Ok, so you know the story from the first page, but here it is in a bit more depth. This is a 1959 Mk 1 Sprite frogeye (bugeye) with either just under 40,000 original miles. Original engine. Not original colour (currently: red, original: old english white), not original interior (original: red, currently... not much remaining, but what is there is white) My brother (who is 13 and a half years older than me) got the car when he was 14, in 1969. He changed the seats to white, and started a colour change to blue (badly... he was 14!) including spray painting the dash and rear fender interior vinyl with blue engine paint. The car has been stored in a garage since the early mid 70s. He thinks 1973 or 74. Here are some pictures of where it was stored: He got the car when it had a small fuel fire (one of the rubber lines to one of the carburettors ruptured, and leaked fuel on the exhaust manifold). The woman who owned the car saw the smoke and shut the engine off, which killed the fuel flow and extinguished the fire. Damage was extremely minor... the fire did NOT melt the other rubber lines, nor did it bubble or damage the paint on the bonnet or the engine. There is a black smoke stain on inside of hood. It is still there. That's it. My parents gave the lady who owned the car a ride into town, and the woman thought car would never run again because it had been on fire. My brother offered her $100 for it, and she took it. After my folks dropped her off, they took my brother back to the car. He fixed the fuel line, and drove it home. He also drove it into a pole once. As the pole was secured into the ground with concrete, and the Austin was not, there was damage to the hood. It's been "fixed". But not really. The car went into storage in the mid-70s, as I said. He's been meaning to restore it for years, but... life. I just bought it from him and began stripping it down. FYI, I'm a trained bodyman, and I worked at a custom/restoration shop, so the metalwork doesn't bother me. I'm sure to have many questions about the Marque, and also about the technical aspects of the car. I have an Austin Healey parts book, and a Workshop manual. But there are always niggly little things. Here are some pics after I got her into my garage.
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AuthorMy name is Ash. Archives
September 2021
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