July 2009

image© 1967 Bob Curl - all rights reserved - not to be reproduced

The Nomad Mk I

An exotic sixties endurance racer with Lotus connections bodied by W&P, it was built for a famous racing family, and has an impeccable race history - including Daytona and two Targa Florios, now residing in Germany. Pictured above at Mugello in 1967. Click on the image above for more information.

Warrior Bristol

This fifties racer bodied by W&P with a very colourful history around the globe is now owned and raced by Jack Perkins in California. Click on the picture above for more information.

Peter Kirwan-Taylor's Swallow Doretti

Peter, who was intimately involved with Lotus, had several designs made up by W&P. In 1955 he designed this stylish coupe conversion for the convertible Swallow Doretti. The key parts of the car survive with experts in the marque and it is to be restored. Click on the picture above for more information.

MGB Sebring GT hardtop on Ebay UK

We have no idea of the condition or provenance of this hardtop, and no connection to the vendor, but given its rarity are bringing this auction to your attention. Audtion ends on 24th July 2009. Item number: 170358396789

Major Website Restructuring Complete!

Welcome to the new look website, which has been developing behind the scenes over recent weeks. Hopefully the structure now better reflects the wide range and importance of W&P's work, and should make the site easier to navigate in a clearer way. Existing pages have been updated in line with most recent knowledge, and quite a lot of new archive material added, although too much to detail here - so have fun exploring! Coming very soon are details of 4 more spridgets for the Sebring GT Register, plus very exciting new material on 3 important cars: the Warrior Bristol from the late 50's, the prototype Costin Nathan sports racer from the mid-60's, and the Nomad Mk I, a late 60's endurance racer with impeccable competition history both sides of the pond. Oh, and musn't forget - Ferrari chassis 01C - the lost Willment / W&P body ... watch this space.

June 2009

Deep Sanderson 301 outside the 1962 Racing Car Show at the Olympia

Four new pictures of the newly built Deep Sanderson 301, fresh in its primrose yellow paint, outside the Olympia, taken from Len Pritchard's photo collection - W&P had completed the car in time for the show, and were also there with their own promotional stand. Click image above to find out more.

Tastevin Monica Prototype 2

Original design drawings uncovered in the Pritchard family archives and further commentary from Chris Lawrence's book "Morgan Maverick" added to the Monica page. Click image above to read more.

image © 1967 the Pritchard family archive – all rights reserved

E-Type Sebring GT - new period image

This gorgeous new image of the E-Type Sebring GT hardtop was lurking amongst some unused promotional photographs in the Pritchard family archive - now added to the Sebring GT E-Type Register page.

image © 1967 the Pritchard family archive – all rights reserved

Photos of Len & Charlie from 1967

From the Pritchard family archives, and recently uncovered on some contact sheets from the 1967 Sebring GT photoshoot, a great series of images of Charlie and Len together. Click on the picture above to see more pictures and read a "tweaked" history of W&P following a recent review of the company archives.

image © 1961 the Pritchard family archive – all rights reserved

Alexander Turner GT - new period photos added

Three new period images of the Alexander Turner GT uncovered from the Pritchard family archives, showing it all shiny and new in its fresh coat of paint in 1961. Click on the photo above to see the other images.

image courtesy of Peter Vallins - all rights reserved

Fifth fully bodied Sebring GT Sprite ready

Peter Vallins has completed his lengthy restoration of a 1965 Sprite in full Sebring GT bodywork - only the fifth fully Sebring GT bodied car known worldwide. Click on the picture above for more pictures and information.

W&P and Speedwell / Classic Motor Craft connections - new material

The photo below was published in a two page article about W&P in Car and Car Conversions April 1966 and shows a pile of freshly manufactured fibreglass parts in a W&P storeroom at Edmonton. Clearly visible on the left are three Speedwell Monza bonnets, and on the right is a stack of at least four Bermuda hardtops (both for Sprites).

This is contemporary photographic evidence of W&P's manufacture of the GRP Monza fronts, and the first time there has been any indication that they manufactured any Bermudas for Classic Motor Craft. W&P went on to acquire the rights to the Monza and sold it as their own, but never sold the Bermuda. Classic Motor Craft built some early alloy Speedwell Monza bonnets for Frank Costin, who was intimately involved with W&P through Lotus, and this photo proves the closeness of that business relationship. Hopefully the W&P archives will contain paperwork / invoices revealing more .... If anyone can identify the interesting looking alloy wings in rear right hand corner, just shout! More info on the Speedwell Streamliner page.

May 2009

Oft Mistaken page about Sprite GRP bodywork updated

With new information about the Ashley GT front, Speedwell hardtop and W&P's involvement in the Bermuda.

***** Register email problems fixed *****

It has been brought to our attention that our email service has been down - I thought it had been a little quiet! This has now been fixed, so feel free to get in touch if you need to. Sincere apologies to those who have been trying to get in touch.

"onwards & upwards!" - the Registrar

image courtesy of Lucie Wigley (c) April 2009 - all rights reserved

Happy First Birthday, W&P Register

Yes, this website has now been running for a whole year, in which time our pages have been accessed in 42,975 distinct human visits (as opposed to web-bots) with just under 83,000 page hits, the most popular pages being the "Oft Mistaken" comparative page of spridget fibreglass parts, and our main index page, with an average of 14 visits a day each from around the globe. We are also Google top-ranked for most key search terms. Most importantly, we have started to raise W&P's profile in the classic car enthusiast community, in various car clubs, and in the automotive press. It has been so much fun discovering so many interesting cars and to uncover all sorts of long forgotten stories. I have been delighted at the generosity of so many with information and material, including those involved in the development of so many of these cars, and without whom this website just wouldn't work. So thanks to all of you for your support, and here's to another year of learning, sharing, and enjoyment of the work of those two geniuses, Charlie Williams and Len Pritchard.

Tim Saunders, Registrar

brochure image suplied by Jon Cronin - all rights reserved

Fibrepair / Sprinzel / SAH hardtop - a spridget version?

Many thanks to Jon Cronin's eagle-eye, he may have identified the mystery hardtop on GAW 675D, which looks uncannily like the GT Spitfire hardtop marketed above - only the Spitfire is a bit wider than the Spridget. So was there a forgotten spridget version? John Sprinzel comments. Discover more by clicking on the picture above.