After the 1952 Earls Court motor show, the venue for the launch of the Healey 100 sports car, a business relationship between the then British Motor Corporation (BMC) and Donald Healey was formed with the ambition to build the new car under the name of Austin-Healey. The Austin-Healey 100, built mostly from Austin saloon car components, enjoyed considerable sales success, particularly in the all-important North American market. However, BMC realised there was a gap in the market lower down the price-ladder, and an opportunity to market a smaller ‘budget’ sports car. Following an informal ‘chat’ between Leonard Lord, Chairman of BMC, and Donald Healey, it was decided to develop the new project using many parts from those used to build the Austin A35 saloon, which were readily accessible and cheap to produce.

The engine, transmission, rear axle and front suspension were all from the Austin, but the steering components would come from the Morris Minor. Hydraulically operated brakes were to be fitted and to boost the power output from the little four-cylinder BMC ‘A’ Series engine, the MG derived manifolds and twin 1 1/8” carburettors were used. The engine itself was actually developed by Morris engines, who supplied them in place of Austin units as the Austin engine department at the time was too overrun with work to cope with the demand the venture would place upon it.

The new car, named the Austin-Healey Sprite, was to be somewhat of a revolution for that era of car manufacture. Instead of having a separate chassis, as had been the case since the beginning of car design, this one was to be of a monocoque construction where the body was to perform the role of the chassis as an all-in-one unit. With this design the rigidity of the car is achieved by building the body in welded box-sections consisting of front and rear bulkheads, joined by hollow sill sections and body stiffeners, all mounted onto a floor pan. Extra rigidity came from the central transmission tunnel and in many places the body was designed with flat panels together with simply formed sections so as to keep construction costs down to a minimum. The bonnet and front wings were hinged at the bulkhead and lifted as one piece, not only keeping assembly costs low, but providing wonderful access to the engine.

The first prototype Sprite incorporated external hinges, to reduce costs, but had expensive pop up headlamps. By the time prototype number two was built all this had changed with the headlamps becoming fixed in individual pods on the bonnet, providing the ‘frogeye’ appearance, and for which the car got its unofficial name of Frog-Eyed Sprite.

The Austin-Healey Sprite was built at the MG factory in Abingdon and was launched in 1958. Although somewhat cramped inside the car turned out to be just as intended, really good fun to drive, and cheap to run and maintain. With a price tag of £455, the car quickly established itself in the motoring world and even enjoyed a successful motor sport career in the hands of BMC works team drivers, particularly John Sprinzel who enjoyed some success with a derivative of the little car.

Sports cars were never intended to be practical, and this car certainly was not by any stretch of the imagination. There was no luggage space for a start, as the boot area had no lid to it. There also were no external door handles and no side windows making this a very basic vehicle indeed. Despite this BMC sold 48,987 of them, a success no doubt helped by the fact that there was no other manufacturer making anything like it at the time.

The launch of the Sprite seemed to spark off something of a war between BMC (British Motor Corporation) and another car company, Standard Triumph. Triumph looked upon the little car with envious eyes, and as they did not have a ‘budget’ sports car in their model range, they soon began work on a project of their own using a Triumph Herald platform upon which to build it. Code named ‘Bomb’ Triumph set their sights on going one better than the Sprite and designed their car with all-round independent suspension, an opening boot with generous luggage space, extra stowage space within the vehicle, wind-down side windows, door handles on the doors and a more spacious cockpit area for comfort.

However, the venture was very nearly scuppered when the company was taken over by the successful lorry and bus manufacturer, Leyland, in April 1961. Leyland chiefs ordered all work on the new Bomb project to stop forthwith and any items relating to it to be scrapped. Despite this, the design team took their prototype and hid it away under some dust sheets in the corner of the workshop, only for it to be later discovered by a member of the senior management touring the department, and who then gave the order for it to go into production. The car that emerged from the Triumph factory in 1962 was of course the Spitfire 4 and it caused a sensation with the motoring press. BMC had got wind of the forthcoming release of this car and were fast drawing up their own battle plans. The war between the two organisations was definitely on!

In 1961 the design team at BMC were working on a newer and more modern version of the Sprite, the Austin-Healey Sprite Mk11, a car to be joined by a slightly more up-market version, the MG Midget, a name that had not been associated with an MG car since 1955 when the ‘T’ series cars went out of production as the MG TF.

The two models, the Midget and the Mk11 Sprite, had a more square body profile than the Frog Eye, but wrapped around essentially the same under frame as the old car, even with the same cramped cockpit. The rear of the body now had a boot lid, while at the front the familiar ‘frog eye’ look disappeared being replaced with the conventional set up of separate wings housing the headlamps. In between the wings was a narrower, and certainly lighter, bonnet panel giving much more limited access to the engine bay. The little 948cc four-cylinder engine was fitted with larger 1 ¼” carburettors and was given improved cam shaft timing, whilst the steering, suspension and brakes remained largely unaltered.

In 1963 the Midget and Sprite were both fitted with the larger 1098cc variant of the trusty BMC ‘A’ Series engine, as were other users of the power unit in the BMC range, such as the Morris Minor 1000 and Austin A40. The front brakes were up rated from drums to discs, this being the first time that disc brakes were fitted to a production car, although an after market disc brake conversion kit had been independently supplied by the Donald Healey Motor Coorporation of Warwick prior to this date. Apart from these changes the two cars basically remained the same as before and continued to be manufactured along side each other, known simply as the Sprite Mk11 1100 and Midget 1100.

