1962 Austin Healey Sprite

The first car I ever owned was a 1962 Austin Healey Sprite. I drove that car everywhere. Even in the winter, I was trekking off to the hills with the skis in a ski rack on the trunk lid. Sometimes the snow was so deep that the car would tobaggan down the road with all the snow under it. I was either very brave or very foolish. I prefer brave though.

In my teens, my best girl, now my wife, would hop in and enjoy the car too. We would often pile a few friends in the car and putter down the country roads around the cottage to go exploring. On one occasion, it started to rain so we put the top up and everyone, all 6 of us, kept dry as we headed back to the cottage.

The Sprite was a good car to learn how to maintain a vehicle. I did just about everything on it, including rebuilding the transmission. First and reverse gears always were the first to go. I also learned how bad Lucas made ignition systems. Starting in cool damp weather was always a pain. It wasn't fun at times doing the work to keep it on the road but I still fondly remember the 62 Sprite and all the fun driving it.

When it came time to relive our youth, my wife said it would be great to have a little sportscar again. So we started looking for another early 60's Sprite. The search came to an end when we found a 76 Triumph Spitfire that was in great shape at a spring collector car auction. We won the bid and that was the start of a great affair with a new toy.

Here is a picture of a 1962 Austin Healey Sprite taken in Peterborough Ontario. Mine looked exactly like this one.