[Spridgets] Top 10 List

[B- Evans]

Larry Macy wrote:   "Well the Sprite is only 9, but still an MG tops the
list"



When you look at the author's criteria of, " This is about each cars
combined influence, character, success, and lasting popularity among
enthusiasts,  I believe anyone would see how ridiculous the list is.



--How could a contemporary Bentley Continental GT be considered to have
lasting popularity when it is a new bloody car!?



--What influence or popularity could a Rolls Silver Cloud II when
ownership is so sharply limited according to ones  # or $?



--Land Rover?   The author threw in all of them from 1948 to 1985, Series I,
II, and III,  as a GENERIC car, but only selected models of other marques.



I still maintain that the Bugeye Sprite was perhaps the most influential
car, because it introduced the common man of American to sports cars,
thereby changing American driving habits.   Previous to the Sprite, sports
cars were actually out of the price range of the working man.   The earlier
MGs and the first T-Birds were simply too pricey.   And the MG-TCs the
author claims to have been brought home after WWII, were brought home by
officers, a distinct class above Bill Mauldins Willie and Joe.   Leonard
Lord and Donald Healeys intention of introducing America to an affordable
sportscar paid off, with the Sprite coming in at $1,795, fully a third less
than the MGs and TRs.   Further, its unique appearance made it easily
recognizable and differentiated from the more tradition shapes of the MG and
TR.   I doubt that without the Sprite there would not have been a Mustang.
Why even a poor enlisted sailor could afford to buy one of those cute little
bug-eyed cars the girls so loved!



Gee, there is a history professor down at UC Irvine whose field is the
history of the automobile.  I should see him about having someone do a
dissertation on the unique contribution of the Sprite.



Buster