This car has some interesting features that point toward a Warwick or
Abingdon Competition origin. The Dunlop rear disc brakes are rareties and
are generally identified with a Warwick car. The 995 cc engine size is
indicative of the 1000 cc class limit in the four-hour Sebring race and
ex-works cars certainly passed through Inskip Motors. I'd feel a lot better
about it with a BMHT cert showing delivery of the body/chassis to Warwick .
"More Healeys" seems to indicate there was only one Sprite entered in the
4-hour in 1960, driven by Stirling Moss and earlier driven in the Targa
Florio. Stirling took the car to second place in the 4-hour and, according
to "More Healeys" the car was driven in the Alpine Rally in June 60 by Tommy
Wisdom and Jack Hay. It DNFd and was badly damaged on the return journey and
sold in 1960.
If I were in the market for this car, I'd want someone like Tom Kovacs to
look it over first. A number of small parts and the way things were done
tend to identify original works cars whether they were big Healeys or
Sprites. I wouldn't jump on this vehicle without a lot more proof.
The seller says this:
"...so this could be one of the original Pat Moss rally cars... or not. It
also could have been built for a private Sebring entry for the 61 race. Part
of the winning bidders fun will come from finding this out. "
Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. My idea of fun isn't paying 8 large plus to
find out if I have an original works car.
But if you can afford to gamble, I'm not going to stop you. My guess is
that this car will be around long after
the auction closes with plenty of opportunity to check out its provenance.
Then again, number of works cars in my garage = 0.
Rick
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