To gain a point, please give the full make and model name of this vehicle.
Experts?
Healey Sprite Workhorse
Quote from: studhamsmudger on May 23, 2020, 10:40:32 AM
Healey Sprite Workhorse
Yes, that's the beast, from 1998 and the short-lived Healey Sprite Motor Company, based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. The point is yours.
Healey Sprite ? Was there any relation with the original Healey brand ?
Quote from: oko94 on May 25, 2020, 04:35:50 PM
Healey Sprite ? Was there any relation with the original Healey brand ?
Supposedly there was a connection (via the Isle of Wight-based Healey company), although I am not entirely convinced. It seems the Workhorse was produced by a shortlived company called Healey Sprite Motor Company Ltd. from Maidenhead, Berkshire.
I can remember them displaying at the 1998 NEC Birmingham Motor Show with two models; a 'frogeye' Sprite replica called the Roadster with a Ford 1.8-litre motor, plus the Workhorse, a basic 4x4 pick-up with a Mercedes-Benz diesel engine. I went to visit their Maidenhead premises around 2000, but they seemed to have closed down by then with no forwarding contact details, possibly due to Healey trademark complications.
Quote from: Djetset on May 27, 2020, 08:04:03 AM
Supposedly there was a connection (via the Isle of Wight-based Healey company), although I am not entirely convinced.
We older folk would ask what an Isle of Wight-based Healey company is or was, having always known that Donald Healey's company was at The cape, Warwick.
Blimey! The Healey Isle of Wight connection gets even more complicated, but in a nutshell (and going purely from memory);
In the late 1980s/early 90s, a GRP-specialist Company based in Newport on the island built brand new turn-key Frogeye Sprite replicas, under the Frogeye Car Company name, supposedly using a license agreement from the Healey family and Healey Consultancy (they also made a few small camping car conversions).
When the Frogeye Car Company inevitably failed, (I think) the business reformed under the Healey Sprite name, as per this puzzle. After Maidenhead, I think the Healey Sprite business re-appeared (briefly) on the Isle of Wight, before disappearing again for good. I also seem to recall that contracts to build the Workhorse under license in a few markets such as Israel and the USA were planned, but amounted to nothing as well. I hope this helps the younger readers :).
Brochure from my archive