BugEyeGuys

All original 1960 Bugeye for sale! Numbers matching!

February 27, 2026 by bugeyeguy

Here’s a Nice Bugeye for sale that will satisfy anyone who loves originality!

*The Maryland license plates will not be included in the sale of Calvin, but it will come with an original black California plate!*

“Calvin” (AN5L 41960) was a lifetime California car until the current owner purchased it a year ago at a Bonhams auction. The car is almost completely stock, with 948 engine, drum brakes, and bias ply white walls, just as is indicated in the heritage certificate (below) that is included in the sale of the car.

*A heritage certificate will accompany Calvin to its new home, which indicates the Chassis number, body number, and engine number all match!*

The engine is the original unit and all the numbers of the engine and body match the numbers on the birth certificate. The car is fit exactly as it would’ve come when it was new!

Calvin drives nicely and is quite solid-excellent floors and body. The paint is very good, although it would benefit from a good compounding if the new owner prefers a more lustrous finish. Still, it shines quite nicely and presents beautifully. If you want more of a mirror finish, some buffing would help make the car “pop” even more.

The interior is also excellent, in correct black with white piping, just like when new. It is also fitted with a premium hardura tunnel mat in matching black (which we sell here in our parts catalog). This mat more closely matches the original rubber mat than the carpet you usually see in restored cars.

If you want a Bugeye with a seriously stock vibe, this is a great car for you!

There are a few maintenance opportunities that we can address for the new owner… the water temp gauge and speedometer are not working. We can fix both. Also, the fuel sender seems to be leaking given the fuel tracks on the outside of the trunk floor. This just means it’s time to drop the tank and reseal the sender with a new gasket.

The fuel line could use an upgrade, we’d like to clean that up. The car once had fender wing mirrors and these have been removed. It’s up to the new owner on this one… we can easily put mirrors back in the holes, which are now covered with white tape. Or, the holes can be filled and the nose repainted, totally up to the new owner! I would budget roughly $3000 to have us upgrade all these opportunities for improvement before we send the car to your door.

Call to discuss! We can prepare the car for you to your taste!

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Well…

February 27, 2026 by bugeyeguy

Don’t do this to your Bugeye Sprite.

*The* “well” *around this filler neck is not supposed to be there.*

In the “I’ve never seen this before” category, here’s a Bugeye rear deck that’s been damaged by someone who didn’t realize that the fuel neck to their tank could be modified to fit the body rather than making the body fit the tank. We’ve run into this before-old body damage to the back of a Bugeye and resultant body repair can make for a slightly fatter boot section at the filler neck. Because the filler neck is a fixed length on original and some replacement fuel tanks, it can be difficult or impossible to get the fuel cap onto the neck if your body is slightly taller at the location of the filler neck. This restorer chose to beat up the body rather than modify the filler neck and damaged the back deck of the car for no reason.

*A piece of rubber at the base of the filler neck allows for extension of the neck, meaning you can dial in the height for proper fitment of your fuel cap!*

The correct solution for a slightly pregnant rear deck is to cut the fuel filler neck and put in a rubber hose with clamps to extend the neck above your existing body and thereby make your filler neck adjustable in height.

*Our fuel tank kit comes with a detachable filler neck, so no cutting or rear deck mutilation necessary to achieve proper fit! Click the photo to order!*

We sell a fuel tank kit with a removable neck and you can set the height of the neck to your specifications regardless of any body damage that may have been built into your car before you bought it. You should never have to damage the body of your Sprite to get something to fit… call us if you have a problem that makes it looks like that might be needed —we’ll help you find a workaround.

*A fixed-neck tank can result in a cap that is too close to the filler neck, which can close your tank vent and affect how your Bugeye runs!*

*This is what your filler neck should look like when the fuel cap is attached, with a small gap between the bottom of the cap and the top of the filler neck gasket.*

Another important issue here is that sometimes the fuel cap is way too tight against the body rubber gasket, which blocks the vent in the cap, creating a fuel delivery issue. So make sure you have at least an eighth of an inch gap between your cap and the rubber grommet that goes in the back deck, so that your fuel tank can vent properly, otherwise your engine can die if the tank doesn’t breathe. If your cap is too close to the grommet, you may need to cut your filler neck, just like the above restorer should have. We have all of the parts and tools needed for this job in our parts catalog! Click the photos below to learn more or click here for our full catalog!

