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)

In article ,
   vat677  wrote:
> 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!
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.

-- 
Small asylum seeker wanted as mud flap, must be flexible and willing to travel

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

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

> 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.

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?

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