- Chassis # AN5-L/30747
- Engine # 9C-U-H/30320
- Highly Original, Matching Numbers, Time Capsule Example
- Successfully Raced In-Period
- Equipped with Stage 5 Special Tuning by Donald Healey From The Factory
- Finished In Factory Leaf Green Over Green Interior
- One Of The Most Historically Significant Sprites in Existence
- Known History From New Including Period Racing Photos

The Austin-Healey Sprite, known affectionately as either the “frogeye” in the UK or the “bugeye” in the US thanks to its headlights, is a small open sports car produced from 1958 until 1971. It was created as a replacement for the immensely popular pre-war Austin Seven as a low-cost sporting model. It was the world’s first volume-produced sports car to use unitary construction, a technique where the sheet metal body panels take many of the structural stresses. The Sprite used the 948 cc (0.9 L) A-Series I4 from the Austin A35 and Morris Minor 1000 upgraded with twin 11⁄8 inch SU carburetors. The result was 43 hp put through a four-speed manual transmission. The car had no exterior door handles and no trunk for maximum structural integrity.

The Sprite saw much race use, at first by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) Competitions Department, where it won its class on the 1958 Alpine Rally and the 12-hour race at Sebring, Florida in 1959. Private competitors also modified and raced Sprites with much success, a practice that continues to this day. Hagerty sales graphs show that first generation Sprites sell in the neighborhood of $20,000 to $30,000, making them a relatively affordable British sports car with unique looks that set it apart from the others.

This particular example, Chassis # AN5-L/30747, is a 1960 left-hand-drive Sprite finished in Leaf Green with matching green trim and a white hardtop. It is fitted with Engine # 9C-U-H/30320 which matches the Heritage Certificate. Unlike regular Sprites, this one was hopped up from the factory with Stage 5 tuning, which included a special exhaust manifold, twin tailpipes, ported and polished head, hot cam, different distributor, 9.3:1 flat top pistons, different valve springs, high-duty crankshaft, competition clutch, and a close ratio gearbox.

According to the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust Certificate, this car was delivered to the US on March 23, 1960, possibly via Donald Healey Motor Company Limited in Warwick. Additional equipment other than the tune includes a heater, “rev counter”, windscreen washer, front bumper, laminated windscreen, tonneau cover, and whitewall tires.

The car sat unsold in the showroom of the Walther Motor Company in Wilmette, IL for a year until Jim Bishop came along and became its first owner. Mr. Bishop set up the car for racing with a roll bar and a small windscreen, painted its telltale “bishops” on the doors, and regularly exercised it at local tracks. Mr. Bishop was also one of the founding members of the Midwest Region Austin Healey Club of America and a regular of SCCA races.

Mr. Bishop listed the Bugeye for sale in the January 1962 issue of the club’s “CHATTER” magazine. It was bought by a Theodore C. Meyers, who was then in his last year of high school and was a frequent attendee of local road races, with approximately 6,000 miles on the odometer. In the mid-1960s, Mr. Meyers was deployed to Germany and the car remained in the care of his mother, who frequently drove it around for her son before eventually listing it for sale in 1986.

It was sold to a Rick Page, of Libertyville, IL, who was informed of the car by William Thompson, then the National Club Historian of the Midwest Region Austin Healey Club of America. Mr. Page went on to own the car until 1991 when he and his wife had to sell it as they were expecting a third child. Mr. Thompson bought it from him and discovered that the engine had a stuck piston, given that it had not run since 1966. Upon further research, he called Mr. Meyers’s mother, who informed him that her son was still deployed in Germany and provided him with a P.O. Box address so that he may contact him.

Mr. Thompson wrote a letter to Mr. Meyers to learn more about the Bugeye’s history before eventually tracking down Mr. Bishop, the original owner, and reuniting him with his car at a monthly club meeting in 1992. Mr. Thompson told this story in the July 1992 issue of the club’s CHATTER magazine.

The service records currently on file start in April of 2011 when the Bugeye received new wheel cylinders, front drum brakes, and a few hoses from World Wide Auto Parts in Madison, WI. We also have some scans of photos from around this time showing what looks like an engine dismantling and rebuilding. In July 2011, it received a new green door seal, new ignition wires and fuel tank sending unit in March 2012, and a jet bearing assembly in April 2012. Later that same year, the carburetors were re-shafted and new brass jets and gaskets were installed.

When we received the car in late 2023, we entrusted Leading Edge Autosport in West Chester, PA to get it back on the road again. They flushed the fuel, changed the oil and filter, replaced the spark plugs, wires, cap, rotors, and points, changed the fan belt, adjusted the front wheel bearings, rebuilt the carburetors, installed new wiper blades and battery, and gave it four new Kinergy ST tires for a service total of almost $4,500.

As it sits, this Bugeye Sprite is a machine with a pedigree that bears the original patina of time spent on the track. It is overall in highly original condition with much of the original paint and interior still intact. The body still proudly wears its namesake “Bishops” painted on both doors along with racing number 13 decals on the hood and fenders. With just over 6,500 miles on the odometer and enough stories to fill a book, automobiles like this one are a sight to behold and a head-turner at any car show they attend. Out of the thousands of Bugeye Sprites produced, this is likely one of the most significant and interesting cars that left the factory. If there was ever a Bugeye Sprite to have in a significant collection of British cars, this would be the one to own.

Upon purchase, the new owner will receive the highly desirable factory hardtop, numerous photos of the car including period racing photos and those showing Jim Bishop being reunited with this car, the original driver’s handbook and special tuning handbook, the car’s Heritage Certificate, the service records on file, the CHATTER article detailing its history, and a traffic ticket dated December 11, 1966.

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