The entry-level British sports cars may appear identical to the casual observer, but there's a key difference between Austin-Healey's Bugeye and Frogeye Sprite.

There's a shibboleth among the patched-elbow, tweed jacket, sports-car crowd that Donald Healey only cared about his "big" cars, like the fast and fabulous Austin-Healey 100. But Healey and the ...