Against all odds, this is the ninth Arkley covered at Barn Finds, but if you are new to the website, you might be wondering what an Arkley is, and why it has a passing resemblance to a Spridget. It’s an easy enough story to tell; in 1970, a guy named John Britten of Arkley, Hertfordshire, England (hence the name), manufactured body kits for Spridgets, in addition to selling complete Arkley conversions. With fresh fiberglass panels front and rear, the time-honored sports cars took on a whole new look and saved several hundred pounds of weight, which was important to club racers because these little cars were tremendously popular vehicles for competitive road course fun. It might seem that every Arkley left has been represented here on Barn Finds, but we’re always happy to have another, and this one has been brought to us by Chuck Foster, who found it for sale on Marketplace in Gloucester, Virginia.
The seller of this Arkley says it was a factory conversion done on a ’62 Sprite, which is made more plausible by its right-hand-drive configuration. The ’62 Sprite came with a 948cc version of BMC’s A-Series four cylinder, but it was superseded by the longer-stroke 1098 later in the calendar year. This could be any of the A-Series variants; the seller doesn’t mention the displacement but says that this is a running and driving car that needs its new interior installed (which includes new seats, tracks, and carpet).
Here’s the interior as it sits, and it does look like something you’d want to reassemble as quickly as possible so you can plop yourself behind that sporty wheel and hit the twisties. With such little mass to bandy about, the Ackley must turn on a thought. A refurbished front suspension and braking system go a long way toward making that true.
But the seller feels that it deserves a complete restoration since it’s such a rare and interesting vehicle. It’s well-represented by pictures in the ad and comes with a small pile of parts, including these sliding side windows. I’ve always preferred earlier Midgets and Sprites; the roll-up windows of later models were far handier, but the cars looked a little more top-heavy, in my opinion.
I agree with the seller that the little Ackley deserves a going-over the right way. From its Morganesque tail (clearly Morgan was not litigious) to its Lotus Seven-esque front fenders, it’s a cute little anomaly. The wheels are clearly from a later car, and that was one of the benefits of the Ackley, the bodywork allowed wider tires for even better handling. The Marketplace ad shouts in upper-case font that “THIS IS NOT A KIT CAR,” but I don’t think the owner need have worried. If you’ve been hanging around Barn Finds long enough, you know what it is, and it’s priced at $5,500 with a “clear title in hand.”
These are neat little conversions even if a bit stogy looking. This one is priced reasonably but does need a bit of body work on the lower cowel area that’s prone to rust and has an incomplete fix of some sort on it. Replacement panels are available through Moss Motors. One thing I don’t like about this one is the wide open breather tube on the valve cover that if driven too far too long will get junk into the engine. The breather sucks as much as it blows. It is also easy to convert to left hand drive.
If a Morgan 4 and a late 40’s MG TD had a baby…….SMH
How can a kit kar not be a kit kar? Does it have an ARKLEY chassis number or is it still registered by it’s Sprite identity? As far as I know, Arkley wasn’t around in 1962 . . . but then the Powell brothers in Socal built their eponymous vehicles out of salvaged parts and weren’t considered kit kars . . or were they??
Agree. MAaybe the car was built at Arkñey, but the donor Spridget would have been a few years old at the time. Arkley was only marketed to convert used vehicles, so a kit car in my book.
What it is not a kit car would be a pre 1972 Elan, TVR, Marcos, delivered part assembled from the factory with all mew components? Standard spec and manufacturer warranty. This was only available in UK as a tax dodge and usually known as component cars.
Had an arkley thinking to make her into a mirco chitty!
great little cars BUT first car for me that i had to fold myself up into (6ft, 180lbs)… which is what a sprite or midget is… i can JUST fit a mg and no issues with fiat spiders but the sprite/midget is a car you WEAR!
I picked up one these in a trade deal for a Triumph motorcycle I wanted. Traded guy an adult noise maker from1940s. Long story short, chassis was junk, engine seized, no title you know the drill, lol traded it for another Triumph engine in pieces. Now that I know what it was, should have kept it, as I know where there is an early Sprite that was rolled many years ago, I can get almost for free.Damn should have done some research, OH well hindsight is.Ha Ha.
Thinking a Bugeye front end and an Arkley rear would be an interesting looking car.
I think there was a company that offered bugeye front ends for later spridget?
The Bugeye front ends are a bolt-on for the later
Spridgets. Several companies make fiberglass replicas also. Picture is of glass front end on a Bugeye.
Picture. of glass front end.
I owned an Arkley a litttle ove 20 years ago. Got a lot of attention on the street… maybe too much. Number three on my list of cars that I wish I had not sold… right behind my Unipower GT and my Abarth Zagato 750 GT.