There were no exterior door handles the driver and passenger were required to reach inside to open the door. The rear axle was both located and sprung by quarter-elliptic leaf springs, again with lever-arm shock absorbers. The front suspension was a coil spring and wishbone arrangement, with the arm of the Armstrong lever shock absorber serving as the top suspension link. The rack and pinion steering and suspension were derived from the Morris Minor 1000. The 43 bhp, 948 cc OHV engine (coded 9CC) was derived from the Austin A35 & Morris Minor 1000 models, also BMC products, but upgraded with twin 1 1/8" inch SU carburettors. The front sheet-metal assembly, including the bonnet(hood) and wings, was a one-piece unit, hinged from the back, that swung up to allow access to the engine compartment. But cost-cutting by BMC led to the flip-up mechanism being deleted, therefore the headlights were simply fixed in a permanently upright position, giving the car its most distinctive feature. The car's designers had intended that the headlights could be retracted, with the lenses facing skyward when not in use a similar arrangement was used many years later on the Porsche 928. The little Sprite quickly became affectionately known as the "Frogeye" in the UK and the "Bugeye" in the US, because its headlights were prominently mounted on top of the bonnet, inboard of the front wings.
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