03x01 - Sprite: Falling for a Frogeye

[bunniefuu]

[HAMMER CLANGING]

Oh, man, I just hit a pipe.

MAN: What's happening?
I just hit a pipe, buddy.
Oh!

Right. Oh!

Oh, man.
[GROANS]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I'm Ant Anstead.
Restoring cars has been my life.

Come on!

I'm fixing up and flipping...

You got a deal.

..more pulse-racing,
must-have classic motors...

Now that's an '80s hot hatch.

..which I need to sell
for maximum profit...

That's it! Yes!

..'cause the house I bought
for my parents to retire in
is still a building site...

Oh, my goodness.

..and still haemorrhaging cash.

[CAR HORN HONKING]

But to turn old motors
into big money...

Hello, sir.

..and finally get Mum
and Dad moved in...

It looks magnificent.

..I'll need my family...

Urgh! Straight into my mouth.

..and my petrolhead pal Duncan...

Whoa!
[LAUGHS]
..back on board.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa! [HORN HONKING]

And to make this
mission accomplished...

She's magnificent!
Incoming!

..I'll have to go... Whoa!

..full throttle. Yeah!

a*mo. Arch.

Thanks for coming.
AMELIE: Hey, Daddo.

What have you got in there?
Come on.
You want a hug as well?

Right.

Furniture.
What for?

Over winter,
work on the house was on hold.

But while most of
it's uninhabitable,

the first bedroom,
where I've been staying,

and the living room
are looking great.

And now spring's here,
I've gathered the troops
to go again.

So lay it all out on the lawn.

Have we got Nana and Granddad
in here?

[ALL LAUGHING]

I've been snapping up
second-hand furniture to get
the living room done and dusted...

Archo!
Incoming.

Feel like I'm gonna get
a cushion in the back of the head.

..and jump-start my mission
to move Mum and Dad in.

Hello, what's going on here?
Park up. Come and give us a hand.

What's going on?
Perfect. Take this.
Oh, thank you.

Aren't we a bit premature
for furniture?

But this house is always
ready to bite me...

Right. We'll go and get
the barn ready for our next cars.

..so I need to get car profit
rolling in fast.

I'm off to see a motor
with enough cult appeal
to kick us off with a big win.

I'm heading south to my birthplace,
I'm back to Devon,

where there is a 1960
Austin-Healey "Frogeye" Sprite.

It takes my mind back to a summer
when I was 17 years old.

Most of my normal friends
had normal cars.

You know, Metros, Astras, Fiestas.
Except my friend Will.

And in that summer,
around our exams,

we restored Will's
Austin-Healey Frogeye Sprite.

And the Frogeye was awesome.
It was an ivory-cream exterior

with red leather interior,
and it was just the best summer.

Now these little cars are loved.
There's something about the design.

At the time it would
have been an obscure-looking car,

but now, decades later,
it's actually kind of cool.

Launched in 1958,
the Mark One Sprite

gave drivers pocket sized
thrills for a modest £678,

with around 49,000 manufactured
over its three-year run.

Its headlamps
were intended to be retractable,

but cost-cutting meant
they stayed put,

gifting the Mark One
its "Frogeye" nickname
and its irresistible cheeky charm.

Now, normally, a Frogeye
should be early to mid-teens.

Now, this car's advertised
for £8,000,

which tells me
there's a margin in it,
as long as it's not rusty.

The Sprite was marketed
as the sports car a chap could keep
in his bike shed...

Nice to meet you, Ant.
Pleasure to meet you.

..but retired engineer Nick has been
tinkering with his in his mate's
garage for the last 12 months.

Unveil?
Yes, please.

Aw, yes!

Oh, man.

And she's white.

Just like my mate, Will's.

They're just such a great car.

Did you name her?
No.
What?

No.
You can't own a Frogeye
and not name her.

I don't like it.

I... I just think the car is ugly.

No, it is.
It's an ugly looking car,

and I just... I just don't like it.

