Today I take a look at a 1962 Austin Healey Sprite Mark II that has been sitting for a very long time and bring it back to life.
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This Week With Cars - Episode 0204
#ClassicCars #AustinHealey #Sprite
My dad picked one up for a song after someone abandoned it at the mechanic shop he worked at. The boss filed a Mechanic's lean on it and sold it to my dad cheap. It was canary yellow, but he converted it to a race car and painted it a dark blue to match the Sprites his buddies had also converted to race cars in the mid 60s. Together, they were like the three amigos, a bugeye and two mk 2s, H production sprites having a blast racing each other for over a decade.
Really nice to see these old cars saved to give pleasure to more generations of drivers. The wonderful thing is that they are simple and mechanical, rather than complex and electronic. I enjoy watching you go through the issues step by step, methodically explaining what you are doing. You'd make a good teacher!
Binge watched your compilation after seeing your individual vids earlier. What a pleasure! So much valuable information and great tips condensed into the series. Your conservative and minimalist approach is so gratifying. Great knowledge shared so well. Thank you. The fitting end is to bring it back to its English roots on the roundabouts. Jolly good show!!
Great info for working on my 69 mk4 with the older bored 948!
Motoring in its purest form.
REALLY ENJOYED THIS ENTIRE SERIES---THANKS
Great schooling lesson bringing this back to life really enjoyed it ...now to find one ...
That was a great compilation seeing it from the beginning to the end. Very interesting and informative. Great little car, so much character too.
Love your Sprite videos. No longer own a Sprite but still enjoy watching you show how to do each test and repair. Unfortunately in 1971 when I owned my '61 Bugeye I made a lot of tuning mistakes but loved every minute of driving a Sprite. Thanks for sharing your passion for these great little cars.
Just sat and watched this video all the way through, it took me back 60 years to my 58 frog eye, and everything felt like it was back then, as if I had just done it yesterday.
Its good to watch someone who knows what they're doing!
Dear Steve, this is a real encyclopedia on how to restore and maintain properly our Spidgets! Thank you very much. Attilio, Roma
My first model was a Lindberg 1/32 Mark II Couldn't wait to get home & get Glue All Over my Dress Pants. Needless to say, Mom Was Not Happy. Now retired & getting my shop straight to tackle one I got way back mid '90s that might have been raced in Gratten. Has a roll bar & coil kit in rear. Bought it SW of Grand Rapids & I'm Now North of GR. Steve....Thanks So Much for doin' these vids. This One ranks right up there as one of my all time favs on the tube.
Good Afternoon Steve, I have just watched your Excellent videos. What a very Beautiful and Gorgeous classic car you have brought back to Life. Well Done with this Amazing project. I will continue watching your really good videos. Thank you my friend. Jonathan.
Another one saved!
Thanks for the ride That's what a sports car should be. Hot (or cold) and loud.
Great job, well done from NZ
What a treat!
Really enjoyed that, was good to see it start to finish, had seen most of it before but this really pulled it together. I'd suggest editing out the intro on each clip but I can see why you left it in as it breaks it up. Going to bed happy after cold war motors, then a heavy dose of this week with cars! Happy new year everyone!
This guy knows his stuff. I don't have a carb air flow meter, or a thermal parts cleaner. but there was lots of good tips to be had... well done, Laddie...
Lovely job, lovely car.
I owned that model with quarter ecliptic rear springs, which on fast sharp bends could give a quick kick at the rear if it lost rear adhesion through a road bump or wet, their was no panhard rod fitted. This was long ago in the early ‘60’s, I drove a lot of miles and thrashed the superb reliable 1098cc engine to bits, they were bullet proof, I blew the gearbox up, stripped a gear, dirt cheap to repair and easy to fix.You need a five speed box as high revs & exhaust a bit noisy on motorways. Sports dept Leyland or BMC did straight cut racing gears for those that thrashed them. You need to fit a front anti-roll bar at the front, they weren’t standard fit U.K. The A series engine so utterly reliable, just look after the ignition points with a clean now & then. They can be tuned up well, head work etc. GREAT LITTLE CARS & fun, so easy to work no thin wiring & relays no electronics- bullet proof. THE AH SPRITE was the first before the midgets.🇬🇧
Wow. I had a '63 Midget in 1970 and everything looked so familiar in this compilation. I found myself lusting after this little beauty. The only thing missing was showing the renovation of the interior. Well done.
