The original ‘Frogeye’ Sprite is a car that’s desirable on many levels. For some, the fact that it’s a small sports car (and, in this case, painted baby blue) would be enough. For others it’s the goggly headlamps and grinning grille that do it. Others will be more attracted to the Sprite’s famously sharp handling and rorty exhaust note. Still others will fancy it more for being a classic car in the true sense – the smallest and most basic of the small, basic British sports car breed and the scion of the ‘baby Healey’ line that was such a big seller through the 1960s.
Although there was a long line of small sports cars called Sprite after this original model, the genesis is distinct in several ways. Firstly, there are those unique looks – the legacy of Donald Healey’s personal input into the design process, even