I'm deleting your number.
[LAUGHS]
Gosh.

How did you end up
with a Healey you didn't like?

It was just a project
for me for my retirement,
and it's simple as that, really.

The roof is actually
in really good condition.

Well, the car stood
for like 40 years.

Where did it stand?
A chap in Exeter,
unfortunately, he died,

passed this to his son,
who, unfortunately, he died...

Oh, my God.
...and so -
Right. And you're selling it
before you die?

Yeah.
[BOTH LAUGH]

So she starts, she fuels...
Yeah, yeah, drives.

..steers, stops.
Yep.

Eventually. But the mechanics
are all good, hopefully.

I've done my best.

So would you mind giving me, like,


so I can have a look?
Yeah. Carry on.
Thanks, dude.

You can tell a car that's been sat
for so long.

The chrome has just lost
a little bit of shine.

The panels in the main are
really solid. A bit of surface rust,
and that sill worries me.

I already know looking at it,
that rust could get away from me
and get expensive.

What's going to transform
this car straight away
is a paint job.

And one of the cool things
about this car,

and what makes
it really lovely to work on
is this whole front clam,

bonnet, wings, opens in one go,

which from a mechanical perspective,

gosh, that's heavy,
gives you really good access.

Someone has done a carburettor
upgrade cos that wouldn't
be original on the car.

Suspension looks tidy.
It's clearly been well looked after.

The floors are solid,
axle's been repainted.
I can see the dampers are leaking.

When you think
this is a classic two-seater
British sports car convertible,

having those dampers done
is important because that's a
big part of the driving experience.

It fits me like a tailored suit.

Kind of like the wear
and patina on the seats.

There's no rips or tears,
so I think they'll
shampoo up quite nicely.

It would look amazing
with a wooden wheel.

Right, well, he said it starts...

[ENGINE REVVING]
Let's go mega choke.

[ENGINE REVVING]

Aah, there you go!

Oh, I can already hear the exhaust
has got holes in it,

but the revolutions are nice.

Yeah, once you get over the noise
the exhaust is making,
the engine's feeling really strong.

Nick wants eight grand
for his Frogeye.

Beautifully restored,
this could fetch early to
mid-teens,

but there are unknowns.

See, in my head I'm calculating
all the costs of the things,
paint being the big one.

The rear dampers
are leaking as well.

Definitely needs a new exhaust.
Interiors tired.

So what are you going to offer me?
Oh. Went straight to the money.

Yeah, five and a half.

No, I couldn't do 55.

Can you meet me somewhere lower,
if you're at eight?

I could go to... seven?

Six and a half.
Six and a half,
I will shake your hand.
Yeah?

Yeah!

Whew!

When I think of the list
of frailties that this car has,
the list is quite big.

But for six and a half grand,
this is a great buy.

A little bit of investment
in this car,

I genuinely think I could double
what I paid for it.

Hello there!

You brought the sunshine.

Well, it's the perfect
little British sports car.

Nigel!

Oh, wow, it's a Frogeye Sprite.
Even I know that.

Has he been going to...
I know some things, you know.

Okay, what year?

Well, it would be late
'50s to early '60s.
That's when they made them.

This is a 1960 Austin-Healey
Frogeye Sprite.

This is a little British icon.

I'm going underneath first.

The reason Duncan's
going underneath is that he knows
that these are susceptible to rust.

I mean, there's a bit.

Well, if you were 65 years old -
You, being 75, should know.

[BOTH LAUGH]
What's it like under there?
That's solid.

I like her.

The seats are good.
I mean, the seats are okay.

They'll clean up really nicely.

Well, they're not torn.
Well, exactly.

And what you don't wanna do
is throw a load of cash
into the interior

'cause we're gonna need
to save some for the exterior.

It's not all surface rust.

There are some...
Structural?

Yeah, there's a bit of welding
that's gonna be needed.

That's one of the gambles
on this car,

is that rust is one of the things
that could bite us in the bum.

