Description
1960 Austin-Healey Sprinzel Sebring Sprite by Peel Coachworks
A genuine Sprinzel Sebring Sprite Coupe with exceptional competition history
Estimate
£18, 000 - £24, 000
Registration No: 2214 UE
Chassis No: AN5/ 43849
MOT: Exempt
Understood to be the first Sprite to be entered into an international event as a 'Sebring Sprite'
Driven by John Sprinzel and John Patten to a class win and third overall on the Liege-Rome-Liege Rally in 1960
Rebodied by Peel Coachworks in late 1961 to full Aluminium 'Sprinzel Sebring Sprite Coupé' configuration
Displayed on the Sprinzel stand at The Racing Car Show 1962
Purchased by lifetime BRDC member Mike Reid in 1962 and then driven to a second in class finish at the Nurburgring 1000km race
In the ownership of the late John Tizard since 1972 who painstakingly restored the aluminium bodyshell
Eligible for several historic racing events including the Goodwood Weslake Cup
The name 'Sebring Sprite' can be traced back to early 1959 when the Donald Healey Motor Company was commissioned to prepare a team of three Austin-Healey Sprites for the upcoming race at Sebring, Florida. All painted Speedwell blue and fitted with newly developed disc brakes when the standard cars were still equipped with drums all round, they were entered for the 12 Hour Grand Prix D'Endurance that year. With an all-American driving team, the three Sprites were so successful that they place 1st, 2nd and 3rd in class and hence Sebring was forever associated with the diminutive roadster.
In John Sprinzel and Tom Coulthard's book Spritely Years, Coulthard remarks that the description has always been a topic for much debate but states:
"The mechanical specification included many modifications and special parts, principal among which were disc brakes at a time when the standard car still made do with drums. A 'Frogeye with discs' is a useful basic definition of what a Sebring Sprite was - and it may be as well to establish a simple definition, for confusion set in during the early 'sixties and is now virtually pandemic, with almost every Sprite book or article published seeming to add a little. The complications are undeniable, though: there were Sebring Sprites with standard-shape bodywork and Healey works cars with disc brakes; and there were other alloy-bodied Sprites. Put simply, not every Sebring Sprite was an alloy coupé nor every alloy coupé Sprite a Sebring. Clear?"
There is no name that is more closely associated with the Sebring Sprite than John Sprinzel. During his time with Speedwell, Sprinzel employed Frank Costin (brother of Mike) to design an aerodynamic front-end and hard-top for the Sprite and a later stint at the London-based operation for the Donald Healey Motor Company lead Sprinzel to homologate upgraded cars as the 'Sebring Sprite' with the RAC. After huge expenditure paying Sprinzel's racing bills, Donald Healey ended the relationship and Sprinzel established John Sprinzel Limited where he would go on to build a new shaped body again designed by Costin. His newly-designed Coupés were entered appropriately into the Sebring endurance races with stars Stirling and Pat Moss at the wheel and this created the demand for a run of 5 or 6 to that specification. Sprinzel also oversaw the creation of several more of his Sprinzel Sebring Sprite Coupés including similar cars built by Peel Coachworks rather than Williams and Pritchard.
Genuine Sprinzel Sebring Sprites are few and far between and demand remains at an all-time-high thanks to events such as the 2022 Weslake Cup at the 79th Goodwood Member's meeting which was specifically for A-Series engined sports cars that raced between 1958 and 1966.
More information to follow.
