Newbie with a '59 AH Sprite

[Rex Schimmer]

Except I think it is a Farmal B not an A. My personal preference is the Farmal M or Super M which is next on my list of things to own.

Back to land racing!!!!

Rex

[warspite]

Except I think it is a Farmal B not an A. My personal preference is the Farmal M or Super M which is next on my list of things to own.

Back to land racing!!!!

Rex

1952 Super A.  My grandparents bought it new.

[warspite]

This weekend I'm dragging this '59 Austin Healey Sprite home.  It has been a racecar since the early 70's...set up for autocross and road courses. But I want to take it to the salt in a few years.  It has a race prepped 1100cc engine.
Anyway, I can't wait to get it home and get to work on it.

Hello Warspite and welcome to the forum.   If your location permits attending Speedweek, you might consider attending & checking out the Milwaukee Midget's I/GT MG Midget.

Reading through his whole build diary (Yes, all 189 pages) will prove useful as well, at least you'll know what you're in for.

Race-prepped 1100 eh?  My advice is to strip it down to bare bones to determine just what it is, and, what condition it is in.   Don't trust that it will "probably be OK to run".   Better to find out any bad news on a teardown, than to drive over broken parts.  Just my 2 cents . . . . . . .

Choose your engine displacement & class wisely, so you are not @ the bottom of possible performance in a displacement bracket/class.   LSR is tough enough, you don't need to smack your head against a concrete wall too . . . . . . .      Again, just my 4 cents . . . . . .

Fordboy

It will be interesting to see what has been done to the engine.  The owner says he has receipts going back to the 70's for the work done to it.  I haven't seen the car in person yet, only pictures.  So we'll see.

Milwaukee Midget's thread is inspiring and sobering all at the same time!

[warspite]

Might as well post the rest of the pictures that were sent to me.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Milwaukee Midget's thread is inspiring and sobering all at the same time!

It's unusual to see any form of the word "sober" used with respect to my work.

I'll take it as an ill-informed compliment.    

[Peter Jack]

It looks to me like the finish on the trailer is already prepared for the salt! 

Pete

[Graham in Aus]

Wow! real 70's time warp, Grabbers!

Love the ram tubes, and what's going on with the brackets off the rocker cover? some sort of elaborate HT lead holding system?

Looking forward to this one!  

[Tman]

Ooooh - a Farmall A-Series!

Now THAT's a TRACTOR!

The depth of knowledge within this group never fails to amaze me! 

Pete

Or the depravity!

[wheelrdealer]

Warspite:

I love it. But I have a thing for orphan race cars. I have never seen a bugeye with its eyes removed. Cleans up the front end real nice.

Some Camaro is missing its T shifter handle.

Welcome and looking forward to following your build.

PS:
M Midget holds the record for thread pages per cubic inch at 188 last I looked. I bet there is a lot in his thread that will help you.

BR

[Milwaukee Midget]

I have never seen a bugeye with its eyes removed. Cleans up the front end real nice.

Bill, I agree.

Actually, when the Sprite was under development, the plans called for flip-up headlights, similar to what eventually appeared on the Opel GT.  They were unable to make it happen at the price-point Healey and the BMC guys were looking for, so the very characteristic that gave the car its nickname was a "plan B."

Warspite's car is very similar to how Donald Healey wanted the car to look.

http://www.ado13.com/

[Milwaukee Midget]

This car is actually the MG EX179 which was a hand-me-down to Healey after MG put together the EX181.  Healey shoved a 948 Sprite motor in it and used it for testing and promotional use.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/b-m-c-does-it-again/query/austin+healey+sprite

MG and Healey go way back on the salt.  There were Healeys at Bonneville before there were small block Chevys.

[Stainless1]

This BE Sprite held the I/GT record at Bonneville in the late 70s.  Ran about 98 I think

[doug odom]

If someone will tell me how to post a picture, I will show you what I did with my 59 Sprite.

Doug Odom in Big Ditch

[kiwi belly tank]

WOW! That really is a period race car, it'd be a shame to throw all that away.
How about we rattle the bushes n see if we can find you an undesirable stock one to hack up?
 Sid.
 

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Here's a photo of Doug's car.  I include the text of his email.  He sent the whole package to me to post for him.  I dunno, maybe it's him being an old Navy guy  (you were Navy, right Doug?) that he had trouble posting it.  Whatever - here 'tis:

Here is a photo from 2004.

"This is what I did with my 1959 AH Sprite.

Doug Odom in Big Ditch

ps  Yes I will see you guys in two weeks."