Oh, the exhaust.
Yeah, the exhaust is toast
and it is a little bit smoky.

It did sound a little bit farty
when it came in.

How much did you pay for it?
What would you pay for this?

I mean, if they're 10 to 15 good,
in this,

eight... possibly?
We're actually way below eight.

I paid £6,500.

That is the nod of approval.

I did notice
while it's been sat here,

there's a bit of a puddle appeared.

That wasn't like that
when I bought it.

So you broke it already?

That genuinely didn't happen
when I went to buy the car.

I need to check
this leak-out sharpish.

I just hope it's not serious.

I did notice as well,
when I drove it in,

the charging light wasn't going out.

The charge light? On the dash?
Yes.

Something wrong
with our charging system.

Is this one of those cars that
keeps adding problems?
Giving.

Okay, one job at a time.

Now, removing the bonnet
gives us full engine bay access
to locate the leak.

I'll leave you guys to get on
with it. I've got plenty to do
in the house, okay?

See you later.
Awesome. Thanks, Dad.

And... it's the radiator.

I wouldn't be surprised
if it's just had water in it...
Frozen?

..and if it had been sat
in the barn, it might have split.

All right, well,
while the front's off,
let's just whip it out,

do a pressure test
and see where the leak is.

My plan is to pump air
into the radiator,
spray on washing-up liquid

and see where the bubbles appear,
just like you would with a tyre
puncture on your bicycle.

Pump this up,
you've got a gauge on there.

Block some of the holes up,
and then we'll put some -
Soapy water in there.

That's it. Love it.

Keep it simple, stupid.

Very rude.
[WHEEZES]

You know what?
There's still a little bit in there,
but it's gonna get wet.

Oh, yeah, it's coming.
[EXCLAIMS]

[LAUGHS]
[SPITS]

I love that we missed the bucket
and it went on the floor.

Well, we've got...
we've got about a cupful.

Look at the rusty water.
Yeah.

Water with no coolant,
freezes, expanded,

puts a hole in the radiator.

If the hole is in a critical place
like the core,
it'll be hard to repair.

And if it's big,
it'll mean a new radiator.

And that's a 200-quid dent
in my profit margin.

Right.
So, connect them two up.

Joining the inlet and outlet
hoses creates a closed loop.

Reckon we could be plumbers.

[THEY CHUCKLE]

I feel like I've learned
every single trade...
Yeah.
..since starting the house.

It's been a journey, hasn't it?

Right, that makes the upper
and lower hose airtight,

which leaves just
the temperature sender,

which we can throw
your hand pump in.
Yeah.

Yeah, I reckon a bit of tape
around that and wedge it in.

Go on, crank her up,
give her a bit of a pump.

Let's put some pressure into it.

Right, bubbles.

All right, where's the hole?
[AIR HISSING]

I can hear the air escaping,
but I can't see
where it's coming from.

Oh, wait, there. No.

Do you know what?
I think we're gonna have
to fill the rad with water.

It's just not got
enough displacement.

Filling the radiator with water,
then gently adding pressure

should show us once and for all
where the leak is.

Here you are.
Found it?
Something down this side, yeah.

It's coming out the end.
Oh, man, it's in the core.

Whoa! [LAUGHS]

[SPLUTTERING]

[LAUGHS] It tastes disgusting.

Oh, man.
Yeah.
It's in the core.
Yeah.

And...
I'm gonna go...
..down your front.
..clean up.

Grandpa, where would you like this?

In the middle here, please.
Thank you very much.
AMELIE: You're welcome.

The living room
is fully furnished.

Cheers.

Now to finish off the hall.

While Duncan adds
the last of the plaster...

It'd be quite nice to see
all this finished off.

..I'm focusing on my Sprite.

Right, now that I've got myself dry,
I can think about
fixing the radiator.

So we already know
that the leak is around here.

So the first thing I want to do

is move some of the fins
out the way.

