Two for the price of one! That famous (or infamous, depending on your view) sales pitch definitely applies here based on this craigslist ad sent to us by frequent finder Peter R. Buy one 1968 Austin-Healey Sprite, get a second free (and get a bunch of new parts as well. This garage find deal is located in Amesbury, Massachusetts and the pair are going for only $2,500.
Unfortunately we only get four pictures of one of the two cars, but we can see that it has been stripped down to bare metal and there’s not a lot of bad stuff showing. The usual Spridget rust at the bottom of the front fenders is there. I’ve repaired that before and it’s not too bad of a job.
The second car is said to be “very rusty” and is probably a parts car. I’d still like to see it, along with the $6,500 in new parts the seller says they are including with the projects. They must be in a huge hurry to sell to discount things that much.
You certainly can’t say you haven’t seen underneath this project before purchase! Note the size of the tool box compared to the car; these are genuinely small automobiles. My very first real car was a 1969 Sprite when I was 12 years old; Dad started me young. We had it restored and sold by the time I was 15 and then the Triumph obsession started, but I still put a great many miles on a 1970 Midget at one point when it was my daily transportation. Spridgets are hard to beat for their simplicity and fun per dollar; I think this would be a terrific project for someone in the Northeast. Any takers in Barn Finds land?
I am too tall to fit in a spriget. However, I have worked on many. My wife just had to have a Midget. In 1974 or so, I found a 1970 at a good price. A friend who was a mechanic also wanted to buy it. In 10 days or so my wife called and stated the clutch had failed on her way home from work.
I didn’t want to replace the clutch.Before picking her up, I called the other would be buyer and sold it. He knew it now needed a clutch.
My wife asked who was towing the Midget; I stated thay I didn’t know or care, since it had been sold. She went back to driving a Spitfire or a Fiat 850.
It’s no secret that to own a Sprite or Midget, the sale of the car will come with a stash of parts. It’s really just the only way to keep ’em on the road, unless you have a shop account with the likes of Moss, et al. I have just moved my two projects (a 65 and 74 Midget) and with each car came a flatbed with stake sides attached to include all the parts. I’m glad to see shiny metal on the first car, painting Spridgets is super easy if you have the rotisserie and a three day weekend. Wonder if the rotisserie comes with these two?
Having helped others restore/refurbish Spridgets and Bug eyes in the past. I am at it again as my neighbor passed away 4 weeks ago and left his almost 16 year old son a completely rotted out Mark III Sprite to “fix-up” for his daily driver. After convincing his son (and mom) that the only way it makes sense is to use a different tub and “transplant” the vital organs into the new car. We (more like I) am on the quest again for parts. I already have to 2 MGs at the moment and was hoping to get down to 1. That project is on hold until we get junior on the road.
As an aside comment. We went to the Dixon (CA) British car show and swap meet to not only look for parts. But to properly baptise Luke in things british. We were only able to find a couple of things needed as we were a couple of hours after opening and missed a few. But I was totally impressed with the vendors at the swap meet. They were not there to make a profit. They were there to make sure that their spare parts were going to someone that could use them. The typical conversation was “what do you want for that tail lamp?” answer, “are to trying to match what you have?” “ok, I just want to make sure it will match” How much?” ” Make me an offer, I just want to make sure it goes to someone who can use it.” “$5”, “sold”. And it was like that with everyone. If we had asked them to donate it, they probably would have. And the fact that I had a teenage kid looking at old british stuff just made everyone try and make him feel wanted into the group and take him under their wing and be as helpful and friendly as possible.
I was proud to be a gearhead that day!
Not too many things more entertaining on a smooth road than the 1275 Spridgets.
A month ago, I was with a friend who’s interested in buying an old department store downtown to refurbish into a night club. We walked upstairs to the second floor, and there sat one of these except cut completely in two. The realtor said he thought it had been used as a display for a Halloween haunted house someone put on years ago. We never could figure out how it got on the second floor. Oh yeah, the body was near perfect before it was dissected.
Actually, it was bisected.
I’ve bisected a few Spridgets in my day, to get to the vital organs. Super easy if you have no floors or trunk. Once slice at the jack hole point on each rocker…that is, if you even have rockers!