Veloce Publishing has recently released a new book that’s said to be the first title covering Sprite Caravans and which is in turn also the first UK book to cover a single brand of touring caravan.

Sam Alper, the founder of Sprite, marketed caravanning as a pastime and proved that caravans were safe and easy to tow by undertaking several epic journeys. His simple designs were also appealing to buyers.

This book examines just how prolific the brand was – not only in the UK, but on a global basis too. It tells how the Sprite brand mastered mass-production in caravans and, with plenty of illustrations, how it pioneered testing procedures.

If you own a Triumph saloon or sports car and you’re fed up with its manual boot stay refusing to latch, the Triumph Sports Six Club has come up with a fantastic new solution: a range of gas rams to replace the mechanical ratchet boot stays fitted to many Triumphs.

The gas rams have been individually tailored to the weight of each boot lid, so that they assist with opening and holding the boot firmly open (but without undue force). Each kit comes complete with the mounting hardware needed and apparently fits easily in minutes.

The current range covers all Spitfire models, Herald and Vitesse, and under development at the moment is a ram for the TR6.

This new book is being heralded by its publisher Motorbooks as the ultimate single-volume resource for the 911 aficionado. And it’s actually quite difficult to argue with that.
Impressively, ‘complete’ means just that as author Randy Leffingwell covers not only the production cars, but also the motorsport 911 Porsches. He also covers the car’s 356 predecessors and the prototypes that led up to the original from 1964.

It’s not a fact file, it’s not a picture book – the balance is just right. That said, the photos alone justify this hardback’s price as there is some breathtaking imagery.

In addition to the new Eastwood Plasma Cutter, which we’ve reviewed recently, the team at Frost has also introduced to its range of restorers’ equipment this MIG welder.
The Eastwood MIG 175 Welder for steel and aluminum is said to produce excellent bead-quality and capabilities that match, and apparently exceed in some areas, even the most expensive competition.

This MIG welder, priced £399, is supplied with a free spool gun and has a 30 per cent duty cycle at 135 amps, and 30-175 amp welding range. It can fed wire at 58 to 471-inches per minute.