BugEyeGuys

One of our favorite Bugeye Sprites, now for sale again!

March 13, 2026 by bugeyeguy

Available for $49,995. (It would cost more than $80k for us to build one like this for you!)

“Zippy” is a 1275, five-speed 1960 Bugeye that has enjoyed multiple sessions in our shop over the last decade, which has included manipulating and/or replacing nearly every mechanical component (and many cosmetic ones too!). This is a special car with a huge amount of money invested and superb outlaw style. Check out a video drive below, in which you can hear the awesome exhaust note and hear about some of the work we have done to Zippy! (and if you prefer just the engine sound with no narration, check out the second video below)

We sent Zippy to it’s most recent home in Texas in 2020, and the owner put about 500 miles on the car in that time so a lot of these upgrades are still fresh. This includes a Ford five-speed transmission, twin-tip muffler, front and rear disc brakes, front sway bar, new wiring harness, aluminum radiator, limited slip differential, new SU carburetors, and much more!

So now some lucky new owner will enjoy the fruit of our labor and a massive investment by the former owners. This car enjoyed about 100 hours of pampering and repair, and now you can buy it at a steep discount, considering what has been spent. And most importantly, it all works and works well, as you can see in the driving videos. All these upgraded parts are properly integrated to make Zippy a great car to drive with no bad habits.

The car looks just right: a little more aggressive… A little lower… a little raw. Maybe that’s how Bugeyes should be. That’s why it’s a favorite. It sounds great. It performs beautifully. And it makes you feel like you’re Steve McQueen when you drive it.

The 1275 engine is strong, the twin-tip exhaust note is crisp, and this car is a hoot to drive! Check out the video below to see Zippy in action!

Zippy comes with a custom tonneau that’s fit around the roll bar with velcro, as well as a custom bikini top that utilizes the roll bar to hold it up. No top, top bow, or side curtains are included. It was built for fair weather in Texas with a tonneau and sun shade as the priorities.

Click “read more” for a full compliment of photos, and give us a call if you’d like to take “Zippy” home!

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Be sure to leave your gas pedal hanging!

March 13, 2026 by bugeyeguy

Your accelerator pedal is a vital link between your foot and your Bugeye. Without it, you quite literally aren’t going anywhere. And if it fails in use, you might actually find yourself accelerating out of control into whatever lies in front of you!

*An original Bugeye accelerator pedal used this system to connect the throttle rod to your foot; a hinged, long rectangular gas pedal and a ball-an-socket link attached to the rubber on the back of it.*

The original Bugeye accelerator pedal assembly relies on a hard rubber pedal into which a metal rod inserts. When the rubber socket dries out and/or cracks, the actuation rod can come unplugged while you are accelerating. I’ve had the original style pedal disconnect and jam the actuation rod at full throttle, so for your own safety (and the safety of your Bugeye), I would encourage everyone to upgrade to our hanging pedal as soon as possible.

*Over time, the rubber on the pedal holding the pedal link in place cracks and fails, detatching the accelerator pedal while driving and, in some cases, jamming the throttle wide open.*

In the video below, we explain the original Bugeye mechanism and the best way to improve it, our upgraded aluminum accelerator pedal!

We sell these aluminum accelerator pedal upgrades in our parts catalog. Should you also be interested in maintaining originality, we sell new original-style accelerator pedals, (as well as new throttle cables). If you insist on the original design, at least make sure your pedal rubber is supple and will hold onto the rest of the linkage without popping out, a new original pedal will reduce your liabilty.

Click here for our full catalog!

*Bugeyeguys hanging aluminum accelerator pedal kit (all Spridgets)*

*Original-style accelerator pedal with floor-mount hinge (Bugeyes/Spridgets thru 1974)*

Front Backing plate orientation importance

March 13, 2026 by bugeyeguy

*Notice the orientation of the wheel cylinders in this photo – they’re backwards (front wheel cylinder is upside down)!*

Every Bugeye rolled off of the factory floor in England with four-wheel drum brakes. When maintained properly, drum brakes are perfectly adequate for stopping a Bugeye, as long as they are properly installed. We had a car arrive this week with the front backing plates reversed, which might be hard for some people to recognize, but this is a problem that can dramatically reduce braking performance.

*Here’s a photo of the wheel cylinders and shoes in the proper orientation*

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Well-sorted BRG 1960 Bugeye Sprite for sale!

March 12, 2026 by bugeyeguy

Offered at $26,995

Big Briggs news this week!

We removed the green worn out seats on this car and installed some beautiful new black ones with new good foam and new covers. This is an exceptional upgrade on an already nice interior that was loaded with a lot of other nice new black parts so the color change of the seats blends with the rest of the car quite nicely!

Give us a call if you’re interested in discussing adopting this car!

Available for $26,995

This 1960 Bugeye (titled as a 1961) called “Briggs” was built late in the production run, near the end of Frogeye production. AN5L 45243 had a completely rebuilt 1098 engine and rebuilt rib case transmission installed in 2020, with few miles added since. The car runs and drives nicely, as you can see in the driving video posted below.