They're just tiny, tiny strips
of copper that help create
a bigger surface area

so that more air hits it
and it helps efficiently
cool down that coolant.

Yeah, I can actually see the hole.

Now, there is a small repair
that can be done
to one of these veins.

Right, I'm gonna use
quite a liberal bit of flux.

This chemical helps remove oxides

and gives my solder
the best chance of bonding.

Yeah, that seals it.

Now to address the leak I did
already know about...

from the dampers.

Right.

So this one looks like
it's leaking.
DUNCAN: Yeah.

Connecting the rear axle
to the body,

the Sprite's Armstrong dampers
control the suspension's movement

through hydraulic resistance
and were used in many
cars of the period.

We wanna take this
lever arm off first.

When Donald Healey's team set out
to build a budget sports car,
they raided the B&C parts bin,

taking the rack and pinion steering
from the Morris Minor 1000

and the A-series engine
and suspension from the Austin A35.

This takes up the damping,
using oil inside with two pistons,

and you can clearly see, look,
that's gonna handle terribly.

I reckon it's leaking out
of that gasket here,

and you can already feel
that has not got oil in it.

Lost a bit of its damping.
Yeah.

I think we give these a clean-up
and take a peek.

I don't think Ant would mind me
borrowing his toothbrush.
I'll give it a clean.

Right, remove that.

Oh. [CHUCKLES] There you go.

It's always something simple.

These dampers
are actually quite robust.

There's very few parts to go wrong
and sure enough, it's a gasket.

Over time, this gasket
loses its ability
to seal oil in the chamber.

It becomes brittle and fragile.

But the rest of it
actually looks quite good.

There's no cracks,
there's no signs of damage.

Yeah, you know what, I reckon

a pair of gaskets and some new oil
and that's gonna fix these dampers.

But before I do that, Mum, Dad
and I need a quick debrief.

Doesn't it all fit together so well?

NIGEL: No, it's great.
It feels like home.

So the bedroom
above here is finished,
which leaves the panel room.

Then the worst bit,
which is the second bedroom,
the room above the panel room

because that's gonna be
a from-scratch full construction.
Major job.

Yeah. And we've still got
a few bits to finish off
in the hallway as well.

But inside I feel like there is
a very realistic chance

that you guys could move in like
late spring, early summer.

There's something
you haven't mentioned at all.

Kitchen.

Building a temporary one
isn't gonna be difficult.

It shouldn't be here.
We could put it in the dairy.

That's not a bad idea,
using the dairy.

The dairy is big enough
for a microwave.
And an air fryer.

[LAUGHS]
What more do you need?

We can manage,
if it meant moving in.
Yes.

I'm gonna need a w*r chest
to help pay for all this.

But I've got high hopes
the profit from selling my Sprite
will give me a head start.

That is the cooling system done.

The radiator might be fixed,

but there was another issue
that surfaced after I got my
Frogeye home.

Give it some beans.

[ENGINE WHIRRING]

And the charge light should go out
once the engine's running
under its own steam.

And it's not.

This indicates the battery
is not charging.

Hold that on that one.

So, my Frogeye won't go far
until I figure out
what's going wrong.

Now, we want this to be 13.8
to show that it's putting
power back into 12 volts.

This low-voltage reading
proves the battery
is not receiving power.

Now, the usual suspect would be
the dynamo, or the wiring.

Or the regulator.
Or it could be the regulator.

Or all three of them.
Or it could be all three.

Replacing them all could set me back
around two to three hundred quid.

I just hope it's fixable.

Well, normally,
people would put all the blame
onto the dynamo,

and then they normally
change them out.

And that's expensive.

Let's discount
it's not the dynamo first,
let's take the fan belt off.

I've got a hack
that should quickly show
if the dynamo is working,

and it involves the regulator.

This regulates voltage going
from the dynamo to the battery,

but it also stops current
flowing back to the dynamo
when the engine's not running.

All right, fan belt off.

