Austin Healey / Sprite

The Austin-Healey Sprite is a small open sports car which was announced to the press in Monte Carlo by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) on 20 May 1958, just before 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, which received a royalty payment from the manufacturers BMC. It first went on sale at a price of £669.
The Sprite used a mildly tuned version of the Austin A-Series engine and as many other components from existing cars as possible to keep costs down.
Enthusiasts often refer to Sprites and MG Midgets collectively as "Spridgets".
The British Mark I Sprite was known as the Frogeye in the U.K. and the Bugeye in the U.S. because of its distinctive headlights mounted on top of the centre bonnet (hood). The mounted headlights were not actually part of the original car design; they were originally going to be mounted into the front of the car so they could "flip up" when they were in use, with the lenses facing skyward when not in use. However, mounting production costs led to the flip-up headlight idea being abandoned and so the headlights were simply mounted in a permanent upright position giving rise to the car's most distinctive feature.