>Bugeyes were raced at Le Mans in 1960 (says the text) or 1961 (says the
>picture caption), though you would be hard-pressed to recognise them as
>Bugeyes from their external appearance; they had special bodywork. One of
>them was special from nose to tail and looks remarkably like something
>Lotus might have built, albeit with covered headlights in the wings.
That's probably the Falcon-bodied Sprite. Is the windscreen abysmally large
for such a small car? (Yet another reason to hate the French.)
>Wire Wheels and the Le Mans option: I find no mention of the "Le Mans
>option" at all, though there are some pictures of Bugeyes with wire wheels,
>and, since the manual is copyrighted in 1962, and the pictures are of
>Bugeyes in competition _before_ the Mark II Sprite came out, they had to
>get the wire wheels from _somewhere_ ....
Okay, guys, I have actually *seen* a verified-by-Clausager factory
Sebring Sprite, in original condition (terrible, actually, but it was
thirty years gone). Here are the differences:
- Wire wheels, but not Spridget wire wheels.
- Front disc brakes, but not Spridget front disc brakes. (Read More
Healeys: Frogeyes, Sprites and Midgets for the low-down.)
- 1-1/4" carburettors instead of 1-1/8, on a manifold with a fabricated
balance tube between the two custom pieces of pipe that hold on the
carbs
- A cute Olde English "S" stamped into the cylinder head, preceding
the serial number
- A wood-rimmed steering wheel with the lightning-flash in the center
- A factory hardtop
- Right-hand drive
- Internal engine and transmission upgrades not visible to the naked eye
One of these showed up at the Healey Store about four years ago and I
got to investigate it with Gary. The owner, John Gridley, had previously
worked for Kar Kraft -- as in the people who built most of the "special"
Fords in the Sixties, such as the Boss 429 Mustangs, some of Ford's Can-Am
cars, and the Le Mans specials -- and was also a Healey enthusiast from
way back. He owned the most perfect stock Bugeye I've ever seen, and he had
bought this Sebring Sprite after authenticating it as one of the Warwick-
built cars that had been sent to the States to compete in the Sebring
12 hour race, I can't remember which year. (And yes, Dale, if you're
still reading this, this was the John Gridley who was Symbolics' CFO
for a year or two, which is how I met him.)
>There was also a "Sebring Sprite." It had a special bonnet with a similar
>"snoot" to the second Le Mans car, and the headlights in the wings, but
>this time the headlights were not covered.
If you'll refer to Geoff Healey's More Healeys (previously cited), you'll
find that Warwick, which is where the Healeys had their shop, built a number
of Sprites for various purposes. Basically, here's how they broke down:
Sebring Sprites: Originally as I described, the Sebring Sprites later took
on special bodywork to distinguish them from the Spridgets they had become.
Stirling Moss was a regular driver of Sebring Sprites, both in the 12-hour
endurance race and also in the 4-hour race for GT cars. In later years,
Sebring Sprites became fastback coupes using bodywork that was shared
with the MG Midgets driven by Roger Enever and others.
Targa Florio Sprites: Built for the Sicilian classic road race around the
40+ miles of the Piccolo Circuito Delle Madonie, these cars used alloy
body panels, full integral roll cages for support, were typically open
and were given serial numbers beginning with TFR. TFR6, the last such
Sebring Sprite, was considered by many drivers of the day to be the
best-handling production-based sports car in the world. By this time
it was based on the half-elliptic chassis, used four shocks in the rear
(two levers plus two low-damping tubular shocks), and had perspex covers
over the wing-mounted headlights.
Le Mans Sprites: Originally designed as coupe forms of the Targa Florio
Sprites, the Le Mans coupes soon took on their own shape in the wind
tunnel, looking eventually like a cross between an Opel GT and an Alfa
Giulia TZ, only prettier. In their final form, the car that contested
the 1968 Le Mans 24-hour event had a top speed of 148 mph down the
Hunaudieres, turned in an average speed of 105 mph (down from 111 the
previous year due to a chicane added to slow the GT-40s at one point),
and returned 22 mpg during the race to win not only their class but
also the Index of Thermal Efficiency. The engine of the 1968 Le Mans
car was a 1275cc overbored to 1293cc, sported an aluminum 8-port
crossflow cylinder head, and used Lucas petrol injection to deliver
120 bhp in endurance trim. This car still exists, in the hands of
Stan Huntley of FASPEC, and is rumored to be nearing restoration for
its debut at an upcoming Monterey Historic Auto Races. (In addition,
Stan keeps threatening to reproduce the head for customers.)
This list leaves out such specials as the Super Sprite, the alloy-bodied,
restyled prototype using the 1100cc Coventry-Climax engine
>Colors: The Olyslager manual gives the following as Bugeye factory
>paint colors:
> Leaf Green
> Cherry Red
> Old English White
> Iris Blue
> Nevada beige
Miq, do you still have those color swatches available, and are they
meaningful on any system other than an Iris? :-)
>The aluminium trim strip around the cockpit opening
>was _not_ covered with anything, though I have seen a couple of
>"restorations" that have covered it.
It's popular to do so. The excuse I always hear is, "Well, if you
drive with the sun at your back, the glare will blind you unless you
cover the strip over the dashboard." Yeah, and if you leave the top
down it messes up your hair, too. Buy a Honda, fercrissakes. :-)
>Now, for extra points, have you ever seen an Innocenti 950?
No, but will a 1300 do?
--Scott "Gotta get a car with an A Series again one of these days" Fisher
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