1959 Austin-Healey Sprite Mk 1 Think Pink
The history of automobile racing is filled with unusual characters whose talent and personality were equally outsized. In the American SCCA circuit of the early 1960s, few were more memorable than Donna Mae Mims. Dressed head, toe, and car in a shade of pink that would have made Mary Kay proud, Mims used her former role as Don Yenko’s public relations manager to sell herself with skill, bestowing upon herself such newsprint-friendly nicknames as “El Pinko,” “Her Serene Pinkness,” and “Donna Maezing.” The car herself, passing a horde of pursuing male competitors, had “THINK PINK” emblazoned on its tail, just to remind them who was at the wheel.
With its beautifully tailored upholstery, luxurious carpeting, and meticulous attention to detail, the interior would have eaten into the market for high-end cars like the Vanden Plas Princess, while the car’s performance, aided by its heated-up A-series four, would have intruded on “Big” Healey territory. Today’s fans, on the other hand, are unconcerned about such things. In fact, they’re encouraged by the spirit of Donald Healey, who designed the Sprite to be a fun, affordable car that could be customized to suit the needs of owners of modest means, particularly those who wanted to go faster.
43 bhp, 948 cc SOHC inline four-cylinder engine, four-speed close-ratio manual transmission, independent front suspension with shock absorbers, live rear axle with Watts linkage and shock absorbers, and front-disc and rear-drum brakes. Wheelbase: 80 in.
The rest of the car was fairly spartan, too. The Austin-Healey Sprite Mk 1 Think Pink didn’t even have a proper trunk, just a storage compartment behind the seats. There were no carpets, radio, or even external door handles. However, there were at least a convertible top and plastic side windows.
Make no mistake, Donna Maezing was a riot. However, she was also a genuinely skilled and talented driver, something that first became evident in this 1963 Austin-Healey Sprite, which she purchased from Bill Wissel of Pittsburgh, some three years after its sale as a new car in Paris, France. It had reportedly been exported to the U.S. by Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine, and used as his daily driver at the University of Pittsburgh.
Mims had the car finished in the “Think Pink” livery and got to work behind the wheel. By the end of 1963, Her Pinkness had proved herself anything but serene on the track. She conquered the H/Production One-Liter class and became the SCCA’s first female champion.
With such success, Mims no longer required a used Sprite as her mount and took up a new MGB for the 1964 season. (She would eventually progress to cement her legend in Yenko Corvettes—still pink, of course.) The Championship-winning Sprite was sold to Ross Harris and subsequently in 1971 to John Francis, who continued racing the car, as is documented in the original SCCA logbook, which is still with the Sprite and on file. After some 25 years on the track, the Sprite finally entered its well-earned retirement in 1987.
The car is equipped with flexible fiberglass bucket seats, helping to secure the driver and passenger in place, and appears as what it is—a racecar that has been restored to continue to compete.
Think Pink!!!
