« Previous Entry | MAIN | Next Entry »
August 23, 2003
According to what I have read many times, both groups were
ordered to work independently, but the secretly broke the "rule".
Gerard
The except below is from the Midget Sprite Club site, attributed
to (c) Mick. S. Maguire M.I.E.E.E
"1961 saw the introduction of the replacement for the Sprite Mk I,
the car had undergone a major restyling. The front end was
restyled by Healeys at Warwick along more traditional lines: the
one piece front end of the frogeye was gone, being replaced by a
more traditional layout of fixed front wings and a separate
bonnet. The rear end of the car was re-styled by Syd Enever's
team at MG and closely resembled the embryonic MGB. It is still
unclear why BMC asked the two design teams to work on styling
different parts of the same vehicle and specifically instructed MG
not to talk to Healeys about what they were doing. However, with
the two teams based in such close proximity to each other they
very soon got together to ensure that the changes being made
would agree when brought together on the same vehicle. One
can only speculate as to the outcome if these two teams had not
colluded on their design work. Mechanically the mark II sprite
was almost identical to the mark I although the engine was
slightly tuned to handle the extra body-weight of the new car. One
month after the introduction of the Sprite Mk II an MG badged
version was released, taking its name from the pre-war small
MG's it was called the Midget."
"gerardchateau" < pixelsmith@... > 24659
Posted on August 23, 2003 05:26 PM
Posted to category(s) Body | Drive Train | Engine (external) | Engine (internal) | Interior | International | Miscellaneous | Suspension & Steering
