July 2010
W&P at Le Mans Classic 10/11/12 July
Tim Saunders, the W&P Registrar will be at the Classic and if you want to meet up, come and find me on Saturday between 12 and 1pm at L'Amicale Spridget's display area in the Bugatti circuit - sadly my W&P Sebring GT Midget won't be there due to last minute gremlins, but I will be in/with a red BJ8 Healey 3000 - which should be easy to spot amongt all the Sprites!
June 2010
W&P Register temporarily closed until September 2010
Unfortunately for very pressing personal and family reasons the Registrar has had to temporarily suspend the updating of this website, and is unable at present to answer correspondence. We hope to re-instate normal service in September, and in the meantime may occassionally add some backlog material to the site.
We are very sorry to have to do this, and very grateful for all of the material which generous people have contributed - which we will do our very best to follow up on in due course. This is not a decision that has been taken lightly, and we thank you for your ongoing support.
In the meantime if you wish to get in touch, if you have difficulty with the Register email address on the left, you can email the Registrar direct at mothysaunders@hotmail.com.
February 2010
Monica No. 1 Prototype for sale - but it was bodied by Maurice Gomm, NOT Williams & Pritchard!
The first Monica prototype is up for auction at DVCA in Dorset in March, and it has been widely advertised online and in various classic car magazines including Octane (March 2010) by the auction house that the car is believed to sport a Williams & Pritchard body. This is not correct, and the Register has advised the auction house that it should revise its auction description accordingly. All 3 Monica prototypes are exceptionally well documented in "Morgan Maverick", Chris Lawrence's autobiography, in Chapter 12 titled "The Monica Saga". At page 139, talking about No 1 Prototype, Chris says: "Unfortunately, Charlie Williams was unable to take on the construction of a large four door saloon at that time, so we wound up at Maurice Gomm's sheet metal shop in South London instead. I wouldn't say that the result was plum ugly, but ... it wasn't beautiful either ... Maurice Gomm turned out to be interminably slow and by the time the car was painted and skimpily trimmed it was Spring 1968." Furthermore the W&P company archives do not include any records of the No. 1 prototype or any photos of it - because W&P didn't body it. So please don't go buying it for a W&P connection, as there isn't one. W&P only bodied Prototype No.2. The final production shape of Prototype No.3, with pop-up headlights, was bodied at Henri Chapron's workshops in Paris.
Jack Walton's Cooper-Bristol RUM 2
We have just added a page about this enigmatic car to the site, and are indebted to Peter Mayes for his recently discovered images of it, in the W&P workshop at the back of the famous Railway Hotel from the very early days of Lotus. Click on the picture above to read more.
Healey Plexiglass Bubbletop
A curiosity from the W&P company archives, that is still a bit of a mystery. Still, it is worthy of its own page on this site - click the image to discover a (very) little more. And if you can tell us more about it - get in touch!
Alexander Turner GT press clippings
Terry Filby has sent in some period press clippings from 1961 of the Alexander Turner GT in action. Click on the cutting above to read more.
W&P Sebring (Mk I) hardtop pictures
Many thanks to Tom Coulthard who has sent pictures of his two Mk I Sebring GRP hardtops - for Sprites Mk I and Mk II. Along with an advert for the StarSprite front from Gary Lazarus, these have been added to the "Oft Mistaken" page of comparative period body parts for Sprites. Click on the image above to discover more
January 2010
Sebring-fronted Sprite 950 XHK at Harewood Hillclimb, 1964
Geoff Hill, former WSM Sprite owner, has recently uncovered some colour photos of his W&P Sebring fronted Sprite in action in the sixties. To find out more about the car that he converted, click on the image above.
Sebring (Mk I) Sprite ad and badge added
This advert from Motorsport in October 1962 shows that W&P manufactured a revised version of their Sebring GRP hardtop for the Mk II Sprite for a brief period, and confirms that the photos of WLY 782 in the company archives were taken for the advertising campaign. Ray English of "Marque One" magazine has also kindly sent us a photo of the optional Sebring badge which could adorn these hardtops, removed from the Sebring hardtop that was fitted to PBL 75 in Australia (PBL 75 being the press car for the launch of the Sprite, which later in life had been "Sebring-ised" by W&P). Click the image above for more information.
Chris Lawrence goes off-piste at the Nordschliefe in Pip Arnold's SLR in 1964
Thanks to Kurt Suelflohn, historic Nordschliefe obsessive, for locating these historic German magazine images of the incident described so wittily in Chris' book, "Morgan Maverick". Click on image to read more.