You did a nice job gentleman.In early seventys i owned a 1963 austin healy sprite with that pull button to start the engine.
I started watching this for a little while, but ended up watching it all the way thru . I'm now sorry it ended. You are a very good teacher, having a total knowledge of every part of the car and your explanations are very simple. You might have been one of the engineers who built the car. It turned into a beautiful, perfectly running car, the engine is very strong, from listening to you revving it on the test drive. A great car that you probably got for a song and couldn't have spent much at all on parts . Thanks for the fun .
Great video, thank you so much!
I'm a classic car restorer here in the UK and have worked on lots of these cars...So nice to see one that is original and rot free! as most of the ones here completely rotted out and ended up in the breakers long ago. Just a footnote. Have driven the whole west coast of the States from LA to Seattle and never saw one single roundabout.. but in your road test there is one ... Midgets are great on roundabouts..
Roundabouts are being used more and more in new road construction in urban areas, which explains why you never saw any. I am having difficulty with them because I have gone on 3 extended holidays to the UK, always renting a car, and have driven over 4k miles there. I have dealt with many more roundabouts there and am used to them. Here, I have to tell myself as I approach them, 'Turn right, turn right, turn right...' Btw, I live in Oregon which IMHO has some of the loveliest coastline in the US (but I'm biased :) )
@@mescko I have to agree about Oregon coastline... its amazing, cant remember the number but I think its called the scenic Highway...Fantastic memories of me and my late wife on our honeymoon...
I had a 1960 Bugeye with a 948 cc back in the day. I replaced the worn 948 with a newer 1098 and the hp increase was marginally appreciated. Was a fun drive with both engines. What a great era for Limey cars! Thanks for the memories.
Thumbs up Steve,belting little car. Thanks.
Great job Steve..!! Bob Andrews
Great video. Love the sound of that Sprite..
I had a mk3 midget. It was great fun to drive!
Extremely well explained. Good communicator.
I have watched all your videos for ages and this is the type I prefer. Simply cannot believe that in the States there is such an expert on 50/60 year old small and not very powerful British cars. And the way you demonstrate the work you do , which I shall never do myself, I find fascinating. I much prefer your videos to those of UK mechanics and I am unable to really explain why! Less faffing about sums it up. Going for a long slow ride in an elderly Land Rover or similar over rough terrain I find less exciting. Similarly the motor sport videos because so many others of those exist with far better film equipment than you could run to. I am still trying to work out how you make a living!! You and Jay Leno are at opposite ends of the car spectrum but I also enjoy his laid back but knowledgeable manner. Keep up the good work. There are so many things on KZhead but the only one in particular I look out for is yours.
My dad had a mkII in the 70’s as a daily driver. He got rid of it before my brother turned 15. My sister and I would ride behind the seats while my brother rode shotgun. The sounds that this car makes brought back many good memories, I can remember the smells of the carpet. I didn’t realize how much space the radio took up, this one looks wide open without it. Does this one have the original jack in the boot? That thing was sketchy.
Great compilation! Please keep them coming!
This is a very well presented and detailed restoration process video..... It shows how much love Steve has towards this Austin Healey Sprite Mark II and transformed it into a beauty running horse again . Well done Steve.....Greeting from South East Asia....
Thank you very much!
I had a 1966 MG Midget mk 2 with roll up windows and it was a fine car for winter in BC. Open up the flap in the footwell and turn on the fan. With the tonneau cover on it was toasty. Nice to see that Sprite being restored by someone who knows what he is doing.
Marvellous stuff.
Gotta love that sound, thank you for the video, peace.
