Geoff Healey was very pleased with the paint delivered on the early Sprites.
Original, unmolested Sprites show that their paint was applied to a very
high standard... very level. It must have been decent paint, as the 2
original paint bugeyes I have still buff to a very nice gloss. It was far
superior to the paint on the big Healeys.
Most Sprites, whether due to their size, or the driving style of their
owners, have suffered accident damage... often multiples. In my experience,
the majority of the body shops of the day did shoddy repair work... poor
preparation, poor color match, etc. You couldn't buy the color packs of
today, or insist on the same paint manufacturer. There weren't color
scanners, and often paint matching was an art mastered by very few.
More often than not, rotted floors were the result of torn or missing soft
tops that soaked carpets, and under layment and were
left to rot.
-----Original Message-----
From bugeye at yahoogroups.com [mailto:bugeye@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
b-evans@earthlink.net
Sent: Monday, December 26, 2005 12:40 AM
To: Bud Osbourne
Cc: Spridgets@autox.team.net; midgetsprite@yahoogroups.com;
bugeye@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Bugeye Group..... Re: Paint
Bud Osbourne wrote:
>As far as galvanizing of body panels, "back in the day": when you consider
that these cars were made to be used, and then thrown away and replaced with
a newer model....That the cars have held up as well as they have is purely
unintentional,
>
I'm sorry, Bud, but I have to disagree with you there. Our English
cousins have not been wooed away into the "disposable" society, and
certainly did not have that attitude around 1960. It has been my
experience that, as a people, they are far more concerned with getting
value for their money than are we Yanks. Money has always been so tight
in England, and they don't do a lot of impulse spending. That their
cars have held up so well over the years is, I believe, a tribute to
their craftsmanship and the public demand for quality in what they were
buying 45 years ago and more!
Buster Evans
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