Austin Healey Sprite MK4 - WIN this classic sports car with Lancaster Insurance!
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- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
- Check out channel sponsor Bidding Classics! There really is something for everyone (don't blame me if you end up needing more garage space for some of those tempting motors!): bit.ly/BiddingClassicsIDriveAC...
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WIN THIS CAR!!!! Here is your link to enter the competition online (please note, there is no cost to enter the competition. Comp closes 12th November 2023)
www.lancasterinsurance.co.uk/...
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To get a discount on your tickets for the Practical Classics Resto Show with Discovery+ use the ticket code LANCASTER
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Austin Healey Sprite MK4
By 1970, the Austin Healey Sprite was a name many knew well - it had come to market in ’58 with the MK1 which many of you know as the Frogeye but by 1970, the second to last year of production, it looked very different to its 50s namesake.
Ownership of these later cars, to me, in today’s modern world is a lot easier than the earlier cars. The doors which can be unlocked from the outside and don’t require reaching in, the attached hood and the larger 1275cc engine just mean that whilst the Frogeye styling melts even the coldest of hearts, these later MK4s have a degree of functionality and practicality which makes them a tad more usable.
Of course, it’s worth mentioning at this point that the MK4 Sprite and MK3 Midget were virtually one and the same give or take some badges and trimming at point of launch in the mid-late 60s. the Sprite as we test here today was priced at £672 whilst the Midget was priced slightly higher at £684 - but both shared one fixed price - the heater, which was an optional extra marked up at just over £14.
By late 1969, just before the this vehicle we test here today was sold in march 1970, both the Sprite and midget were now £811. It’s also worth noting that 1970 was the last full year of BMC’s licensing agreements with Healey, which meant the last 1,000 or so cars sold in the latter part of 1971 were simply badged Austin.
1971 saw the end of the Healey-Sprite and thanks to mergers amongst many marques in the UK to form British Leyland, the line up had become a bit cluttered. The Midget survived the shake up as did the now British Leyland owned Triumph Spitfire, which had gone from a rival in the Midlands to a cuckoo in the nest.
But that’s the history - what about the performance?
Well, on a MK4 Sprite of this age, you’ve got the 1275cc lump I’d mentioned. It was a bit of a damp response auto press wise at the time of launch because they’d got the same engine in the Cooper S but they’d de-tuned to cut costs. The crankshaft compression ratio was down, valves and ports a little restricted.
You’ll get about 65bhp from new, although I would expect something in the region of that now the engine has been rebuilt, you’ll get around 93mph as your top speed - which I’m taking as gospel from the Autocar test as I don’t exceed 50 on today’s test and around 30mpg for typical fuel consumption.
The car is standard on the brakes front, with unassisted discs to front, drums to rear on this which pull it up nicely on test. I did note mentally but forgot to mention on test, there’s no synchro on first, which considering the automotive landscape of the time, wasn’t shocking but could’ve been a nice to have.
But we are over half a century from when this car was new - so it’s had quite an adventure in the last 5 decades. Previous owner Kevin tells us why he picked this Sprite and why he decided to do a costly restoration on it. 
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Kev did a great job. What a cute little car, hope she goes to a good home. Steph and her awesome boots have spoken!
Came over to your channel after watching your interview on BBC Breakfast News. I love old cars! Hoping to buy one in future - when I have the space. I am currently living in a flat in London, anyone from the UK know what that is like. There is hardly any parking space!!
Gosh yeah, parking is a ‘mare! Xx
My wife bought a fully restored one (Porsche mechanic) and it was a delight to look at, (had a missive sound system) and it was SCARY as hell to drive, even though everything on the brakes and suspension was NEW! trouble is the bloke restored it as it was when new......I fitted a telescopic shock absorber set and it was transformed....My wife bought it just as I retired (at 49 yrs old) and she had to prize me out of it so she could drive it.......with sensible shocks it was a delight to drive......(I think the restorer did something to the engine too, it was lively to say the least).
Love this! A friend's mum drove a green Midget when I was a kid. Remember getting picked up and we would just sit in behind the seats. That's the 70's for you! 😅
I had one back in the 70's at at time when i was doing engine tuning, ported the cylinder head, removed .040" off the cylinder head to increase the compression ratio, fitted a webbber 45 dcoe carburettor, in 4th gear on a dry road at 50 mph it would spin the back wheels, but it tore the gearbox apart as it had too much power
As a country boy from Jamtland, the “Yorkshire” of Sweden, I’m stunned by the Yorkshire landscape around you. Wouldn’t be surprised if there was some snow a week ago, or maybe southeastern England got most of it. This morning it was -17 degrees and crystal clear weather here. The snow fell in southern Sweden.
Actually the south east of England, especially Britain’s most southerly point in Cornwall is the hottest part of the U.K. usually, when snow falls, it falls mainly up north and in the midlands and less so down south.
