• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Bugeye 12 Pack

Share this page

HealeyRick

HealeyRick

Yoda
Silver
Country flag
Offline
Pressed Steel143.jpg

The bugeye "chassis" was first assembled at John Thompson Motor Pressings in Wolverhampton, then transferred to Pressed Steel in Swindon where the outer panels and bonnet were pressed and welded to the "chassis." The bodies-in-white were loaded on lorries (shown here, picture by the Swindon Society) and trucked to the Morris factory in Cowley for paint, then to Abingdon for final assembly. Sprites did 112 miles by lorry before they ever put a wheel on the ground. Pressed Steel now turns out panels for the new MINI and the plant celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2016.
 
Now there's a pic I've never seen before. What a great one too!

Thanks for posting, Rick!!


HealeyRick said:
View attachment 46528

The bugeye "chassis" was first assembled at John Thompson Motor Pressings in Wolverhampton, then transferred to Pressed Steel in Swindon where the outer panels and bonnet were pressed and welded to the "chassis." The bodies-in-white were loaded on lorries (shown here, picture by the Swindon Society) and trucked to the Morris factory in Cowley for paint, then to Abingdon for final assembly. Sprites did 112 miles by lorry before they ever put a wheel on the ground. Pressed Steel now turns out panels for the new MINI and the plant celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2016.
Click to expand...
 
Gerard,

I spotted this picture on the MINI site showing bugeye assembly at Pressed Steel that said it was from the Swindon Society:
unnamed.jpg

I asked the Swindon Society if they had any more Healey pictures and they came up with the lorry picture. I just did an article for the January issue of the Healey Marque using the pictures. I had never seen either picture in any of the books and magazines I've collected over decades of Healeying. (50 years this year, Yikes!) Good stuff like that is one of the benefits of club membership.
 
Wow, another great one! Never seen this one before either.

HealeyRick said:
Gerard,

I spotted this picture on the MINI site showing bugeye assembly at Pressed Steel that said it was from the Swindon Society:
View attachment 46538

I asked the Swindon Society if they had any more Healey pictures and they came up with the lorry picture. I just did an article for the January issue of the Healey Marque using the pictures. I had never seen either picture in any of the books and magazines I've collected over decades of Healeying. (50 years this year, Yikes!) Good stuff like that is one of the benefits of club membership.
Click to expand...
 
He's gas welding...those were the days... I'll bet no one in a auto plant now days even knows how.

Kurt.
 
That was an interesting article in Healey Marque, nicely done. I've tracked down pretty much every book on Sprites and I've not seen those pictures before. Very cool.
 
Back
Top