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The term "Frogeye"
or "Bugeye" has for many years
been applied as a nick-name to the Mk I
Austin Healey Sprite. There is however a
car called the Frogeye, it is the Healey
Frogeye, built by the Frogeye Car Company
(FCC) in the Isle of Wight.
The Healey component of
the name reflects the role of Geof Healey,
the developer of the original Mk I Sprite.
Geof Healey worked with Keith Bradding,
owner of the Frogeye Car Company, to develop
an updated version which eventually featured
modern day units to replace components such
as the engine, gearbox and rear axle, without
losing any of the character.
The Healey Frogeye features
an exceptionally well made Fibreglass body
with Kevlar re-inforcements, bolted to a
galvanised steel tubular chassis. All the
mechanical trim from the original (or later
Sprite/Midgets) are used.
The first Healey Frogeyes
were sold as "Restoration assemblies"
and required the front cross-member of the
donor to be supplied to the factory so that
it could be incorporated into the chassis.
Later FCC produced only complete cars, mainly
for the Japanese market.
With investment from Japan,
the cars were progressively developed so
that all the major units were currently
available. In addition to the A Series,
chassis' were available that would take
the Rover K Series or the Ford CVH. Gearboxes
could be the Spritget box, or 5 speed
units from Toyota or Ford.
This web site has been inspired
by my own Healey Frogeye - "Elmo"
and contains details of the original build
and its rebuild 10 years later.
If you have a Healey Frogeye,
please let me know and I will add a section
to the site so that we can keep track of
the cars.
elmo
at healey-frogeye.co.uk
Cheers
Mike Bennett
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