History and Specifications

In 1961 the Italian car maker Innocenti founded in 1931 by Fernando Innocenti started making a Ghia-styled version of the Austin Healey Sprite. The Innocenti 950 Spyder used the same suspension, steering, drivetrain, and A-series engine as the bugeye (frogeye) Sprite.

Innocenti located in Milan hired Ghia of Turin to design the body of this new car which was manufactured by OSI. The Innocenti versions of the Sprite and Minis featured more confortable options than their British counterparts. Innocenti offered luxuries such as windup windows, larger doors, exterior and lockable boot lid, lockable glovebox and exterior door handles.

Many Italian parts were used in the apperance of the Innocenti. Instead of Smiths guages Italian Veglia instruments were used. Unlike the bugeye which had a flat windshield the Innocenti had a more expensive curved one. The Innocenti’s boxiness was before the Mark II Sprite / Mark I Midget and its TR6 looking front end predated the Triumph by almost ten years. This car also heavily influenced the design of Honda’s very first production car the Honda S 500 which went on sale in 1963.

The Innocenti 950 Spyder was announced at the 1960 Turin Motor Show, other notable debuts at the show included the Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ (Speciale Zagato) and the Pininfarina “X”. The first cars were built from the bugeye (AN5) and only 624 of them were produced. 7,166 Innocenti 950 Spyders were built from the Sprite Mark II (HAN6) but the Innocenti itself was unchanged by the restyling that Austin Healey had made. All of the 950 Spyders used the A-Series 948cc engine.

1963 the Innocenti recieved the 1098cc A-Series engine from the Sprite Mark II (HAN7) and the car was renamed to the Innocenti S. The Innocenti S also recieved a new grill, badging, hub caps, and a drastically different looking interior. The Innocenti S saw 2,074 produced only half that of the 950 Spyder.

In 1966 Innocenti did its most drastic redesign and replaced the Innocenti S with the Innocenti C, a fixed top coupe. Although the Sprite and Midget now were coming with 1275cc engine these were never placed into the Innocenti coupe. 487 Innocenti coupes were built from the Sprite Mark II (HAN7) and 307 from the Sprite Mark III (HAN8).

In total 7,651 Innocentis were built from the Sprite. Most of these cars were sold in Italy and most of the exports were to the United States and Switzerland. The downfall of the Sprite based car was probably their high cost and its competition from the MGB which was introduced only a year later than the 950 Spyder.

Specifications

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