First Classic - Austin Healey Sprite, FrogEye
Discussion
Frogeyes look nice but for what they are they are way over rated and certainly overpriced. The Triumph Spitfire was always a better car than the Sprite and Midget. The Spifire has far more room inside and is much easier to work on.
I have a Midget and Spitfire, they are great in their own ways but I prefer the Triumph.
I have a Midget and Spitfire, they are great in their own ways but I prefer the Triumph.
I remember Frogeyes and Midgets being worth nothing in the late 70s/early 80s, you could literally pick one up for £25-£50. Rusty, usually.
The guy opposite me had several. One Midget was a D reg thin, yellow and green two-tone bodywork. Horrendous. Great to learn on although in those days it was his 'hobby' and he drove a '74 BGT as an everyday car!
Safe to say his welding/brazing skills were bloody good....
The guy opposite me had several. One Midget was a D reg thin, yellow and green two-tone bodywork. Horrendous. Great to learn on although in those days it was his 'hobby' and he drove a '74 BGT as an everyday car!
Safe to say his welding/brazing skills were bloody good....
uk66fastback said:
I remember Frogeyes and Midgets being worth nothing in the late 70s/early 80s, you could literally pick one up for £25-£50. Rusty, usually.
The guy opposite me had several. One Midget was a D reg thin, yellow and green two-tone bodywork. Horrendous. Great to learn on although in those days it was his 'hobby' and he drove a '74 BGT as an everyday car!
Safe to say his welding/brazing skills were bloody good....
Rusty midgets are still worth nothing, a rusty frogeye is about £3k from the USA.The guy opposite me had several. One Midget was a D reg thin, yellow and green two-tone bodywork. Horrendous. Great to learn on although in those days it was his 'hobby' and he drove a '74 BGT as an everyday car!
Safe to say his welding/brazing skills were bloody good....
This EV sprite is quite cool and the work of heretics. http://evsprite.com/
uk66fastback said:
I remember Frogeyes and Midgets being worth nothing in the late 70s/early 80s, you could literally pick one up for £25-£50. Rusty, usually.
The guy opposite me had several. One Midget was a D reg thin, yellow and green two-tone bodywork. Horrendous. Great to learn on although in those days it was his 'hobby' and he drove a '74 BGT as an everyday car!
Safe to say his welding/brazing skills were bloody good....
I think you are wrong on those figures, in 1969 when I was 21 , I tried to persuade my parents ( without success ) to but me a 'Frog Eye ' they were on the market then for around £120 ! The guy opposite me had several. One Midget was a D reg thin, yellow and green two-tone bodywork. Horrendous. Great to learn on although in those days it was his 'hobby' and he drove a '74 BGT as an everyday car!
Safe to say his welding/brazing skills were bloody good....
Rower said:
uk66fastback said:
I remember Frogeyes and Midgets being worth nothing in the late 70s/early 80s, you could literally pick one up for £25-£50. Rusty, usually.
The guy opposite me had several. One Midget was a D reg thin, yellow and green two-tone bodywork. Horrendous. Great to learn on although in those days it was his 'hobby' and he drove a '74 BGT as an everyday car!
Safe to say his welding/brazing skills were bloody good....
I think you are wrong on those figures, in 1969 when I was 21 , I tried to persuade my parents ( without success ) to but me a 'Frog Eye ' they were on the market then for around £120 ! The guy opposite me had several. One Midget was a D reg thin, yellow and green two-tone bodywork. Horrendous. Great to learn on although in those days it was his 'hobby' and he drove a '74 BGT as an everyday car!
Safe to say his welding/brazing skills were bloody good....
1970 - 72
Spent two and a half years looking around the north east for a frogeye.
Prices generally around £200 - £250 and every one bar the one for sale that belonged to Steve Hughes of the Evening Chronicle was actually rotten. The good one was advertised on the day I was at nightschool, my Dad went to look at it but it was already sold.....
In those days I could get into one, I struggle now. I ended up with an MG Midget (1098cc)
Strangely there seems to be quite a few "rust free" ones available now.
Funny story:
Friend of mine goes to buy a frogeye. Picks it up and does a 1500mile jaunt around France.
Years later he meets the girlfriend of the guy who sold him the car.
He had sold it as it was unreliable and about to fold in two.
Friend starts dating girl and has now been married to her for over 30 years.
The frogeye has long gone however.
Spent two and a half years looking around the north east for a frogeye.
Prices generally around £200 - £250 and every one bar the one for sale that belonged to Steve Hughes of the Evening Chronicle was actually rotten. The good one was advertised on the day I was at nightschool, my Dad went to look at it but it was already sold.....
In those days I could get into one, I struggle now. I ended up with an MG Midget (1098cc)
Strangely there seems to be quite a few "rust free" ones available now.
Funny story:
Friend of mine goes to buy a frogeye. Picks it up and does a 1500mile jaunt around France.
Years later he meets the girlfriend of the guy who sold him the car.
He had sold it as it was unreliable and about to fold in two.
Friend starts dating girl and has now been married to her for over 30 years.
The frogeye has long gone however.
Those prices are correct. These cars weren't great though, certainly nothing you'd want to drive every day. Guy next door bought a MkIII Spitfire for £25. I bought a GT6 for £50, L reg, been sitting a while though. Same guy with the Midget bought an Isetta for £10, I kid you not.