By closing those two points here,
I'm stealing voltage from the
battery into the dynamo,

and if the dynamo works
and the wiring works,
that should spin.

It should behave like a motor.

Thing is, you can't do it
too long, you'll burn the wires.
But we can do it for a moment.

[CHUCKLES] Pretty cool, right?

That tells me, look,
dynamo is working,
wiring's working.

Where did you learn that hack?
Old man told me.

Not my old man. An old man.

Knowing it's not the dynamo
and wiring at fault, I now want
to test the regulator.

Voltage generated by the engine
should power these two
electromagnets, closing the points.

That's not closing.

For this side to close,
it relies on getting voltage
from its neighbour.

So that's our culprit.

It's this left-hand side
electromagnet, which means

the problem's definitely
the regulator.

You can see a bit of
corrosion underneath.

So like a set of points,
if we give them a little clean.

I mean, we'll try it.

So if we get in here...

I'll tell you what, if this works...

If this doesn't solve it,
I'm looking at 150 quid
for a new regulator.

Go on then. Bit of beans.
Bit of fingers crossed.

Right.

Yeah, it closed!

Now has the light gone out?
Light's out.

The regulator now working,
I can fine-tune it, being careful
not to overcharge the battery.

That's our sweet spot.

So it doesn't drop below 12?

Our system is recharging
the battery now perfectly.
That's it.

Why I like old cars.
You used to be able to fix them.

You do have heated seats,
though, now.
Well, there is that.

In the hallway,
the plastering's done,

and I'm laying floorboards
I reclaimed from the living room.

Just a few more to sand and fit.

They were all thin,
rubbish modern ply,
and these are quite nice.

That looks smart.
So leave these exposed up there?

Yeah, I'm thinking like a wax
or a stain, maybe.

All right, so you're on this
for a couple of hours?

No, I should rattle
through this quite quickly.
It's quite a simple job.
All right.

[HAMMERING]

Duncan!

Oh, man, I just hit a pipe.

What's happening?
I just hit a pipe, buddy.
Aah! For God's sake, man.

We need a quick solution.
Right.

Erm, let me get some buckets.

Oh, man.

[SIGHS] Oh, I was just fitting
these floorboards.

I'd measured it out,
and I got my measurement
like half an inch out,

and I just put a screw through
the bloody central heating pipe.

DUNCAN: Just put the screw
back in the hole for a minute.

Go.
Aah!

[GROANING]

Turn... turn the water off.

Don't know what any of these do.

Yeah, I've got the water off.

We need to get the rags going down.

Yeah, that's got it. [EXCLAIMS]

What a disaster.

That is gonna wreck
all the plaster downstairs.

There's electrics in here,
there's lights in here,
it's all new.

[EXHALES]

It was all going so well.

While I wait for a plumber,
I'm retreating to my comfort zone

where I can focus on fixing leaks
rather than causing them.

Oil, less than a tenner.

Each damper takes
about 250 millilitres.

If I get my Sprite handling
like a sports car again...

Gasket on.

..she'll be ten times more sellable.

Yeah, that already feels better.

That's both dampers
fixed for 14 quid.

If she's gonna turn heads,
I'll also need to get my Frogeye's
bodywork back to its best.

I think the next thing to tackle
is the big elephant in the room.

The big, rusty, oxidised elephant.

While I can sand out surface rust,
the sill's in a far worse state
and could need welding.

I'm taking no risks.
Anything flammable is coming out.

These will clean up beautifully.

I reckon you could get in there.

I just find it funny
it has actually got a boot lid.

This unusual emission was all part
of chassis designer Barry Bilbie's
revolutionary unibody concept...

Tonneau cover.

..which made the Sprite
one of the first mass-produced
sports cars

with lightweight
unitary construction
rather than a body on a frame.

The carpet's big enough
to go in the lounge.

The sill is critical to the design.

It's how Bilbie joined
the front and rear bulkheads.

It would be laborious
to replace and not cheap.