@@lg5819 OK. I’m Learning. Cornwall IS a nice place. I did think it was to near the sea, but it’s also some highland. I’ve been driving trains in Train Sim World 3 up the steep hills. Thanks for telling.
Aww I have fond memories of the Austin Healey Sprite,my sister got married in 1970 & this was her their new car,it had Just Married sprayed on the Bonnet...
I was the paige boy at their wedding,their car was primrose yellow...
Such a great video Steph & that Sprite has been restored beautifully,I remember being small & sitting in the shelf behind😊
Those are the cars my dad repaired here in Canada along with other British Leyland. I can still smell these cars even by seeing them online. I remember that they did not run well over here and rusted very fast in Atlantic Canada. You are great at presenting these cars, your passion shines through every time.
Love the Spridget
Brilliant review, yet again you complement the car perfectly.
I nearly bought one of these in this colour 50 years ago, and I had it for an evening to try it out. Sadly I needed an every day car to carry large items so I reluctantly had to pass on it. They are a great driving experience and make a great classic. This one is a lovely example.
This is a great example of a later Sprite. Well done to Kev for all his hard work, some one will be getting a great little car. Thanks Steph do take care.👍👍
"some one will be getting a great little car" You know that. I know that. We all know that. But the first person he offered it to turned it down... 🏃♂🚘🤷♂
Beautiful outfit Steph. Lovely colour harmony with the Sprite. Nicely done.
Thank you!
Just seen you on the tv and found your channel 😊
Thank you so much for tuning in ❤️❤️❤️
I owned a 1967 Sprite from 1973 to 1974. I was young and thin, and the car worked well for me then. I am now old and heavier, so it probably would not work now. I loved this car. paid $500.00 for it. Drove it for a bit over a year and put on a new top as the original was ripped. I sold it after a year or so for $ 750.00. It would probably be worth many times that amount today. A very fun car for a 22- year-old. I would have kept it longer, but needed the money to buy my first house which cost me $ 17,000. That house is also worth a lot more today. Such is life.
Another Fab review from the top channel with a top car . Thanks again Steph,matching outfits and lovely bright colours to brighten things up .Probably a different car but I do remember restoring one of these in our workshop in Liverpool some 25 years ago ,noting that this car looks to be KB Liverpool registered.
Steph. I saw you on TV this morning. I was so proud of you. I love you. My mum loves you. And my car can't wait to meet you. Stay true, and stay you.
Awww my love!!!! Thank you for such a lovely comment! I hope you’re well and life is treating you kindly ❤️ xx
Great review as always Steph, a lovely little car and you are looking good giving some heartbeat vibes driving through the moors.
Fabulous video Steph thanks
The Sprite and Midget look fast standing still and this is what a small sports car looks like
So true x
Cheap and very cheerful. If you look up sports car in the dictionary, this is what you see. Brilliant little cars.
Exactly. Nowadays it seems like sports cars are so OTT they’ve lost their way. X
Off topic but great boots 😀
Thank you! Xx
That’s an awesome little car! Great restoration.
I had a '66 model in about 1976. Great fun, but totally rotten. Used to have 2 " of water in the footwells when it rained. I sold it for scrap for £7.50!
I had a RWA 1972 Midget back in the day. Thanks for a great video. Brought back lots of memories for me
Good work this morning Steph!!…I saw your BBC TV broadcast and your good message…who needs a Chinese BEV!!!😀😀😀
Haha not me and my collection of old crusty stuff 😂😂😂
It's a great colour, 😊👍
Omg baby you we're born to late looking good Steph xx
I worked on Classic MG's in the late 80's as an apprentice and loved the pre- black bumper Midgets, far more fun to drive than a "B" in my opinion, 60-65 mph was enough though. I did know about the later Sprite but never got to drive one, although I did drive a Frogeye, loved that too, slow and bouncy but so much fun. That's a very sound solid little example you got to drive there and some lucky person will have loads of fun with it.
Ahh I didn’t know that. That’s cool!
Great video and a lovely car. You capture the essence of such cars that grins are more important than statistics. I have owned Spridgets and MGBs and the Spridgets I have found to be more fun, I would love another and have a more modern incarnation in a Honda Beat.
My first car was a harvest gold MG Midget. This video takes me back in time. Thanks Steph.
Maybe it’s time to enter for a chance to relive it 😘😘
@@idriveaclassic Yes, maybe 😊
Happy Days, my first car I bought for £600. Not fast but what a fun car.
Nice one Steph, I always liked the Sprite and the Midget.
Me too!