About $10,000 in upgrades were done in our shop for the owner in 2020 to make the car an excellent driver. Now, you can purchase this great driver and know you are buying a well-sorted car.

Among the upgrades in 2020 were three point seat belts, new door seals, a completely restored and recovered dash board and cockpit trim bar, new windshield glass, all-new brake and clutch hydraulics, aluminum radiator, new generator, new rear lever shocks, K&N lifetime air filters, and more!

The car does need new seat foams and we’ll see if the prior owner will cover that expense so that the new owner can enjoy a more comfortable ride. The tonneau zipper has also failed, and we can fix that here in our shop next week! Easy upgrades!

In 2019, “Briggs” was at the shop for a laundry list of repairs and upgrades – read the spreadsheet below to see:

Ron Briggs BUgeye revival Download

Click “read more” below for more photos and give us a call if Briggs is the right Bugeye for you!

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Austin Healey Sprite fuel pump woes

March 6, 2026 by bugeyeguy

There are three critical ingredients to any classic car’s recipe to run: good spark, healthy compression, and a consistent supply of fuel. We were reminded this week of what a lack of fuel can do to the running equation.

While attempting to test drive Sam’s Bugeye, we could not get it started, no matter how hard we tried. The aftermarket electric fuel pump was buzzing, as it should, but the fuel filter was still dry. How could this be?

Ultimately, we don’t know for sure. Aftermarket fuel pumps, like the one pictured above installed in Sam’s Bugeye, fail without warning quite frequently. This one has all sorts of issues present; the housing is cracked, the diaphragm may be torn, there’s too much rubber fuel line… Our solid state fuel pump kit and a new fuel line will remedy the situation nicely. Luckily, this failure was discovered in our driveway; we haven’t always been so fortunate.

Pictured above is my Iris blue Bugeye (“The Egg”) getting retrieved by a flat bed tow truck a few years ago. The fuel pump had failed, a nice looking little German model which started pumping furiously (without moving fuel) because the diaphragm failed. Below on the right is a picture of the one that came with the car, which broke. Alongside I have also shown an Ecco brand pump that comes with plastic fittings- I much prefer metal ones. These pumps are two other examples of electric fuel pumps commonly fitted to Bugeyes and Spridgets that fail often.

Sadly, we have seen lots of these aftermarket alternatives fail.

We have had zero failures with the square solid state pump we sell. This is the most reliable set-up that we have found, and they live on almost all of the cars we have shipped to customers around the world. The Egg got one in 2018 and is still pumping strong; Sam’s car will also receive one next week.

Your Bugeye should get one too! Much more consistent than a mechanical fuel pump, and much more reliable than other aftermarket pumps available, our solid state fuel pump kit will withstand the test of time! Click the photos below to check out our fuel pump kit and other related fuel system components, or click here for our full catalog!

*Correct fuel tank pick-up line and fitting (All Bugeyes/Spridgets through 1969)*

Why your classic car needs new tires

March 6, 2026 by bugeyeguy

*The Bugeyeguys tire graveyard. All of these tires are too old for road use.*

Everyone cheats on the date.

And it makes sense, most classics never even begin to wear out the tread. We just don’t drive them enough.

Here’s how you tell just how old your tires are:

The tire above has a three digit date stamp. This means it was built before 2000. It would have made in the 5th week of 1998, or 88? There is no way of knowing (hence the change to four digits after 2000). All tires after 2000 have a four digit date stamp like the one below. That one was made in the 34th week of 2006, which means it’s 20 years old. Still much too old to use on a car safely-eight years is the suggested lifespan.

In actuality, both of these tires are in our discard pile that you see above. Even a 10 year-old tire is considered past its prime in terms of safety.

I can tell right away from the ride quality when a tire needs to be replaced, and the date stamp merely confirms what my butt already knows. Any tire more than about eight years old has started to harden, and as such, it yields less and provides a firmer ride. Sprites need all the suspension they can get, and the tire is vital for a supple ride. Older tires also skitter along the tops of the peaks of any asphalt surface, instead of hooking up with the roadway. As such, an old tire doesn’t grip as well and certainly can’t brake as well.

Note the cracks in the treads on this tire. This tire was from 2011 (15 years old), and these cracks are a sure sign of aging out. This tire is rock-hard, no longer supple, and the rubber is beginning to break down. Time to replace!

I used to think this was all propaganda from tire sellers. But I have driven enough Sprites now over the same local roads to be able to feel the difference. Old tires don’t stick. Sprite suspension is so low tech that the tire is even more vital for a good ride and the safest drive. While I hate to put more tires into the waste stream, safety is more important, and if your British car stops 50 or just 10 feet sooner because the rubber is fresh, that might just save your Bugeye nose from some unsightly scars!

Please proceed to your car and check the tire date stamps today. 13 inch tires are cheap, about 1/4 of the price of modern tires for most SUVs! And if you need some new ones, we have you covered! Click the photos below to see some of our new tire options, or click here for our complete parts catalog!