The next owner of this 1960 Bugeye Sprite has a few options open to them. They can use the little Austin-Healey for competition in VSCDA events, which the car has been modified to compete in, or they could make the changes required to return the cool little classic to life on the open road. Barn Finder Ikey H referred this great little British classic to us, so thank you so much for that Ikey. The Sprite is located in Evanston, Illinois, and is listed for sale here on Craigslist. If you fancy the idea of taking up historic racing, then all you need to do is hand the owner $10,100, and the Sprite will be all yours.

What a great looking little car. The body looks really clean, and the lack of bumpers doesn’t look out of place on this type of car. The Minilite wheels give the car a great period look, while there isn’t a sign of rust anywhere. The paint looks good, while the panels appear to be arrow straight. As a track car, there isn’t a lot with which to find fault. However, if the next owner is considering returning the car to the road, bumpers and a windshield will definitely be required as a starting point. However, it does appear that the owner will be including many of these parts with the car.

The interior of the Sprite is definitely a “bare-bones” racing environment. You get the required gauges to monitor the health of things under the hood, a rudimentary Kirkey race seat, a race harness, and a chunky wheel. That’s about it. Returning the interior to a fit state for road use would not be a mammoth undertaking, because not only is the original interior relatively basic, but all of the parts required are readily available, and relatively inexpensive. Even if I were to leave this in its current form, I would probably be inclined to give the floors a fresh coat of paint. It might be a track car, but spotless vehicle presentation is always viewed favorably by scrutineers and officials.

It’s when you tilt the hood forward that you can get some idea of what I mean by the term “spotless presentation.” Officials and scrutineers tend to like things to be as clean as possible, and that’s what you get under the hood of the Sprite. Powering the little Brit is a 948cc 4-cylinder engine. The owner has performed some useful upgrades to extract additional performance, while still ensuring that the car remains eligible for racing. A Scatter camshaft, custom headers, a ported head, and a Weber carburetor should help the engine to produce significantly more than its original 43hp. The power is then sent to the rear wheels via a 4-speed “Ribcase” transmission. These transmissions are actually relatively robust with the sort of power that they are asked to handle in a car like this and should last for many years in a road car. Provided they aren’t subject to major abuse, they should still be fine for track work as well. The owner states that the engine in the Sprite is freshly rebuilt, and the only work that it has done is to be driven up and down the alley that you see in the supplied photos. He says that the engine feels strong, doesn’t blow smoke, and it doesn’t burn oil. If this engine isn’t to your taste, then there is the option to purchase a 1,275cc engine that the owner also owns.

Provided it is driven within its mechanical limits, this 1960 Bugeye Sprite should be a fun and reliable race car to drive, and a relatively inexpensive one to maintain. Returning it to road use wouldn’t take a massive amount of work, and with the engine upgrades, it has the potential to be a great little road car. Personally, I’d probably skip the option of the larger engine, and enjoy this great little British classic exactly how it is.