A fellow Healey racer had been working on this car during his free time which was getting slimmer all of the time. He asked us to assemble and paint the body so he could expedite the build. It sure looks pretty.
Long time maintenance customer here. We recently did some modifications to the original restoration to make the doors fit and close properly.
Had not run in quite a while. We got the car running and driving with brakes and suspension upgrades. We did a differential rebuild and installed a new interior. A cousin to the red 1968 we have rebuilt.
(The car that got John Saccameno into Vintage Racing)
After a year or so back into the classic car world I wondered what I was going to do next. I went to another British Car Union show was restless pretty early on. I had been looking into vintage racing, but knew if I wanted to get into it, it wouldn’t be in the 3000. I wandered over to the North Suburban Sports Car Club tent and started talking to the nice folks there who were promoting the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs Vintage / Historic racing program. I would soon turn 40, and figured it was now or never. My research led me to Sprites as being great first race cars.
I found this one at a dealer in Florida. It was an ex H Production SCCA car that had run some vintage races, even though it had the big flares front and rear. It did have all of the safety gear, and a roll cage that NASCAR would approve. I immediately took it apart and cleaned it up, and made it mine. It took a while, but after a few seasons it became a very reliable car. It has well over a hundred races in MCSCC alone. It was built to be ultra reliable as I didn’t have any spare time due to my travel schedule to do much between events other than bleed the brakes and check the pads. I upgraded to a 1275 to take advantage of an o-ringed block, installed a close ratio gearset, and upgraded the brakes. I still take the car out at track days from time to time and recently rebuilt and upgraded the front and rear suspension. It’s still a really fun car to drive!
– John
Nicely restored Rover was pinging and knocking, in need of some fine tuning. The engine now runs smoothly and its back to its outdoor adventures. What a fun ride.