There's no real way
to know how bad it is
until I remove the paint,

so I'm gonna do that
whilst holding my breath.

Hoping it's not as bad as it looks.

This whole end section
of the sill is rotten through.

Instead of doing a proper weld
and patch repair, they just
slapped filler all over it.

By cutting away the rotten sections,
I can weld in a patch.

What is that?
I reckon someone's added that.

In fact, what they've probably done
is stuck it behind
to filler against.

But as I delve deeper...

Filler, filler.

..there are telltale signs
of a worse problem.

There's an inner panel here.

This is the structure of the car,
the base of which I can already see
is definitely rotten.

Which means already this Healey
is starting to get away from me.

The unibody design
means the inner sill
provides vital chassis structure,

adding rigidity
to the low-bearing floor pan.

But this panel, it's pretty good,
apart from the hole.

Yeah, this is a bit lucky, actually.

Yeah, I think just
cut straight up there.

What I now need to do
is make a triangular panel.

That way it puts the structure
back into the chassis.

I'm just putting a 90-degree return
into my panel.

That way it slides in and makes
contact with the inner arch
and the inner sill.

Oh, that's not bad, you know.

Right, now all I need to do
is weld it.

Once it's secure,

I hit it with some
neutralising primer.

What this does is it stabilises
the rust within the cavity
and it won't rust any further.

I need to order in and fit
a new lower wing panel,

so there's a bit more prep to do
before she goes to the paint shop.

But I can go to sleep knowing
my Sprite's making progress,

even if my house
is giving me nightmares.

Waking up to no water,

I've called in a plumber,
my neighbour Andy...

Oh, now we've got more water coming.

..to properly fix the pipe I burst.

I'm too handy next door.

Hopefully he won't do it again
and I can be in peace.

Hey, dude.

Why do they let you loose
on anything in the house?

Why can't you just stick to cars,
things you know about? [LAUGHS]

Yeah...
Yeah.
..this is a big boo-boo.

Never mind.
These things happen, don't they?

Yeah, they, they do and they did.

Right. It's repaired,
but we just need a little bit
of that joist nibbling away.

I've got a multi-tool.
That'll just do the job perfectly.

Do you want me to do it?
No, you're not going
anywhere near it.

I'll do it. [LAUGHS]
That's fair.

The Sprite's due to go
to the paint shop tomorrow morning,

so the pressure's on
to finish the prep.

These look good in black
and match the front.

The freshly painted,
fully restored dampers fitted...

She is now gonna handle
exactly as she should,
leaving the factory in 1960.

..we need to get
the body sanded down

and weld
in the new lower wing panel.

Only 17 quid.

It's the missing piece
of the bodywork puzzle.

Have we thought of colours?

No, we're keeping this ivory white.
This is a survivor car.

Plus, it means we don't
have to change the interior
because white and red is classic.

Now we can get the brightwork
ready for re-chroming.

Yeah, I reckon that will
come up a treat.

What hot food do you want tonight?
Sausage in batter and chips.

You want battered sausage
and chips?
Yeah.

I'm not staying otherwise.

That's looking smart.
How's the front end?
A lot of work, but it's done.

Awesome. Well, do you want
to jump on that side?

Yeah, smash into it, get it done.

For a little car
that's a lot of work.

And all that's been
driving me on is that promise
of my sausage and chips.

Right, you finish that
last bit of that inner wing
and I'll go get my debts repaid.

So far we've barely spent a penny,
but my Frogeye's repaint
will change all that.

I just hope she's as desirable
as I think she is.

How is it?
Worth it. Worth the wait.

They say an army
marches on its stomach.
It's like you've never eaten before.

We've had a long day.
You know when you were a lad,
you went to car meets?

Fish and chips
in Southend in the back of an MG.

I used to go to
the RS Owners Club, Brentwood.

Used to be a kebab.

See, the Healey is a bit
too classy for you.
Yeah.

We used to run these out of town.

Oh, you're such an Essex boy.

