Colour of A H Sprite

Jun 11, 2008 3 Replies

My friend bought his black 1966 Austin Healey Sprite in 1969: the problem is that black was not then a Sprite colour (although it was for the MG Midget). The guy it was purchased from, the second owner, said the first owner had told him that he had ordered the car with two optional extras - spoked wheels and a special colour (black).



The interesting complication is that the transmission tunnel should be body-coloured, but on this car it is tartan red. It's only idle curiosity really, but can anyone shed any light on this? By the way, we went over it with a fine-toothed comb in 1969, and there is no way it had been resprayed in its first 3 years.



Any comments or opinions would be welcome!



Tony (VAT 677)


Could have been hand sprayed at the factory - or by the supplying garage.

The factory would be unlikely to fill up their body dip with black for just one car - so they'd spray one that was already painted.

"Dave Plowman (News)" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

If it was available on Midgets at the time, it'd surely have just been a case of sticking AH badges on a black "Midget" shell...? They were produced side-by-side, weren't they?

The production stopped here for the AH in October 1968 in which the Midget was released at the Motor Show. The Midget came out with a longer space behind the seats also a 1275cc engine. Au.

Never seen on with a different colour on the tunnel.

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