Maybe for something roadworthy, cars were worth more. I bought a K reg MGB in 1983 for £750. Sold my Hillman Hunter for £200 to get it ...
Maybe for something roadworthy, cars were worth more. I bought a K reg MGB in 1983 for £750. Sold my Hillman Hunter for £200 to get it ...
There seems to have been a number of Frogeyes that had non original bonnets with covered headlamps that look like they came from a series 1 E Type. What was that all about?. An example of one here:
https://frogeye.smugmug.com/Mk1SpritesFrogeye/Mk1-...
https://frogeye.smugmug.com/Mk1SpritesFrogeye/Mk1-...
Edited by Jukebag on Thursday 14th April 17:44
There was a Lenham at Anglia Auctions Saturday. Not sold, but given the condition I'm not that surprised.
http://www.angliacarauctions.co.uk/en/classic-auct...
http://www.angliacarauctions.co.uk/en/classic-auct...
Plenty of Frogeyes for sale here beyond the 10 grand region, some around 17-20 grand:
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/cat/3/8/frogeye/
Are there any nice classic sports car that you buy for under 10 grand these days?. Apart from the Midget, MGB, etc (and a few TVR models that I've seen for around 6/7k), there's not much that the average Joe can afford, unless you want to pay 10k for a complete rust bucket; far too many body shell or nearly rotten E-Types and Healey's out there asking for really silly money, some as much as a brand new modern hatchback. 10k may not seem a lot to some people but for a car that doesn't have modern engineering, steering, etc its a lot.
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/cat/3/8/frogeye/
Are there any nice classic sports car that you buy for under 10 grand these days?. Apart from the Midget, MGB, etc (and a few TVR models that I've seen for around 6/7k), there's not much that the average Joe can afford, unless you want to pay 10k for a complete rust bucket; far too many body shell or nearly rotten E-Types and Healey's out there asking for really silly money, some as much as a brand new modern hatchback. 10k may not seem a lot to some people but for a car that doesn't have modern engineering, steering, etc its a lot.
Edited by Jukebag on Friday 15th April 10:14
Jukebag said:
Are there any nice classic sports car that you buy for under 10 grand these days?.
I'd say it depends on your "standards". 15 years ago you could pick up a 70s 911 Targa for 10 grand, today it's an Austin Healey Sprite, tomorrow it's a Mazda MX-5.
It could be argued that all are equally fun to drive in their own right but I have to say that many cars listed in todays "Classic Car" magazines make me shake my head and wonder. Those are usually newer cars that were unloved "next best thing" many years ago. Sadly there's no sign of this craze stopping.
I've decided that the best way of finding a fun classic car is setting myself a fixed budget and maximising my enjoyment by finding niche cars off the beaten path. The classic car market is not 100% efficient so there are still morsels out there that somewhat fit my definition of nice classic sports cars.
georgeq said:
I've decided that the best way of finding a fun classic car is setting myself a fixed budget and maximising my enjoyment by finding niche cars off the beaten path. The classic car market is not 100% efficient so there are still morsels out there that somewhat fit my definition of nice classic sports cars.
Agree, also nice to have an oddball car these days as the net community is pretty tight and supportive with fixes and knowledge sharing.This is nice http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C713726 £8500
The midget is great first classic to own and fettle. I paid £900 for the one below and had great fun rebuilding it into a decent fast road car. Dead easy to work on and great for parts availability as well as being a brilliant little car to drive. Having owned this frog in recent years I couldn't bring my self to mod it for fast road use but I had no such qualms about non OE mods on the midget (absolutely no logic to that I know). As for the spitfire being a better car - the one i owned certainly wasn't.
Hugh Jarse said:
Jensen healey, or Lotus Elan FWD, eclat, elite, excel, TVR wedges all £8k or under.
Have seen sunbeam alpines and fiat spyders too occasionally.
A friend of mine bought two Jensen Healeys, to try to make one good one but the build quality is terrible and parts are very hard to find so he got shot.Have seen sunbeam alpines and fiat spyders too occasionally.
The Loti are good calls but not softtops which, I assume, is a requirement (Elan is but fwd).
The classically-styled TVR S models with the Ford V6 and the more aesthetically-challenged Wedge 350 convertibles with the Rover engine are probably within budget.
tomtrout said:
The midget is great first classic to own and fettle. I paid £900 for the one below and had great fun rebuilding it into a decent fast road car. Dead easy to work on and great for parts availability as well as being a brilliant little car to drive. Having owned this frog in recent years I couldn't bring my self to mod it for fast road use but I had no such qualms about non OE mods on the midget (absolutely no logic to that I know). As for the spitfire being a better car - the one i owned certainly wasn't.
So beautiful in metallic blue. Funny thing is, until I got the frog, never looked atspridgets.
But they turn up in all the AH owners club threads suddenly you get them.
The A-series is a peach too, despite not crossflow. Does not rev, but for daily driving very torquey and dependable.
Getting 50 mpg from mine. The handling is also very good, flat cornering.
The crap drum brakes will be upgraded to period style discs from later models as per the usual route.
Not many other mods needed IMO, 3.77 diff is also on the cards.
Lots of these cars were modified at the time as they were sportscars, so dont feel it is insensitve to do it.
Considering it is 60 years old, its goes in modern traffic no problem and corners very sweetly.
Edited by Hugh Jarse on Saturday 16th April 11:20
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