Topic: SOLVED: Djetset 1045 - 1998 Healey Sprite Motor Company Workhorse

[Djetset]

To gain a point, please give the full make and model name of this vehicle.

[Djetset]

Experts?

[studhamsmudger]

Healey Sprite Workhorse

[Djetset]

Healey Sprite Workhorse

Yes, that's the beast, from 1998 and the short-lived Healey Sprite Motor Company, based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. The point is yours.

[oko94]

Healey Sprite ? Was there any relation with the original Healey brand ?

[Djetset]

Healey Sprite ? Was there any relation with the original Healey brand ?

Supposedly there was a connection (via the Isle of Wight-based Healey company), although I am not entirely convinced. It seems the Workhorse was produced by a shortlived company called Healey Sprite Motor Company Ltd. from Maidenhead, Berkshire.

I can remember them displaying at the 1998 NEC Birmingham Motor Show with two models; a 'frogeye' Sprite replica called the Roadster with a Ford 1.8-litre motor, plus the Workhorse, a basic 4x4 pick-up with a Mercedes-Benz diesel engine. I went to visit their Maidenhead premises around 2000, but they seemed to have closed down by then with no forwarding contact details, possibly due to Healey trademark complications.

[Allan L]

Supposedly there was a connection (via the Isle of Wight-based Healey company), although I am not entirely convinced.

We older folk would ask what an Isle of Wight-based Healey company is or was, having always known that Donald Healey's company was at The cape, Warwick.

[Djetset]

Blimey! The Healey Isle of Wight connection gets even more complicated, but in a nutshell (and going purely from memory);

In the late 1980s/early 90s, a GRP-specialist Company based in Newport on the island built brand new turn-key Frogeye Sprite replicas, under the Frogeye Car Company name, supposedly using a license agreement from the Healey family and Healey Consultancy (they also made a few small camping car conversions).

When the Frogeye Car Company inevitably failed, (I think) the business reformed under the Healey Sprite name, as per this puzzle. After Maidenhead, I think the Healey Sprite business re-appeared (briefly) on the Isle of Wight, before disappearing again for good. I also seem to recall that contracts to build the Workhorse under license in a few markets such as Israel and the USA were planned, but amounted to nothing as well. I hope this helps the younger readers  .   

[Arunas]

Brochure from my archive