DIRTY STUFF

THERE was a bloke living in England who owned a crashed E-Type Jaguar.

- WILLIAM PORKER

Wondering what to do with the wreckage, which wasn't repairable, he kicked the tyres of his 1960 Mk1 Austin-Healey Sprite and suddenly had a brainwave. Maybe, just maybe, he could shoehorn all that Jag six-cylinder power into this tiny little sports car! This bloke wasn't short of a quid and knew most of the specialist engineers who could make this transplant possible, so a plan was hatched.

The Healey Sprite is a very small car. Built cheaply using the 948cc four-cylinder engine and transmission out of Austin's A30 sedan, this two-seat budget excitement machine instantly got tagged 'Bugeye' due to its twin popup headlights planted at the front of the downswept steel bonnet. It was little and light, with no boot, and slippery-fast with 43hp at 5000rpm from the overhead-valve, twin-carb four. If this bloke could succeed with his wild transplant, the car would boast 265hp at 5500rpm from 3.8 litres of six-cylinder, twin-cam Jaguar power – if it would fit!