AUSTIN-HEALEY SEBRING SPRITE

Year of manufacture 1959/2008 Recorded mileage 13,043 Asking price £26,500 Vendor Bill Rawles Classic Cars, Four Marks, Hampshire; tel: 01420 564343; www.rawlesclassiccars.co.uk WHEN IT WAS NEW Price £679 Max power 48bhp Max torque 52lb ft 0-60mph 19 secs Top speed 83mph Mpg 34

This Sprinzel Sprite replica was built up in 2008 using an Archers kit on a rot-free Californian import, which already sported a hardtop. Fit and finish is very good, and there are no cracks where glassfibre meets steel. The floors and sills are excellent, and the spring boxes are sharp and solid. There’s a Panhard rod on the back, along with stronger Peter May halfshafts, and at the other end it wears Frontline Developments telescopic-damper suspension, plus disc brakes that now have separate master cylinders for front and rear circuits. The Minator wheels are unscuffed, shod with Avon ZTS with lots of tread, and the same on the spare.

Inside, it’s almost as new, with fresh carpets, dash covering and seat leather plus a Moto-lita wheel, and there’s a rollbar with harnesses, too, and a fire extinguisher. There’s an FIA electrical cut-off outside on the scuttle.

Under the glassfibre clamshell, which saves a few pounds over the original steel front end, is a 1310cc Mini Sport motor, based on an A-plus block, that’s been dynoed at 98bhp @ 6000rpm. It wears a single 13/4in SU carb plus a 2-litre aluminium oil catch-tank, and there’s a spare coil on the inner wing. Behind it is a Ford Type 9 five-speed gearbox (which will have put back the weight lost by the bonnet). The oil is clean and to maximum, the coolant greenish.

Converted from pull-knob to button starter, it fires with an enthusiastic burble. It’s a little delicate to get off the line because the clutch pedal is right on the floor and the short-throw ’box is sticky when cold, but soon improves. With the extra power, the overdriven fifth is most welcome: it happily cruises faster than most moderns, with 3000rpm giving just over 70mph. Steering is super-direct with no play, giving the car a very agile and pointy feel. Oil pressure is the expected 60psi and temperature steady at 160ºf.

Great to drive, eminently hillclimb-able and, though no longer original (or FIA race eligible), it’s slightly cheaper than a restored standard car and will be sold with an MOT until March 2019.