David Wood wrote:
> Hi Everyone!
>
> Just out of curiosity, is the Sprite in this series modelled after Amy
> Turner's Healium (Star of stage, screen and print)!
Guess it's time for me to come out of hiding and confess that I am responsible
for
the non-original Sprite-ness of the Johnny Lightning Sprite.
Y'see, they found my car on the web two years ago and sent a nice note asking if
they could use it as a model for their model. In my original reply to the guy
at
product development, I said that I would be absolutely honored to have my car
made
into a toy, but I warned that it was far from original. "Not to worry," was the
gist of their response, so I took many pictures of the car from every angle and
sent them away. Time passed and they asked for a beauty shot of my car and some
recommendations of other Sprites they might use as models. I posted a request
to
this list at that time, and a few people replied. One of the cars I pointed
them
to was Laura Peaple's leaf green bugeye, which was used for release I of the
series. (Editorial comment: They didn't get the shade of green right, but
that's
what they were trying for.)
As it turns out, although my Sprite hasn't been released yet, it has made its
way
into every one of the Johnny Lightning Sprites. Some customizations that were
made to my car have shown up in the model. Here are the ones we've noticed:
- Chrome Sprite arrow, not gold
- Sprite arrow on grille, as on my car
- Non-original steering wheel
- Car is lowered, as is Healium
- Is that a Midget bumper on the front, like the one on Healium?!
- Divider between seats and boot -- may be a copy of my car, or may be necessary
for building the model.
- I don't know where they got that dual exhaust. Even Healium doesn't have
that.
I haven't opened the package to see what's under the bonnet. I'm guessing there
may be a Weber under there instead of SUs.
I really didn't think they were going to make the model directly from my car. I
sort of thought they might have invested in Horler's book, but it looks like the
toy was made straight from my little car. Oh! And I forgot to mention that I
did
send them a copy of the bugeye blueprints that were supposedly made from an
original back when the car was produced.
I'm still anxiously awaiting the second release of the series since I think
that's
when my Little Blue Wonder is going to be produced. There is some doubt since
I've seen a listing on a toy store web site (http://www.fullgrid.com) saying
that
the second release would be "Cameo White." We'll just have to see. In the
meantime, there's a little Healium in every car out there.
Amy
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