Frogeye Sprite

[squadron leader]

I have the chance to pick up a 1959 Frogeye with its original steel bonnet. It is an older restoration and appears to have no rust anywhere. The paintwork on the bonnet has started to crack so the car could probably benefit from a respray to bring it back up to scratch. It does run and has a current MOT.

Is there anyone on here that can give me a rough idea of what this car is worth?

Thank you inadvance for your help.

Cheers,

Phil

[trickywoo]

squadron leader said:

Original steel bonnet. No rust anywhere. The paintwork on the bonnet has started to crack.

Cracking paint on the bonnet would suggest at least a fair bit of filler to me.

Price - anywhere from £9,000 to £11,000?

[john2443]

trickywoo said:

squadron leader said:

Original steel bonnet. No rust anywhere. The paintwork on the bonnet has started to crack.

Cracking paint on the bonnet would suggest at least a fair bit of filler to me.

Price - anywhere from £9,000 to £11,000?

At that price I'd expect pretty good originality, numbers match, orig steering wheel (even though they were borrowed from a bus!), correct engine, box,instrument, dynamo/tachodrive etc.

So many car have been uprated to 1275 spec as it's just bolt on changes - a 1275 disc brake car will go well, but arguably isn't worth as much as an original.

Just check carfully door gaps (tend to OPEN at top of doors if structure is weak) and rear spring hangers/hell board as there's a massive load on there with 1/4 eliptic.

Any photos? PM me if you don't want to disclose details publicly and I can give you a view on originality if you wish.

[squadron leader]

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resi...E25HSfVltrF...
Thank you John. I'm hoping this link works to the pics of it.

Phil

[john2443]

squadron leader said:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resi...E25HSfVltrF...
Thank you John. I'm hoping this link works to the pics of it.

Phil

No, doesn't work for me, I suspect you have permission and I don't.

[LordBretSinclair]

A "minter" here for around £9.5k to give you some comparison

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C313671

[Flying Phil]

Hi Phil
You can get more Frogeye information from the Austin Healey Forum website and "The Midget and Sprite Club". If it is an all steel frog with all the bits and bobs the £8K - 10K .... with concours cars up to £14K. Even basket cases seem to fetch £3K!

[squadron leader]

Thanks for the useful info everyone.It would seem to be a bit of a minefield out there depending on condition. Here's a couple of pics of the one I'm talking about.The asking price is a tad under 6K.Only one pic showing for some reason?

Edited by squadron leader on Thursday 2nd August 19:40

[S10GTA]

6k would suggest either a scam, or some major hidden tin worm.

They are worth 8-10k

[squadron leader]

Definitely not a scam. It's for sale from another forum member that I frequent. There are a lot more pictures of all different angles and deep corners of it on the file sharing site he uses but I can only lift one or two off it.

[Skyedriver]

Might be me/the light/the photo but:
The joint between rear and sill (B pillar ish) doesn't seem to line up with the door and the bonnet seems to be proud of the sill at the front. The door itself looks a bit iffy at the bottom
Best bet is go with your eyes OPEN
If it looks only a bit "rotten" it is probably very rotten underneath
What you need is an expert opinion from someone who has owned and repaired one.

[52classic]

IMHO that's going to need a fair bit of work to make a nice car. A serviceable and usable car may be. O/S rear wing shape is a bit suspect and bonnet fit is terrible. Needs a good good look underneath at any price.

[squadron leader]

What a great site this is: Perfect for info to stop you buying something that could be worse than you think.

Thanks to everyone for their help in making me decide NOT to buy this partcular car.

Cheers all.

Phil

[Jon Brown]

At that money I would go have a look, just take a magnet and ask if you could jack it up.

[benjj]

Jon Brown said:

...just take a magnet and ask if you could jack it up.

That has reminded me of the first DS I went to look at...

The chap had advertised it as very solid in shell and chassis (but a bit tatty on door bottoms).

I went along and all looked good and as advertised from above and inside. I said that I'd like to just pop it up on a stand (DS's don't use such common things as jacks ) and have a look underneath.

I thought he was going to faint - I raised it up to highest setting and had a quick look - rotten as a pear - it would probably have broken in half if I'd tried to jack it up!