The problem with vinyl,
can you see it's all grainy?
It's like textured skin.

Go on, get in there.
The sponge doesn't go deep enough.

I've got a couple of -
That's already coming off.
Might need a bit more soap.

I'm hoping some extra scrubbing
power from my daughter, Amelie,

will help me breathe new life
into my Sprite's upholstery
and dodge the cost of a retrim,

knowing I'm already forking out


Right. I think that's
most of the grime off.
Let's get a bit of steam on this.

Can you feel
the grubby water coming off?
Yeah, that's disgusting.

Look at that.
I bet you that's a...
BOTH: Cigarette burn.

A hundred percent.

Yeah. The '60s,
everyone drove sports cars
and smoked cigarettes.

That looks so much better already.
Yeah, this is perfect.

Yeah, this kind of level of age,

this is the bit that people want
in classic cars.

They don't want it too new.
It's character.

Saving cash on the seats is a bonus.

And with the hallway
dried out after the leak,

thankfully, the plastering
and electrics don't need redoing,

so I'm celebrating
with a little extravagance.

That's a little bit big, Anthony.

Oh, yeah, she's a big one. [LAUGHS]

Right, Dad,
you stand in the middle.
NIGEL: What, and get crushed?

Right, Steve,
you and I are the muscle.

This mirror was a bargain.
Down from a grand to 500 quid.

Oh, bloody hell.
Okay, I've got it.
Mind that metal.

Mind the mirror on it as well.

But with my recent track
record of calamities...

Right, gently down.
Just gently down.

..it's probably not
my most sensible idea.

Okay.

STEVE: More?
Oh, like half an inch.

That'll probably do 5it.

No, too much. [LAUGHS]
Too much. Go back.

Oh, just get
the bloody thing on the wall.

Right, let go.

That was a very confident
let go, Steve. [ALL LAUGH]

Oh, it looks magnificent.

It's a statement piece,
no doubt about that.
It is.

One or two
little imperfections,

but that shows that it's...

Well...
..an antique.
..it's very old.

I'm just worried about
getting up to the top.

You can see how far I can get.
I can't get all the way up.

Yeah, well that's probably
maintenance, I assume. I'll manage.

Hmm.
Hmm?
We'll see.Hmm.Hmm.

I know you don't like
going up ladders.

No time to reflect.

My Sprite body's
back from its makeover.

It's looking good.
What a difference some paint makes.

That colour is definitely right,
isn't it? Keeping the original.

But there's no point her looking
classy if she's belching smoke
and sounds like a tractor.

Now I splashed out
on a stainless exhaust system.

It's gonna sound better.
Plus it'll never rust again.

This was only 104 quid.
How did they make it for that?

It's designed to fit
the original cast iron manifold.

Right, you want to grab
that middle section?
Yeah.

But because this engine's been
upgraded to a tubular manifold...

Right. There you go.

..some surgery is needed.

It's the perfect bit of tube
for a slip joint.

Now all I need to do is weld it on.

One Franken-extension.

Thank you. Is it gonna fit?
Right.

Straight in.

We are a precision exhaust
fabrication company.

Then it's back in
with our repaired radiator
along with new spark plugs...

Is your housing all clean?

..a refreshed oil filter...

..and an oil change.

This is four litres.

Oh! I hope this clears
that exhaust smoke.

Ready?
Fire her up.

[ENGINE STARTS]
Go on, go on, go on!

[ENGINE ROARING]
Oh, she sounds awesome!

Hey, she's not smoking.

Oh, man, this car
not only looks the business,
she sounds the business.

This is gonna be a really
lovely driving car for someone.

Now for our Frogeye's facelift...

Putting its eyes back in.

Right, dimples next.

..including her re-chromed
brightwork.

Now, remember how bad
the grille was?

Come on. Look at -
You can't help but smile
when you see that.
I know.

That looks great. And you know
what every British sports car needs?

Wipers.
Wipers.

Her beautifully cleaned
upholstery back in,

I've got one last
all-important addition.

