Saleofcar.com :Austin

Austin Healey Sprite (1960)
for sale

Price: US $3,000.00

Description:

1960 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite Early example of the “Froggy.” 100% original California car, sold new in San Francisco in August 1960. BMIGT Factory Record (pictured) included. Original black plates, current California registration. Car was purchased as a wedding gift then sat garaged in Los Angeles from 1974 (previous registration of record) until found in 2013. A true barn find, cobwebs and all. A great project car waiting to be restored. Popular and full of personality and growing in value at auction when restored. Mecum has sold four at Monterey alone since 2012 and Barrett Jackson got high numbers at Palm Beach in 2015. A one of a kind opportunity for restoration. Barrett-Jackson: Palm Beach 2015 – 27, 500 1960 Palm Beach 2013 – 20, 350 1960 Most Mk1 Sprites have been restored (poorly) at least once. This car has only had a paint job and an interior redo and thats it. Every feature unique to a Mk1 Sprite is intact. You will not find another car in this condition as complete and as solid as this. When a car is this complete, you dont have to guess at how things should be, because its the way it should be already. Based on the tire dates and last registration sticker, this car looks to have been put away around 1974. This is the textbook example of a barn-find car. This car has its original Ca black plates and they come with the car. I have owned/stored this car for 2 1/2 - 3 years. The only thing I did was change two tires that wouldn't hold air anymore. My intention was to either completely restore the car or just redo the car mechanically and preserve the barn-find look, but after some serious reckoning I have decided that I really want an Innocenti 950 instead. Possible trades? Take a close look at the photos. What sets this car apart is how dry it is underneath. This car has the optional hard top and it looks to have been on the car for most, if not all of its life. The floors are as solid as the day the car was built. The factory undercoat is drying out and flaking off in places but there is only factory primer underneath. The front subassembly is dry, solid, and straight with no distortion that I can see. The lower rear quarter panels behind the wheels have small rust bubbles and bondo, but the inner panels behind are surprisingly rust free. The worst rust issue is the passenger side A pillar (a common problem with all Sprites and Midgets). Feel free to ask for detail photos of any part of this car! Additionally, the bonnet, while being correct, looks to have been swapped from another car at some point, evidenced by blue overspray in places. There is some damage to the right hinge and bonnet support but both pieces can be obtained from Frogeye Spares Co part numbers BN01 and BP066 respectively. Frogeye Spares also has all needed patch panels for the lower rear quarters and the A pillars. Mechanically, the car retains its smooth-case gearbox, 948cc engine, and drum brakes. The wheels are also the originals. The water pump is stuck, but the crankshaft turns freely (with compression) and the transmission goes into all gears. Unsurprisingly, the brake pedal is stuck, but the car rolls easily. The interior is complete and all gauges are there except for a Stewart Warner amp gauge. It looks like a Datsun radio was installed at some point.
_{update: 2015-06-21}