Barrett's #289 - Solved - 1955 Lanchester Sprite MkII

[barrett]

What exactly is this and from when does it date, for a point?

Edit: Photo added again 07/01/2015 though I don't know if it's the original one.
                                                                                                         Carnut

[sixtee5cuda]

Is it a Panhard underneath?

[barrett]

No Panhard here I'm afraid

[sixtee5cuda]

British?

[barrett]

Indeed!

[sixtee5cuda]

Riley?

[barrett]

Nope

[barrett]

An expert will surely know

[Tackitt]

Looks like an attempt to put a Magnette body on a Jaguar chassis.

[barrett]

I imagine that was the response of most people when this was launched!

But no, no MG or Jaguar bits here

[sixtee5cuda]

I stopped guessing, when I went Expert, and the car sat in Rookie...

The design of the nose indicates there may be some Austin Mini underneath.

[barrett]

This pre-dates the Mini by a few years

[tonyola]

1955 Lanchester Sprite II. The last car from the long-running Lanchester marque, and it never really entered series production.

[barrett]

Correct!

[sixtee5cuda]

I wonder if any of the Sprite MKII's made still exist?

[tonyola]

I've never seen a recent photo of a Sprite Mark II, though apparently a few of the Sprite Mark I cars still exist. I assume that the ten Mark II cars built were all prototypes and they were destroyed or broken up when Daimler killed off the Lanchester name. Here's some artwork for what was supposed to be the finalized Sprite.