Oh, my gosh, that's marvellous.

She's done.
Gorgeous.

She's gorgeous, right?
Really lovely.

The colours go well together.
Love it.

I can't wait to drive her.

But first I need to figure out
how much I've spent and what I need
to claw back for the house.

All right, well, a little refresher.
This car was six and a half grand,

so mechanically,
we spent £170.30.

The little bit of panel
to fix the rust was £17.
That's all right.

Because we did the metalwork,
and then Duncan and I put some
effort in to do the prep,

to get my mate to paint it, £1,250.

Yeah, the chrome was 1,100.
But it does make a difference.

The steering wheel set us back £291.

What's it made of?
Gold.

That is the biggest touch.

Wrapped in about £100
for miscellaneous bits.

So that brings our total spend
to just under three grand.

Which means, as she sits here today,
this car owes us nine
and a half grand.

What do you think she'll go for?
This is a five-figure car
for sure.

I mean, 10,000,
someone's stealing it from us.

We should be getting 11, and,
you know, the weather's changing.

We might even tick into
eleven and a half, twelve.

But before I let her go,
let's hit the frog and toad.

I feel like "Toad of Toad Hall".

[BOTH LAUGH]

It's such a great car.
It's got tonnes of character.

My feet are near the headlamp.
They are.

Basically, it is a
road-legal go-kart.

Wow. Handles so well.

Yeah, fixing those
leaky rear dampers,

she's so responsive.

[EXCLAIMS] This is perfect.

No roll at all.
No role at all.

We now are reassured
that this is reliably running

and charging.
And cooling.

I didn't plan on getting wet
in the workshop.
That was challenging.

Yeah, I got soaked
by the central heating,
and soaked by the radiator.

Well, at least it's not raining...
BOTH: Yet.

I've arranged to meet
a potential buyer
at the Enfield Pageant of Motoring.

If you choose
the perfect day to sell
a two-seater British convertible...

It's today.
...this is it.

Nine and a half grand
will cover her costs,

but I want maximum profit
for the house.

It's lovely.
Beautiful steering wheel.

So I'm asking Neil for 13,750.

So what work have you done?
The biggest job was
probably the sills.

So there was some rust
in the rear side.
Yeah.

She had a fresh repaint.
But what we have done

is we've kept
the interior original.
Yeah.

You've struck a really happy balance
between preserving the car

and conserving
what is original to it.

Well, I'm asking 13,750...
Right.

..which I think is, erm,
a reasonable price.

I was thinking in terms of...

..a touch under 12. Let's say -

Under 12?
Yeah, 11,800.

We're absolutely
not going to go that low.
I'll come down a bit.

What about 13?

I need to have
an eight in the number.

One of the reasons I was drawn
to this car when I saw her,

er, is the registration number.

"VBL"...
Okay.

..stands for "Very beautiful lady",
which is not only the car,
but my wife, of course...

Okay, some brownie points.
[LAUGHS]

..and eight is our shared
favourite number.

Sixty-three happens to be the number
of the house in which I grew up.

So...
This is fated.
It is fated.

So I'm going to offer you 12,800.

And I'm not even gonna argue.
I'm gonna take it.
Wonderful.
Fantastic.

That makes me so happy.
I'm absolutely delighted.

Duncan, our new owner.
Hello, Duncan.
How are you doing?

I must say,
it does actually suit you.
I know, right?

You were made for this car.

Neil, safe journey. Take care.

[ENGINE REVS]

Look, he did a little wheel spin.
[LAUGHS]

He is absolutely perfect
for that, isn't he?

I know. When they say like dogs are
a representation of their owners,

that guy is the right person
for that Healey.

That's really made my day.

Plus, we made some profit, man.
We sold it for £12,800,

which means we made a profit
of around 3,300 and a bit.

Mate.
I know, right?
I'll tell you, that's gonna help
with the house.

Let's go spend some of it
on a beer, maybe.
Maybe a half.