Pictured in the accompanying photo is a special 50th Anniversary commemorative boot badge mounted on my Sprite. That badge and a commemorative grille badge both were produced by the Austin Healey Sprite Drivers Club (of Victoria, Australia). If you’d like one for yourself or your Sprite, let me know. I have several available for sale at $30 each. They also can be purchased for about the same price, plus postage, from Colin Dodds of Sprite Parts.
Next Tuesday, May 20, marks the 50th anniversary of the introduction Austin-Healey Sprite to the public. Production of the Sprite had began on March 31, 1958, at the Abingdon factory where, except for about 1000 cars, all Sprites and Midgets were assembled. The introduction of the Sprite coincided with the Monaco Grand Prix, so British Motor Corporation staged the event in Monte Carlo. Several Sprites were available for reporters’ test drives. The car was an instant critical and commercial success.Between 1958 and 1971, BMC built 129,362 Sprites, with 48,999 of them being Bugeyes produced from 1958 to 1961. MG Midgets, built from 1961 to 1979, account for another 226,526 cars. If you’re counting, that’s a total of 349,888 cars (give or take a few) and I swear there still are gnomes out there somewhere producing Bugeyes – they just keep appearing.
While BMC intended the Sprite to be an inexpensive sports car and hoped for a follow-on success to the 100-6, Sprites also were raced extensively from the beginning, including many prominent races such as Liege-Rome-Liege, Monte Carlo Rally, Targa Florio, Nurburgring 1000km, Sebring, and LeMans, where they often were successful in their class. Their success was no doubt helped by prominent drivers such as Tommy Wisdom, John Sprinzel, Stirling and Pat Moss, Bruce McLaren, Walt Hansgen, and Briggs Cunningham, among others. Even today, Sprites continue to appear in many vintage racing events and there is more than one Sprite 50th anniversay commemoration race scheduled this season.