Such a lovely car, shame it's not still manufactured. Great renovation - Yes more please. LOTS MORE
I had a 1955 Austin Healey 100 which I bought with a thrown rod. It took about a year to overhaul at the time (1966-67). It was a significant learning curve for a 19 year old kid who had no experience working on cars. Had to order parts from the UK. Loved the car for the short time I had it. The backwards 3 speed was interesting with it's aluminum housing. Fun and expensive project at that time.
during a lifetime of living in the high Sierr4as, I can tell you with great certainty that most people get the whole snow tire thing wrong. Narrow tires are the best. Big, wide tire3s end up skidding all over the place. They may not look as cool, but a skinny tire with an aggressive tread design is the best you can do in snow zones. Save the big, wide tires for sand.
very entertaining and inforative
This was a very good series! I'm going to miss seeing this car but I know we'll get to see more Sprites soon!
Love it, sounds so good! Your wife's super cute too.
Oh my goodness...nothing like driving a roadster with the top down. Great job on the restoration...
It does seem strange watching an American drive what was - even by British standards - a small car! very well done sir! 👍
I loved the completeness of this series! It guides me to have confidence in working on my MG and my Morgan! Keep it going! Thanks!
Thoroughly enjoyed this, thank you. Have been hankering for one of these since I sold my “B” in ‘86. If only there were people like you around Putnam Valley NY.
What a great source of information. I wish I had this reference when I worked on my 1963 AH Sprite HAN7. The PB Blaster helped with all the stuck nuts, not shown in this video.
Outstanding restoration of a lovely old car! A highly entertaining and instructive long video, worth watching the whole thing, thanks Steve! And thanks for the quick glimpse of the wonderful Cassie! Slow to come up to temp in the cold? Is the thermostat working?
Excellent job Steve. I love these card, they're just so much fun.
FIRST: I WOULD LOVE MORE VIDEOS. I know you have a soft spot for the Pontiac's but I have one for the Buicks and the Olds from 1948 thru 1957. I have a story I would like to share about a 1975 Datsun 510 coupe that my son and I brought back to life. It was a father/son project when he was 15 1/2 and it took us till he was close to 16 1/2 to finish. I had a lot of pictures which were lost in a storm we had sometime later. I'm 72 now and he and I still talk about his first car. He was the right age that many parents will lose a good kid that age. I wouldn't buy him a car. Yes, I did fork out the money to get the car and start the project. I will not tell the rest of t his story unless there are those who are interested and if it is OK to post it here. I will say by the end of the project we couldn't have been closer and that relationship has endured all these years. He has children of his own who are having their own kids. I will say this: After his son was born he said I hope I'm half the dad to my boy that you were with me. I couldn't help but cry. A number of his friends were into trouble and drugs. Not my boy that I know of. For me it was a life changing experience. I felt all I had learned working on a farm in some small place in NC was worth all the gold in Fort Knox. There was a great deal I learned about both cars and my son.
My first car was a Mk 3, which I bought in 1975 for $250. I swapped drive train, interior, and other parts from my dad's rusted out Mk 3, and eventually rebuilt the engine, did the body and paint myself. I had the car for 25 years, having wrecked and repaired it twice. My dad replaced his Mk 3 with a '72 MG Midget, which he eventually retrofitted to appear as a Mk 4 Sprite. Great series on your rehab of the Mk. 2. What an amazing find. Illinois plates and NO RUST!? Not many like that (or at all) still about. Looking forward to other vids/projects. P.S. Don't forget to lube the trunnion bushings on the front suspension!
That's an awesome rebuild Steve! You've done a really good job there! And Cassie's input was just as important! 🙂
Excellent job - I’m kind of jealous! I’ve purchased a shop manual for a Sprite/Midget in case one should magically appear, but there aren’t a lot of barns in my neighborhood…
Outstanding JOB !!!
Great series of videos - really eonjoyedcwatching this, was a trip down memory lane, having several Sprites and midgets of the years including a couple of Frog Eyes...
