Motoring/Collectables: BUYING A PIECE OF HEALEY

Drivers had to lift the entire bonnet to get at the engine, making them look as if they were being swallowed by a giant frog

THE AUSTIN HEALEY "Frog-Eye" Sprite, designed by Donald Healey more than 40 years ago, did turn into a prince, but plenty are still on the road and those in good condition are an attractive investment. Some cars inspire lust, others awe. The Frog-Eye, with its pop-eyed, amphibious- looking headlamps and grinning radiator grille, inspired love, and still does. It is the car that makes people smile and one of the few to have acquired an affectionate nickname.

Back in 1958, when it was launched as the Sprite Mark I, Harold Macmillan's "never had it so good" speech was still ringing in people's ears. BMC aimed the model at newly-affluent first-time sports car buyers. Even with only 948cc capacity - about a third of other Austin-Healey models of the Fifties and Sixties - it was a real sports car with a name rivalling that of MG. And at pounds 669 it hit the spot.

Its impracticalities did not seem to matter; it had no boot and drivers had to lift the entire bonnet to get at the engine, making them look as if they were being swallowed by a giant frog. But it sold 48,999 in three years, more than any of the Sprites with less risible faces - the Mks II-IV - that superseded it.

Sprites Mks II-IV sell for pounds 1,000-pounds 4,000. Because the Frog-Eye is not a rare model, you can still pick one up at auction for a very modest pounds 3,000- pounds 6,000. But meticulously restored, the Frog-Eye can be worth pounds 10,000 or more and they are appreciating fast. Christie's in London managed to get pounds 9,200 for one in February.

If you love cars, now is the time to think about investing in classic makes. That does not mean speculate. It was speculators who triggered the disastrous crash in classic cars in the recession of 1990, when cars bought at dizzy prices with City bonuses were dumped back on to the market in rapid succession. No other sector of the London antiques market was driven off the road in such a spectacular way. Today, London prices for classic cars are still about 30 per cent below peak 1989 levels - despite the return of the pounds 1m sports car at Christie's sales in California. British bidders, mindful of the crash, remain cautious, and speculators are steering clear of the market.

But a new breed of buyers has joined the circuit - namely enthusiasts who want to drive their precious purchases on rallies or at events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and become members of the growing number of enthusiasts' clubs (there are 80 Austin-Healey clubs worldwide, with some 20,000 members). They are buying for both love and money. You may not be able to fork out pounds 1m for a Sixties Ferrari or a Seventies Porsche, but as an investment, an Austin-Healey of any model is safe. They are seldom unsold at auction.

Their appeal lies both in their design and in their history - the true fairy-tale of Austin's marriage with Healey at the 1952 Earl's Court Motor Show has enduring appeal. Gerry Coker's simple streamlining of the historic smash-hit 1952 model, the 100, which incorporated some last-minute changes by Donald Healey, has become everyone's archetypal image of a sports car.

Moreover, the films and television of the Fifties and Sixties made Austin- Healey Britain's quintessential sports car. Mop-topped pop stars and working class lads from Up North who'd made it in the Smoke were filmed driving Austin-Healeys full of mini-skirted birds.

And the prince that the frog became? That is the "Big Healey", the Austin- Healey 3000 (or, to stretch a point, as BMC did, the 2916cc six-cylinder BN7/BT7 2-carb of 1959), and its successors, which last rolled off the line in 1968. The prince was born only a year after the frog, but for 11 years, they were produced simultaneously.

Prices for the big 3000 are firming up slowly after the crash, compared with both the Frog-Eye and the original Austin-Healey of 1952, the 100, which costs between pounds 12,000 and pounds 15,000 at auction.

Although the 3000 can cost between pounds 12,000 and pounds 24,000, according to model and condition, its price was between pounds 15,000 and pounds 17,000 five years ago. In the hitherto volatile classic car market, that, oddly, counts as firming up slowly.

Two warnings: first, pay less for left-hand drives and left-right conversions (the 3000 sold more in the United States than here). And second, put your foot down in a 3000 and the engine might roast it.

Most valuable Austin-Healeys - and sure to become more valuable still - are the "works" cars; that is, those specially prepared by BMC for international rallying. Driven on circuits such as Le Mans and Sebring by big names such as Pat Moss, Paddy Hopkirk, Timo Makinen and the Morley twins, they created a reputation for Austin-Healey that was worth millions in high street car showrooms. Today, works Austin-Healeys can sell for more than pounds 100,000. In July, the auctioneers Coys of Kensington sold one for a respectable pounds 81,500. It was an ex-works 1962 3000 Mk II, known by its registration number - 67 ARX. The 3000 model was capable of 110 mph (116mph with overdrive) and 0-60mph in 11.4 seconds. Paddy Hopkirk drove 67 ARX in the 1962 RAC Rally, winning second place overall and first in its class. From then on, it was downhill. In the hands of Timo Makinen, the car was disqualified from the Midnight Sun Rally for having no bumpers. It then failed to finish in the 1963 Spa-Sofia-Liege Rally, was brought home by the Morleys in the RAC Rally of the same year ninth overall and second in its class, and then, as the first new 3000 Mk III was about to leave the factory, was sold off to an enthusiast, Ted Worswick. He drove it in two more rallies, then sold it to another enthusiast, Gary Bristow, describing it as "a little tired". Bristow took it to bits, intending to restore it, then sold the bits to another enthusiast, who sold them to yet another enthusiast. The bits were eventually sympathetically re- assembled on a repair rather than restore basis, and the car, still with only 14,000 miles on the clock, became a familiar figure at Austin-Healey club meets.

Do not mock the trade in painstakingly labelled disassembled cars. You might pick up a car for a song that has had tens of thousands of pounds lavished on it by a restoration fanatic who has eventually been flagged down by his bank manager and forced to sell. Few know the full financial track-record of the owner who spent pounds 35,000 on his historic early "100" before consigning it to a Coys auction two years ago. They only know that the car fetched pounds 16,467, a comparatively paltry sum but within the pounds 13,000- pounds 18,000 pre-sale estimate. It was sold with stage-by-stage photographs of the restoration and invoices for the work.

Real Healey buffs go for Donald's pre-Austin models built in Warwick from 1946 until 1954. Their louche design is an acquired taste. They have 2.5 litre Riley engines and names such as the Silverstone (pounds 20,000-pounds 35,000), Elliott (pounds 15,000-pounds 20,000), Tickford (pounds 12,000-pounds 15,000) and Westland. Only 64 Westlands were made but an increasing number of restored models are turning up at meets; a good investment at pounds 30,000. Dark horse in the Austin- Healey market is the Sprite Mk III of 1964-66. It is more powerful than the Mk II, having a 1098cc, instead of a 948cc engine, and has refinements such as wind-up windows and a bigger windscreen. They are relatively plentiful - 25,905 were built - and if you can slam the doors without dislodging a shower of rust, pounds 1,000-pounds 4,000 is a reasonable price.

! Austin-Healey Club (0116 254 4111). Healey Drivers Club (01872 553382). Association of Healey Owners (for Warwick-built models): Mrs Judy Thomas, membership secretary, The Chestnuts, Chestnut Avenue, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 3SB