Sprite Culture, 1:1 scale

[JT Previa]

Chris - That's awesome! Thanks for the tip!

http://http://www.classicandsportsca...t-melbourne-gp



http://youtu.be/EbLo4szkmTY



JT

[Mayberryman]

I know that this is an old thread, however, I can not resist the urge to post my experiences with the Austin Healey Sprite and in particular the Mk l bugeye. In the late 60s I became a lover of anything British as far as cars go and in particular the Sprite. In those days they could be had for anywhere between two to five hundred dollars depending on if it were running and the rocker panels were not completely rusted out. In 1975, after autocrossing for several years I decided to go SCCA racing and yes the car of choice was a Mk l sprite. My car was so high tech (yea right) that I had one set of cosmic rims and the rest of my rims for spares and rain tires were Vega rims which had the same bold pattern and were five inches wide. My front sway bar was taken off of a junked simca and the low ratio rear came from a rather worn out morris minor. The high tech shocks consisted of the fluid in the lever shocks being replaced with STP thus making the car feel more like a ridged go kart. I kept that car for eight years and entered between 5 to 8 regional races per year knowing full well that I would follow my hero, Randy Canfield former H Production champion in the late 60s and as of two years ago was still racing at Summit Point in the same #41 Mk l. Note Randy is in his 80s. One last thought is that I met my wife at a local sports car club and at the time I was driving a 66 MK lll that was titled as a 63 and she drove a Siata Spring which was really just a Fiat 850 Spyder with a different body. Note, in March we will have been married for 43 years. Enough of my rambling but I am hooked on this idea of building some of these little jewels for my fleet.

[VTECFOUR]

Hi Mayberryman,

Glad to see this proxy has triggered some good memories and future slotting activity.

Lots more racing to report up here in Vancouver, Canada with pics and videos of the action.

We look forward to your 1/32 entry for next year.

Dan

[JT Previa]

Mr. Mayberry,

I want to second VTEC's comments, wonderful story and details of your Sprite racing experience! The automotive matchmaking success was equally nice.


I didn't know about Siata Springs - sort of a mini- Excaliber!
http://http://www.siataspring.com

The story made me thinks of this old joke, attributed to Mainers here in New Enland:

"WANTED: Good woman. Able to clean, cook, sew, dig worms and gut fish. Must have boat and motor. Send picture of boat and motor."

I'm sure your case was different though!

JT

[retro racer 44]

I was just reading a story on Racer.com about the 70 year anniversary of the SCCA. It was an interesting read, but what caught my eye was the picture at the top of the second page of a whole field of Sprites, hard at it. Too bad it wasn't in colour.

The article can be found here. http://www.racer.com/special-70-year...rticle/331833/

[Black3sr]

My old Sprite is For Sale now by current owner if anyone is interested PM me.

[JT Previa]

This is a fitting entry to wrap up the SPR Sprite Culture section! I met the Canadian born author of this story at a classic car open house. After making fun of my lack of proper francaise-canadien accent, he said he needed to talk to me later, I'm not sure about what, but it could have been about Sprites!

https://motorsportsmarketingresources.com/short-stories/mmr-stories/sex-in-the-sixties-or-oh-to-be-young-fertile-and-flexible.html

I wonder if Black3sr can comment on the veracity of this story!

JT

[old johnny]

It's sweet, and am interested..albeit it's a long way to BC..

[Black3sr]

This is a fitting entry to wrap up the SPR Sprite Culture section! I met the Canadian born author of this story at a classic car open house. After making fun of my lack of proper francaise-canadien accent, he said he needed to talk to me later, I'm not sure about what, but it could have been about Sprites!

motorsportsmarketingresources.com/short-stories/mmr-stories/sex-in-the-sixties-or-oh-to-be-young-fertile-and-flexible.html

I wonder if Black3sr can comment on the veracity of this story!

JT

LMAO. Now that brings back memories. At 20 you could copulate anywhere. Yes the act could be performed with the top UP even. One memorable event was at a drive in. Not sure if I got a round of applause or not when I got out to go to snack bar. Geez that was over 50 years ago.

[JT Previa]

Black3sr,

I knew I could count on you!

I think I now understand the license plate message on your old Sprite much better, "SnugInaBug" indeed

JT

[Black3sr]

Black3sr,

I knew I could count on you!

I think I now understand the license plate message on your old Sprite much better, "SnugInaBug" indeed

JT

Well the new owner came up with that plate.

[old johnny]

Hmm, would make for an interesting thread... Some sort of mile high club in a sprite..or in my case, fiat....????