Junkyard Find: 1959 Austin-Healey Sprite

Murilee Martin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:46 +0000

As I write this, I’m sitting on the floor of the bag-claim area at the Houston airport, waiting for my LeMons accomplices to arrive from California, with Pantera cranking in my headphones in order to get myself in the proper Texas frame of mind. Yes, races on consecutive weekends; it’s like being in a traveling rock-n-roll band, only with the smell of burning brakes/engines/wiring instead of groupies and limos. With low-budget racing in mind, let’s contemplate a battered little racer that won’t be seeing a track, ever again.

Yep, it’s a Bugeye. As the owner of a much-butchered Sprite, I’m saddened to see this former race car in a Sacramento-area self-service yard, preparing to be devoured by The Crusher’s cruel steel jaws.

Evil Clint, the madman behind the Previa-blown 320i racer, found this car on a recent junkyard-prowling expedition and sent me these photos. He didn’t have any use for the headers or Borgward transmission on the ground next to the car, but he did pull this nice aircraft oil cooler from the Sprite.

The Truth About Cars » Sprite

Junkyard Find: 1959 Austin-Healey Sprite