ Speedwell GT originally registered in the UK as 6943 MM, and the other will be on Jason Elliott’s Tifosi SS Sebring replica NMY 208.
SEBRING FRONT (& REAR) BRAKES
With the original Sebring fitment Girling Type 10 brake caliper being unavailable the accepted alternative has been the ATE (Vauxhall Carlton Estate rear) caliper. A similar to original adaptor bracket is needed to fit these to the Sprite Mk 1 stub axle, and suitable brake discs are machined-down Triumph Spitfire items. Sven Eckhardt has recently supplied this set-up to Ken Grasing in the USA and has offered to supply others at cost plus 10%. If interested you can contact Sven by email. You will also, of course, need a pair of Sebring front hubs. Sven has also made an adaptor to bolt the Rotoflex GT6 backplate to the Frogeye backaxle and should be able to supply the bits for an 8″ rear drum conversion in the (near) future.
NEW DHMC Mk 1 HARDTOPS
Staying with Sven Eckhardt in Germany, and his recent offer to have a mould made to re-produce DHMC hardtops, he has now obtained a quote of 1000 Euros to get one of his hardtops to a mouldable state and another 2500 Euros to make the mould(s). The cost of a new hardtop would then be about 700 Euros to which Sven would add his 10%, plus 10% of the tooling cost bringing the hardtop to 1050 Euros (about £800). On top of this will be needed the rear screen, rubber, brackets and clamps. A conservative guess is to add 300 pounds for these items.
If still un-daunted please contact Sven by email or come through to me via Feedback
A TECHNICAL QUERY ~ CAN ANYONE HELP ON THIS ONE, PLEASE?
“At the moment I am about to rebuild my Midget ribcase gearbox (1275/late type). Can you tell me perhaps for which tolerances/mesh 1st and 3rd motion shaft in relation to laygear I should look out for? In the original workshop manual only endfloat for laygear is mentioned, but nothing about forward/aft mesh from motion shafts into laygear…” Wolfgang Bankowski.
BODY MOULDS FOR SALE [NOW SOLD] Remember that special body Mike Youles created for Meredith Hutchins – well the fibreglass moulds are up for sale on ebay. [Understood to now be with Dominic Mooney
of Midland Classic Restorations ~ 20 Feb 2016]
TWO NEW ARTICLES FOR YOUR DELECTATION
Kindly supplied by Alan Anstead these are, firstly one from Classics Monthly Oct 2005 featuring 4 Sprites including Alan’s Sebring. Please note John Carrington should read (The Late) John Larrington. The second one is from an American Magazine Sports Car International March 2005 edition. The picture of John and Alan, was taken after lapping the Ferrari Test Track at Fiorano, Italy.
MY SPELLING SUITABLY CORRECTED ~ I KNEW SOMEONE WOULD HAVE THE ANSWER!
MAZAK [edit] “In the early 1930s Morris Ashby in Britain had licensed the New Jersey zamak alloy. The high-purity refluxer zinc was not available in Britain and so they acquired the right to manufacture the alloy using a locally available electrolytically refined zinc of 99.95% purity. This was given the name Mazak, partly to distinguish it from zamak and partly from the initials of Morris Ashby. In 1933, National Smelting licensed the refluxer patent with the intent of using it to produce 99.99% zinc in their plant at Avonmouth”. David Scothorn
{As we know Mazak unfortunately tends to become speckled with minute holes beneath any chromium plated finish applied and satisfactory re-chroming is not easily achieved. However it served its purpose in its day didn’t it?]
SPEEDWELL DOOR HANDLES
Remember those handles offered on ebay last month. Well they were produced by Terry Cartwright in New Zealand. Terry wanted a set for his Mk1 Midget and having searched the web without success decided to make a set using measurements from an original, plus various photos. He then had a mould made and several sets cast. Terry runs a restoration shop in NZ and believes anyone who buys these handles will be pleased with the quality. They are available at £280 a pair plus carriage (As a guide he says he sent a pair to the US for £30)
Contact Terry Cartwright by email or use my Feedback page and I will forward your enquiry.
N.B. a pair of original Meyzak (? spelling) ones fetched £510 on ebay last year!!
SVEN ECKHARDT has kindly offered to make a mould from one of his 2 DHMC hardtops so that Andrew Storer can have one – subject to the likely cost being acceptable.
CCK MONTHLY UPDATE
WANTED ~ DHMC HARDTOP FOR ANDREW STORER’S FULLY RESTORED FROGEYE (below)
Andrew’s car now has some period style upgrades – Minilites, adjustable rear levers, disc brakes, anti-roll bar, Mike Lempert steering wheel, and a tuned 1330 engine. Does anyone have a DHMC hardtop they would be willing to sell him? Alternatively, does anyone know how feasible it might be to convert a BMC accessory hardtop to take the taller side-screens? I think the basic profile is almost the same. It might be easier to find one of those. Feedback please.
Allan Cameron
I was very sorry to hear, initially from regular fellow Healey hill-climber Pat Cooper: “Had a call from Drew Cameron this morning with
the sad news that Allan had lost his brave fight with cancer and died at home last evening. He was a great pal to us all, we will miss him very much. Pat Cooper”. And from David Morys: “It is with regret that I have to tell you of the death of Allan Cameron at the weekend. He had been unwell for some time though you wouldn’t believe his stamina and one must feel incredible sadness for his wife and family. As you know he was an Austin Healey specialist and extremely knowledgable on the subject and built and raced cars with his two sons and was a very proud grandfather as well as an excellent competition secretary at the Bugatti Owner’s Club. He will be missed amongst the Healey fraternity and the family at Prescott”. We all send our sincere condolences to his wife, Carol, his sons Neil and Drew and the rest of his family.
JOHN BAGGOTT
has asked me to offer these 3 books for sale. Contact me on Feedback if interested, or phone him on 01892 862656 (UK)
“Austin-Healey” by Geoff Healey a (favoured) US edition
£40 plus postage
MGB Super Profile
by Lindsay Porter
£15 plus postage
Spridget Profile
by Lindsay Porter
£15 plus postage