It wasn’t until 1964 that any significant change was made in the specification of the MG Midget and Austin-Healey Sprite. The body of the Sprite Mk111 and Midget Mk11, although did not change in silhouette, received an all new dash layout, fitted carpets in all models, a new windscreen, with easier to fit hood attachments, plus wind-up windows to replace the outdated plastic side screens. These were all improvements inspired by market pressures, which had been leaning towards less sparsely equipped and more comfortable sports cars, like the Triumph Spitfire, a car that consistently outsold the little Abingdon cars all through their production life. The engine was also strengthened, with larger main bearings compensating for the rather weak bottom end, and a larger clutch and stronger gearbox being fitted too.

In an attempt to stay with the competition, the quarter elliptic sprung suspension that had given the car such good handling characteristics, yet such harsh ride, were replaced by the more conventional semi-elliptical spring layout. Although the car lost a little of its handling accuracy and sharpness, the change in design did improve the ride quality enormously. Another distinct advantage with the new suspension layout, not realised when the cars were young in age, was that the new suspension did not impose so much stress upon the monocoque structure. The result of this was that split seams, cracks and corrosion around the rear floor and bulkhead areas were much less common on post 1964 cars.

By 1966 the performance of the Austin-Healey Sprite and the MG Midget was beginning to look a little feeble when compared with its competitors and even the saloon cars of the day. Indeed, the Mini Cooper ‘S’ was on sale and with exciting performance attributes it was starting to have a big impact upon Midget and Sprite sales. In an effort to counter this, a slightly detuned version of the 1275cc Cooper ‘S’ engine was fitted to the 1967 Sprite Mk1V and Midget Mk111.

Together with the improved performance the new engine provided, the new models also benefited from a new design in fold down hood. Cars destined for the USA at this time began to seriously deviate in their specification from those built for markets in the rest of the world, this being due to their ever-tightening safety and emissions regulations and Midgets bound for Australia were exported as kits from England.

In 1968 BMC became swallowed up by the Leyland bus and lorry company that had bought out the Standard Triumph company in 1961, but it wasn’t until 18-months after did the new owners of the Abingdon works order any change to be made to the MG Midget and Austin-Healey Sprite. The first “Leylandised” cars arrived in 1970 and although the two differently badged models continued side by side with the same sheet-metal specifications, the car now had a much more upbeat contemporary appearance, due to a myriad of trim changes, both on the outside and in.

The 1960’s style bright work was gone and a new blacked out radiator grille was complemented by slim-line bumpers, which were fashionably quartered at the rear. Completing the slim-line effect, the sills were also painted satin black, artificially giving the car a sleeker side profile. New ‘Rostyle’ steel road-wheels were fitted as standard with the more traditional wire wheels being offered as an option. Inside the car, instead of neat stitched pleat upholstery, there was heat welded vinyl and other synthetic materials that gave the car a somewhat ‘tacky’ internal appearance. This style of interior trim became synonymous with the big corporate car giant in all their models and was to remain with the Midget right up to the end of its production.

Towards the end of 1971, sales of the Sprite were confined only to the home market, and the name, Austin-Healey quietly disappeared from the Leyland showrooms, leaving only the MG version to soldier on. The Healey part of the name on the last 1022 production cars had already disappeared, leaving them with just the Austin badge. Apparently this had happened because of a break down in relations between British

Leyland and Donald Healey as the contract to build Healey cars had lapsed and BL were not willing to renew it. The remaining car, the MG Midget, however, continued to be successful in production and was exported all over the world.

In 1972 the rear wings, that had squared off wheel arches, were replaced by round ones, a feature not seen on Sprites and Midgets since the days of the ‘Frog eye,’ and which made it easier to fit wider alloy wheels and tyres, something that had become a very popular and fashionable after market accessories at the time. The dynamo was upgraded to the higher output alternator and rocker switches were fitted to the dashboard on what was described as safety grounds. By 1974, Midget sales in mainland Europe had ceased, leaving Britain, USA, Canada and Japan as the only export customers.

In 1975 North American vehicle safety legislation had become very much tighter, an event that saw a dramatic change take place in the appearance of not just the Midget, but also of the MGB as well. The changes included the well-known ‘rubber’ bumpers, which were actually plastic in reality, and an increase in ride height of one-inch so as to meet the US bumper height restrictions, and a return to the squared off rear wheel arches was also made.

As well as the new USA safety rules, there were new exhaust emission regulations being brought into force, and as these became more and more stringent, the modifications required to keep up with them progressively strangled the power output of the ‘A’ Series 1275cc engine. The method used to combat the loss of power was perhaps one of the most insulting action that could have been taken against the little MG, and that was to give it an engine, complete with accompanying gearbox, that came from the Triumph Spitfire, a car that was now owned by the same corporation as MG.

The Spitfire had already had the capacity of its engine enlarged from 1296 to 1491cc for the same emissions related reasons, while the old BMC ‘A’ Series unit, it now being beyond any further development, was phased out completely. The car became known as the Midget 1500, even though it actually was officially still an MG Midget Mklll. Whilst it lacked the keener, sportier edge of the earlier cars, it was reputed to be a better cruising vehicle, even though sadly it never benefited from the overdrive, which was optional on the same gearbox with the Spitfire.

Between 1958 and 1979 a total of 355,888 Sprites and Midgets was built, and in 1979, to mark the end of fifty-years of MG Midget production at Abingdon, the last 500 MG Midgets rolled off the production line all painted in black.