With its cartoonish ‘Frogeye’ face, Lilliputian dimensions and 43hp engine, the Austin-Healey Sprite wasn’t the obvious ...

Also in 1959, an odd-looking British import landed on stateside shores. It was over seven feet shorter and two feet narrower than the Series 62 Caddy—and scarcely more than a quarter of its weight.

With its cartoonish ‘Frogeye’ face, Lilliputian dimensions and 43hp engine, the Austin-Healey Sprite wasn’t the obvious starting point for a giant-killing race car. Yet this plucky roadster punched ...