Williams & Pritchard Sebring GT Register - GAW 375D

The Williams & Pritchard Sebring GT Register

for the Sebring GT bodied spridget

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W&P & Sebring GT

Sebring GT fronted Mk III Sprite: GAW 375D

This highly modified Sebring GT fronted Sprite is owned by Joachim Vetterlein in Germany. It has a Sebring GT front and is fitted with a bespoke coupe rear which appears to be a one-off which, thanks to Jonathon Cronin, has been identified as probably a Fibrepair / John Sprinzel / SAH Spitfire hardtop adapted to fit a Sprite - see Jon's and John Sprinzel's comments below. A potential connection with Mike Garton has been eliminated and Joachim is still searching for details on the history of this highly unusual, exciting-looking car.

In Joachim's own words:

" Can anyone help to identify my car ... HAN854314, 1098 ccm, red, 1.4.1966 first registrated as GAW375D
1988 exported to NL by Peter Ecury, 1991 exported to Germany, restored by Sporting Cars, Erlangen.
Hillclimb and Rallye used. Now completely restored, new engine 1275 ccm, 95 PS, new painted brg with yellow trim."

Many thanks to Joachim for use of his text and photographs.

Sebring GT on steroid front with flared arches, bespoke rear coupe with opening kamm boot panel.

Do you know anything about this car?

Jon Cronin elaborates on the hardtop theory:

"Here's the history - the Spitfire GT conversion hardtop was originally produced in about 1962 by a company called Fibrepair. The company was aquired by John Sprinzel in approx 1964 and the hardtop was marketed by the "Car Hood Company Limited". At some stage prior to 1968, SAH took over production - including the old brochure stock! If you look closely (enlarge the image quite a lot) you can see the SAH branding is a sticker and you can just see the "Car Hood Company Limited" and "Sprinzel" wording behind the sticker! ). SAH were the official tuning company for Standard Triumph during the 1960's/70's.

I guess a Spridget version could have been manufactured/prototype? When under Fibrepair/John Sprinzel ownership - I think I'm right in saying the Spridgets are considerably less wide than a Spit so I can't see a Spit hardtop actually fitting and GAW375D looks to fit perfectly!"

John Sprinzel comments:

"I remember the fast back Spitfire top which the Fibrepair lads made in our Mews (Lancaster Mews). I kind of took over their company for a short while ... and then it was passed on to the Car Hood Company - also originally in our Mews - Richard Seth-Smith, one of their directors went to BMC and was one of the last "competition managers" at Abingdon. They made all my fiberglass car seats which were a terrific seller back then, and those too, were trimmed by the Car Hood Company. It was never built for the Sprite, and I am sure a lot of other folks copied the design, as, I believe was the one in your pix from SAH (whose TR4 with an SAH registration formed the first SLR car which W & P made for Chris Lawrence and me)."

Many thanks to John and Jon for their observations.

brochure images suplied by Jon Cronin - all rights reserved

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