Well done Steph, I had a 1964 MK3 Sprite when I was 19 years old. It had the 1098cc engine which I tuned it to a cooper-S spec it drove very well, Not sure if its around now as the guy I sold it to sold the number plate, which was (480 DAN), so I cannot find any history. Nice video. Bob
You don't have to go fast to have fun lovely car nice video thanks 😊
I saw it yesterday when Kevin was finalising something, what a lovely car. I think it is the same yellow colour that the Austin 1300 GT's were popular with. Great video Steph.
Another great review. You look great by the way Steph. If you ever get the chance have you thought about an early sierra review as they are now considered a classic. My late dad had a Sierra 1.6 ghia in crystal green in 1982
A heater used to be an optional extra on many small cars but most people would get one fitted when buying a new car. However if you bought a used car with no heater you could buy a Smith's heater kit in Halfords and fit it yourself. The heater fitted under the dash and hoses went through the bulkhead to connect to replacement hoses with branches to join up the heater.
The restoration appears well done. Fun to drive, expensive to restore.
I used to see these growing up during the 1980s but just assumed they were all MG Midgets. This one is particularly nice...fantastic colour and I particularly like the British Leyland 'plughole' badges. 😊
My first car was a ‘69 Sprite, Green paint. I loved that car. Lived in Michigan USA
I was fortunate enough to have a Midget about a decade ago as my daily driver. She was a bucket list car for me and I loved her. Easy to work on, reliable, and so much fun to drive! The new owner will adore this one, guaranteed. Even though they're identical twins, I always preferred Spridgets in their Austin Healey livery. It seems more 'honest,' since MG borrowed AH's engineering.
I love recently bought a midget 1500 and I'll be taking it down to goodwood in a few weeks. I've had mazdas and toyota sports cars and even though I've just got him I can tell that my little mg is a cut above the rest in driving joy and reliability
Steph, this brings back such great memories for me. My first car upon passing my test in 1979 was a 1969 MG Midget. Unfortunately my enjoyment was short lived as my insurance company had made a mistake and cancelled my policy. I couldn't get insurance and had to sell the Midget. Mine did have a heater though. I remember it having little flaps on the sides of the transmission tunnel that could be opened to let additional heat in. Thanks Steph.
Hi Steph, hope your doing good.
I loved the video.
finally a video where you can even see the pedals while driving ❤️ wonderful ❤️ the brakes seemed a bit slow 🥳🥳 hope you can ride a Y10 one day
That car clearly does have a heater fitted. You can see the tap under the bonnet that you have to turn in order to let it work, as well as the heater box which even has a warning sticker on it to tell you that it can't be drained.
i had two of those, a 1098cc Sprite and a 1275cc Midget, both bought used at about 3 years old. Good handling, lovely steering and quite nippy in their day. Sadly, both unrelaible rot boxes
Just entered, thanks for highlighting the competition Steph and great review as always 👍
Really odd, in the 80s I hated that mustard yellow, now I love it!
Great little video Steph, and the Outfit Wow ! Spot - On You Look Fabulous ✌️.
Not my kind of car I'm afraid, much to small.
And Did I Hear a Noisey SU Electric Fuel - Pump making itself known?
Good work Steph, always enjoy your Vids. ✌️ ☺ 🏁.
That SU fuel pump makes a very distinctive racket! I suspect the camera placement made it sound a lot worse.
So it's UK residents only 😕. Well fair enough to keep that beauty in the UK - although it would have looked so good on german roads. Thanks for the lovely video and the chance to win that wonderful piece of Kevins work.
Sorry lovely, I don’t make the rules. I’m merely a worker bee xx
@@idriveaclassic It's okay. 🙂🐝🌺
Awesome.🙂
Wow! Just seen Steph on Bbc1 breakfast ...
Wahey
A most enjoyable & interesting video on this vehicle well done 👍👍
Wow. A beautiful car. This car came into the world in the same month and year as me
Hurrah!
This looks sooo much like my mom’s old 73 Midget. It was painted Citrus and was a federal version (I’m in the states.)
Wow this brought back memories had one of these and I can definitely say it was fun to drive would have one again 🙂
I’ve been waiting for you to do a video on a midget! Im 17 and I’ve got a 1978 midget as my first car. Great video 😊
Aww amazing taste!!
Hi Steph saw you on the M1 near Barnsley Tuesday was going to wave but didn't want to distract you
Nice one,
I had a 68 model mg with a modified head and double valve springs , as most of the front body was glass fibre it could easily do 105 mph.
Will you test also vintage motorcycles?
A friend used to have a Sprite MK3 that he bought in 1979 and restored. It was British Racing Green. He kept it for around twenty years before selling it. It was difficult to actually sell it.
The first attempt someone paid a 50% deposit and then vanished, never came to pick it up and his phone number was disconnected. A few months later he sold it again, got all the money but again the buyer never came back and could not be contacted. The third time he really managed to sell it and the buyer drove it away.
That’s mad! Also exactly why I hate selling cars.