Normal Service Resumed for 2010 - hopefully
For a mixture of technical and personal reasons, the Registrar was unable to update this site for a period of 8 weeks late in 2009, but hopes to be able to continue expanding it in 2010. We appreciate your patience and recognition that this is a "hobby" website, and that sometimes life intervenes and other matters have to temporarily take priority over our automotive passions. Best wishes for the New Year everyone.
December 2009
New Mk IV Spitfire Sebring GT hardtop added to Register
Read about Andy Sollis' rare Mk IV Spitfire hardtop by clicking on the picture above.
November 2009
Technical Problems
We are having some technical problems with access to our servers and email problems this month, for which we apologise. Hopefully normal service will be resumed soon.
October 2009
New Mk III Spitfire Sebring GT hardtop added to Register
Read about Gary Saunders' super-rare Mk III Spitfire hardtop by clicking on the picture above.
Warrior Bristol
More information added to this car's page including a vary rare photo taken in Singapore in 1969
Deep Sanderson 301 pre-production "Perfume Delivery Wagon"
One of the oddest bodies built by W&P, and possibly the most ugly - the first body on Chris Lawrence's first attempt at a rear engined mini based sports car. Click image above for more info.
The Costin AutoV / Ultimate Low Drag Vehicle
This unique car designed for aerodynamic fuel economy by Frank Costin in the early sixties, was made from alloy moulds created by W&P in 1962 to Costin's order. After the prototype was made it never made it into full production, although the moulds (as well as the car) survive. Find out more by clicking on the image above.
*** MGB Sebring GT hardtop FOR SALE ***
Hardtop with minor damage which will need repair before use available for private sale. Please contact the Registrar by email who can put you in touch with the vendor. Please note that this Register does not endorse any sale or vendor, we just bring them to your attention - please use your good common sense and apply the usual buyer beware principle in making contact and in buying.
Sebring GT Registers updated
All the Sebring GT registers have been updated with details of various new hardtops and fronts that have come to light over the last two months.
September 2009
September 17th - first anniversary of Len's passing
On the anniversary of Len's passing, our thoughts are with his family. A truly wonderful gem in so many ways. Rest in peace, Len.
*** The W&P List of Work ***
In the "About W&P" area of the website, you will see that we have added a new page called the "List of Work". This will become the definitive database of all of W&P's work. As you can imagine, it will take quite some time to complete, and there are known gaps in it. However, including those gaps, this starting point indicates that W&P worked on, and were contributors to, well over 100 models of British sports and racing car across a wide range of marques. There is also a section at the bottom of the List of Work asking for your help on specific areas of research where the Register is struggling a bit. For example, FAL 515 above, has been identified through that page as a Falcon 515 - more information follows soon.
Lots of exciting new material to appear here very soon
Now that the summer holidays have gone and the pseudo swine-flu season is over, everyone has been getting in touch. So in due course we hope to add new pages on: a new member of the Sebring GT Spitfire register; the Costin AutoV; the Costin Amigo prototype; the Kirwan-Taylor special bodied Lotus 6; the "Perfume Van" pre-production Deep Sanderson 301 prototype; the W&P Healey 100 plexiglass "bubble top"; whilst continuing some other very interesting ongoing research into another Costin model, amongst others, which will hopefully appear later in the autumn.
W&P in the glossies - twice so far this autumn
There is an extensive colour article on "Number One" in Classic and Sports Car Magazine, October 2009 edition which is well worth reading. Unfortunately they didn't mention the Register or this website, but never mind. Octane Magazine, on the other hand, are running an article on the SLR Triumph (SLR No. 1) in their November 2009 edition (just going to press), which should be very interesting and they have promised to give us a mention, so if you have come here through reading that exciting article, welcome and please explore!
August 2009
Warrior Bristol - pics from Monterey 2009
Jack Perkins has kindly sent us some fresh images of the Warrior Bristol in action at Monterey earlier this summer. Click image above to see more ...
A heart-warming tale ...
You already love your classic to bits. And then you discover it has an exciting hidden past! To find out what made Bob Kemp of the Austin Healey Club have a big grin earlier this summer, just click on the picture above.
Aussie Sebring GT added to the Register
Click on the image above to read more about Ron Simmons Sebring GT fronted midget from Victoria, Australia, recently added to the Sebring GT Register.
Sebring GT Frog Racer added to the Sebring GT Register
Dave Thomas is in the process of building this exciting Mk I Sprite Sebring GT fronted racer with a W&P manufactured front. Click on the image above for more information.
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