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Austin-Healey / Model record

Austin-HealeySprite

1958–1971 United Kingdom Sports car 14 production years
Production1958–1971
Recorded originUnited Kingdom
ClassSports car
Background

The Austin-Healey Sprite is a small open sports car produced in the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1971. The Sprite was announced to the press in Monte Carlo by the British Motor Corporation on 20 May 1958, two days after that year's Monaco Grand Prix. It was intended to be a low-cost model that "a chap could keep in his bike shed", yet be the successor to the sporting versions of the pre-war Austin Seven. The Sprite was designed by the Donald Healey Motor Company, with production being undertaken at the MG factory at Abingdon. It first went on sale for £669, using a tuned version of the Austin A-Series engine and as many other components from existing cars as possible to keep costs down.

Text adapted from “Austin-Healey Sprite” on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗ · retrieved 2026-07

Chronology ledger

Dates with their meaning intact

Production chronology1958–1971

Sourced production or model lifecycle range used by the main catalog timeline.

Wikipedia lead ↗14 years
Netherlands RDW first-admission observations1958–1967

First-admission years observed in Dutch vehicle registrations; this is market evidence, not a worldwide production range.

Netherlands RDW ↗10 years