@@idriveaclassic He was starting to think that he would have to keep it forever.
Wonderful car , the ungrateful youth of today , I would have loved that car at 21 , and still would at 58 !
I had one of those in 1974 a young lad of 19
Very nice! Slightly darker than Bahama Yellow...?
Here in North America , this generation is known as the MG Midget 😊
You could also buy a Spridget A hybrid
Stephanie you are looking amazing that coat and boots is groovy baby “you’ve rocked it “
Very nice little car! I'm a bit puzzled at to why one would go with one of these instead of a 90s or 2000s Miata, but I understand the point of preserving history.
I own a 66 sprite and a 94 miata. The mazda is stock except for an aluminum radiator. The sprite has a weber carb, 5 speed transmission, roll bar, racing manifold and exhaust and a few other little tweaks. The mazda is enjoyable to drive, but it is a MODERN car. There is a disconnect between you and the experience like all modern cars... and I think that is what is confusing you. "Driving" is not about comfort... it's about the visceral thrill of driving.... and the sprite beats the miata in that hands down. From the sound it makes to the way it handles... I enjoy it more than any sports car I've ever driven.
@@56squadron Happy to see you enjoy it! My daily driver is a Mazda 3, but I also own a 1991 Jaguar Sovereign XJ6 XJ40. I love how different and special is the experience of using is and it is all about comfort. Extremely different experience versus a Sprite, but I do love it too!
I'm getting rusty in my classic car knowledge....on first glance I thought it was a Midget. Wow, such a lovely car, especially in that orange to Bahama yellow color. I don't know if this contest is open to no-UK residents, but I could give it a home in the USA!
I’ll be honest and say I haven’t checked Ts and Cs. Sorry!
@@idriveaclassic LOL, Steph, no worries! No one said you had to do all the work! Still, such a brilliant car! I always love to see the BL cars, especially.
The Midget and the Mk4 Sprite are the same car, just different badging.
I`m sorry but I had to do a re check at at 14.15 when you said: " you might be able to see my breath...."
who does not love a sprite steph
Totally agree ❤️
Steph u so beautiful 😍 🤩
Educated me…thought these were all Midgets. Nice video, thanks Steph👍
Secretly? Me too until I discovered the Midget Sprite club a good few years ago. Hahah.
@@idriveaclassic lol😀
I always love your presentations Steph and your attention to detail is outstanding however I'm a little sorry that your direction is now being a frontman for Bidding Classics... just a little . With the large amount of Classic competitions now it's probably away forward.
Hi Dav, sorry to hear you’re not loving the sponsorship. I was really impressed with how BC did auctions, how they treated customers and the honest ‘no nasties hidden’ approach to selling; which is why I welcomed them on as a channel sponsor. Being Frank, channel sponsorship means I can fund the return of tinkering Tuesdays (parts ain’t cheap!) and travel further and buy better kit. This competition is run by lancaster insurance services and I have no sway or influence in it whatsoever. I merely got offered the car to test before the comp went live and grabbed it with both hands cause I’d never driven one.
@@idriveaclassic I am sorry really for my remark as I don't comment negatively. It was only a small issue.. I fully understand that sponseship is essential for you and you are getting to drive some great cars Steph like that splendid Bentley. Thank you for you great presentations though.
You say it's slow, but 60-65 is quite enough in these. You're so low to the ground, that you feel you're whizzing along anyway. It's a fun car, it's not a performance car. Mind you if it had the fully tuned cooper S engine, that would've been quite rapid...
It's a pity that the bonnet as such a gap on drivers side compared to passenger side and the front bumper is crooked otherwise a nice car
It doesn’t look like that IRL, must be the angle. Sorry for my wonky filming 😊
@@idriveaclassic don't worry nice film as always
hello Steph try to read this message I will enter the competition I have got the details can you do a film about a commercial vehicle a Volkswagen lt 35 mark one I have seen it for sale registered 01.august.1988. but not a video from Irfan Aslam hoshairpuri thanks and goodbye..
His son will definitely regret that decision one I did with my dads MGA 🤦♂️
Uhh, it's an MG Midget. :)
Why on earth didnt they tune it to 1275 cc cooper s standards
Cos it would have outperformed the MGB.
Do you see the irony here. British Leyland destroyed Britain’s reputation around the world for building solid, reliable cars, but today we build some of the worlds best nuclear submarines, called Dreadnought. I just think British Leyland’s failures were not to do with our ingenuity to build good cars, but more to do with communication problems between management and workers on the shop floor, as well as trying to save money all the time, instead of investing in new models to compete with the rising competition from German and Japanese cars flooding the U.K. market at the time. The Japanese offered a radio and a heater in their cars as standard, whereas the British viewed these as extras, and it showed with their stinginess, when dealerships in Britain switched from British cars to foreign cars.