A number of people emailed about our new 501 project that I announced last week now that we’ve purchased the first production Bugeye sprite (AN5/501). They were astute to notice that T-shirt we’ve made (and chassis number plate) shows AN5/501. Yet the car is clearly left hand drive. So what gives?
A call to the Heritage Trust, keeper of all heritage certificates for all classic BMC cars, confirmed that the first six production Frogeyes were all left hand drive bound for the United States (AN5/507 was the first right hand drive Frogeye). This is interesting in and of itself… you would think that this distinct British made roadster would’ve started life primarily as a right hand drive vehicle for some lucky Brits, but actually the first production cars were left hand drive. Remember, the total production is predominantly left-hand drive for all Sprites, with the USA as the primary market for this product, and that was always part of the BMC strategy.
We are lucky to have car AN5L/505 in our building at the moment for restoration. This number plate was done right. Notice the similarity between the numbering stamps and type font of both plates. These are both original chassis plates from the factory, both stamped by the same tool.
So back to that missing L… according to British Motor and Heritage Trust, given that the build record confirms that 501 was indeed left hand drive and indeed bound for the United States and recorded as AN5L/501 on the heritage certificate, and given that the original plate is present and still on the car, and confirmed to be a genuine factory number plate, the explanation is “this is a human error at the factory in Abingdon, the person who stamped it got it wrong and left off the “L”.
Imagine that… the first production Sprite and the number stamp was done wrong… if I hadn’t seen other similar errors and inconsistencies in the production and numbering of BMC vehicles, I would never believe it.
