The Frogeye had no boot lid at all — owners reached the spare wheel by tilting the seats forward into the dark cavity behind, a ritual they likened to potholing.
Median 68 hp across 21 similar cars
Lead trim: 948 cc A-Series (43 hp)
Austin-Healey Sprite Mark I "Frogeye"1958–1961
- 0spots by members
- Unclaimednobody has spotted one yet
- 0sets it belongs to
Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Austin-Healey Sprite Mark I "Frogeye" yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThe Frogeye had no boot lid at all — owners reached the spare wheel by tilting the seats forward into the dark cavity behind, a ritual they likened to potholing.
The Sprite quickly became affectionately known as the "frogeye" in the UK and the "bugeye" in the US, because its headlights were prominently mounted on top of the bonnet, inboard of the front wings. The designers had intended the headlights to retract, with the lenses facing skyward when not in use, but cost-cutting by BMC led to the flip-up mechanism being deleted. The body was styled by Gerry Coker, with subsequent alterations by Les Ireland, and its distinctive frontal styling bore a strong resemblance to the defunct American 1951 Crosley Super Sport. The problem of providing a rigid structure to an open-topped sports car was resolved by chassis designer Barry Bilbie, and the Sprite's chassis was the world's first volume-production sports car to use unitary construction. A total of 48,987 "frogeye" Sprites were made, with a 948 cc A-Series engine rated at 43 hp.
Collectors Spotted in the Austin-Healey Sprite Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Austin-Healey Sprite yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
One published trim in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 948 cc A-Series (43 hp) | 1958–1961 | 0.9 L Inline-4 | 43 hp | 52 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
The last 1,022 Sprites never wore a Healey badge at all — British Leyland dropped the name in 1971 purely to dodge royalty payments to the Donald Healey Motor Company.
The Mark III Sprite swapped its quarter-elliptic rear leaf springs for semi-elliptic ones purely to ride better — and the engineering trick cost almost no extra weight at all.
The same month the Sprite Mark II arrived in 1961, MG launched a badge-engineered twin called the Midget — which outsold the Sprite so thoroughly it had replaced it in BMC's range by 1972.
The Frogeye had no boot lid at all — owners reached the spare wheel by tilting the seats forward into the dark cavity behind, a ritual they likened to potholing.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
In 1974 Alfa built a one-off on this Spider: a Porsche-style solid rear window and lift-out roof panels, fewer than 2,000 made, the only Spider ever with a part-solid roof.
Over 100,000 people voted to name this car "Duetto" — but a chocolate-snack maker had already trademarked the word, and a Milan court ruling forced Alfa to sell it as the Spider 1600 instead.
After nearly 25 years of manual-only Spiders, the final Series 4 cars quietly added something Alfa purists never expected: an optional automatic transmission.
The mid-80s Spider's Quadrifoglio Verde trim went all-in on a single look: blood-red carpets and grey leather with red stitching, and it only ever came in three exterior colors.
This Spider was built not by Alfa but by Pininfarina itself, on a platform shared with General Motors.
The 916 Spider's strongest naturally aspirated engine, the 192 PS 3.0 12V Busso V6, was never offered in its GTV coupe twin.
The last 1,022 Sprites never wore a Healey badge at all — British Leyland dropped the name in 1971 purely to dodge royalty payments to the Donald Healey Motor Company.
The Fairlady 2000's SR311 update came with a five-speed manual gearbox in 1967 — a genuinely unusual spec for any production car of that era.