That was just awesome! A walk down memory lane for me, as I had bought a 1964 Austin Healey Sprite Mark II done in canary yellow in 1969. Wendy put mahogany Mack tack on the dash and that white bump the shifter and rubber boot goes through (looked great) and I applied a black leather kit for the steering wheel. Thanks for this video. Oh and the one I had didn't have the front bumper. Cheers from Canada.
that was a really enjoyable video. thanks for the tutorial, as a fellow mechanic it's always nice to see how someone else tackles these jobs.
Really enjoyed the entire collection put together in one post!
I have a Sprite 1964, thank you for all your videos they are brilliant
Sweet video. I may have learned enough to attempt to get my 55 Austin A50 running after all these years. You .ake it look quite simple. Thanks for the great vid.
Just a great informative video! I'm going on 2 years into my work on a '69 MkIV. Both your descriptions and camera work are excellent. Thanks!
great video
Sweet little car; very original. All it needs now is a nice cleanup and detail and presto! Wish you and your family a great 2022!
Good, good program.............
Great video Steve from start to finish.
Nice job. Nice little car.
Love it. Great idea compiling all your clips.
I had a 1962 zMk II Sprite. Nothing fancy, not even a radio. But, it ran strong and always fun. Thanks!
great videos!
great stuff , thanks
Another car ready for a new life.
Greetings from Wisconsin. Great build and snow drive at the end.
Great video. I have had two Sprites and watching this showed me how little I knew about either of them, particularly carburetor adjustment. Had this video been around then I would have enjoyed the cars more.
You did a great job! Nice to see another one saved.
Great job. Remember when I had one. Cheers
Hi Steve . Teriffic job and your tuition is top drawer ! My brother had the 948 cc with drums and the later mk2 with the 1098cc and front discs . Becoming fery sought after !
loved it thanks
Great series of videos, well done and happy New Year to you and your hub cap polisher.
Nicely spliced vid. Hope to see more all in one vids. Suggest adding segment description to bottom time bar.
Thanks Steve! What a great old car, glad to see it on the road again. I drove a '64 with tall skinny tires in Wisconsin for a few years, and it did great as long as you kept moving. I think the skinny tire footprint acts sort of like a ski, the car just sort of glided along and cornered quite reliably, particularly with a couple of bags of sand on the floor in the rear seat area. Getting started from a stop was a bit tricky, particularly if there was ice on the pavement from other cars dripping while stopped at a corner.
Nice old sprite. Im glad there are some still around.
I just picked up a 66 sprite, and this video has been extremely helpful. the one i got is almost like yours, has been sitting for close to 30 years...............so wish me luck. thanks I saw an Illinois plate on the car, are you in Illinois?
Nice montage, brother
Great video
Excellent series Steve, I watch every video you do. Can you show us how to fix the heating systems in these sprites/bugeyes. Or how to diagnose the switch/blower/valve. Basically take one that’s not working and getting it to work properly. Thanks Steve! Love the channel!
I seem to remember Sprites had rubber floors from factory and Midgets carpet? Very nice car. Will make a great original driver. Good work.
I had to leave my Sprite on Rt 80 in Pa East of I think Lehigh River in 1975 while moving to Indiana. Blew the engine and couldnt tow it. I left the keys and repair manual. Was painted Ford Grabber Orange. I hope someone saved it. Rick
Love you videos
Great job Steve!!!! I love your channel! Would an update on the ford Bronco!😃
Trying to imagine me stuffing my 6'4" frame into that car - hah! Nice work, I like how you deal with these cars.
Fantastic 60s sports car. I'd love one but at 6ft, I'm just too damn' big! Great work! 😃👍
I have just enough room left in my garage for one of these. But the Mrs. would still expect me to make room first.
Great video, Steve! A real pleasure to watch. In UK we now have unleaded petrol which means a head conversion on cars of this age. You have to put in hardened valve seats to avoid damage to the head. It's not somthing I've heard you mention. Isn't it necessary in the USA? Thanks again for your great videos!
Thanks for the combilation. The car has survived very well. The only thing I noticed which maybe is an issue is that it sits very low at the back. Something with the quarter eliptic springs or their Mounts
Love it
I had a 63 Sprite. HAN7L35503.... still have my log book from 1979...