*Fuel tank to filler neck hose (clamps included)*

*Pipe-cutting pliers – cut your fuel filler neck with ease!*

Snow daze

February 27, 2026 by bugeyeguy

Thank heavens for narrow track Sprites because only a narrow driveway is required and that equals less shoveling!

Our driveway was walloped by the blizzard last weekend, and then double walloped by the roof load falling on top in a mighty avalanche. Thus, we were trapped with 30 Bugeyes inside (with no shortage of needs), so we have been working on them all week. But now that we got a plow through, we can drive and ship customer cars once again!

Below is John’s Bugeye, out for a final drive now that his new flip forward nose kit has been installed (if you want a flip nose, give us a call!).

This was a once-in-a-decade snow load, and we are glad to have driveway access once again so the Sprites can come and go!

Well-sorted BRG 1960 Bugeye Sprite for sale!

February 27, 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!

[Read more…]

Wonderfully Restored Yellow 1960 Bugeye For Sale!

February 20, 2026 by bugeyeguy

We’re very excited to have Sharpie back! This is a car and we sold a few years ago, but before it left we undertook a massive transformation which you can see in the video linked below; we also made a post about the work we did at that time, which you can view here.

Now SOLD to Keith in New York! Congratulations on Bugeye #457!

Give us a call if you are interested in this mostly stock Bugeye that’s had all the right upgrades. Moreover, the car has wonderful provenance, as it was previously owned by Bob Sharp, the incredibly successful Datsun SCCA sports car driver and team owner who fielded cars driven by such stars as Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Sam Posey, and even Bob’s own son, 1996 IRL champion Scott Sharp.

We first acquired Sharpie in 2022, when we sold it to its most recent owner. It has spent the last 3 and a half years in New Jersey, but is back to be passed on to its next caretaker!

Before Sharpie first departed our shop to head to New Jersey, it underwent over $15,000 in upgrades to take the car to the next level. Included in this package was upgrading the original 948 engine with a 1098 head for improved performance (they look exactly the same from the outside), aluminum radiator, new water hoses, new fuel tank, fuel line kit, solid state fuel pump, double roller timing chain upgrade, harmonic balancer, spin-on oil filter kit, new head gasket, water pump, generator/alternator with dummy regulator, air horn, electronic ignition, new HS2 carburetors with K&N air filters, new stem-to-stern stock exhaust with a stainless steel header, new rear leaf springs, and so much more!

In addition to these mechanical upgrades, a good amount of work went into the interior, as well. The carpet and seats were already in excellent condition, and they remain in excellent condition, but we added a rebuilt fuel gauge, hidden three-point retractable seat belts, a larger rear view mirror, new choke and starter cables, LED exterior lighting throughout, dual windscreen-mounted side mirrors, and more!

The end result of all of this TLC is a superb Bugeye that is completely mechanically sorted and ready to drive anywhere!

A top and tonneau are included but are not suitable for use. New ones will need to be fitted, if the new owner wants them. A very nice set of side curtains is also included, and come with a Bugeyeguys side curtain pouch for safe storage!

Underside is clean and solid!

This is a wonderful car that anyone would be proud to own! Give us a call if you’re interested in taking Sharpie home!

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Front end public service announcement

February 20, 2026 by bugeyeguy

We have a comprehensive checklist that we use when all cars leave our shop that allows us to check all the usual suspects for looseness.

But cars often come into our shop with anomalies, and this car in the video below is the second one we’ve seen with a loose tie rod end. In the old days all of these were built with a castellated nut, and lately they’ve been coming with a nyloc nut instead. This one happens to have a castellated nut, but no cotter pin was installed, and a few more laps around the block and we would’ve lost the tie rod entirely. It’s not hard to imagine a pretty ugly result when toe-in suddenly goes from 1/8 of an inch in to 2 feet out. Click to watch the video below:

If you get a minute, please jack-up your Bugeye and give the wheels a spin. Shake the tires– look for anything that’s loose and make sure you address it before you have a problem. We need all of you to be well and healthy and we need all the cars to be safe as well! And if you need new tie rod ends, click here to order a set!