Our intrepid adventurer Eric is currently west of Iowa City, Iowa, after a few great days heading west in “Red Baron”, his mostly stock Bugeye Sprite. If you missed last week’s episode, Eric took off headed for Oakland, California, so he can take his new Bugeye by ship to his home in Hawaii.
Since our last update, he has driven from our shop in Connecticut to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then onto Akron, Ohio on day two. Last night, he drove through western Illinois and with a stop in Iowa City, Iowa, to pay a visit to another one of our clients to fix Eric’s windshield wipers, which stopped working in the rain in Pennsylvania. Fortunately, Bugeye wipers are quite basic so Bruce and Eric got them going again!
The wipers are not terribly effective on Bugeyes, even under best of circumstances. We coated Eric’s windshield with Rain-X before he left for exactly that reason, so with ample Rain-X, Eric, with or without wipers, will keep pressing on into the Wild West.
I’ve enclosed a few photos he has taken so far on his journey; in particular you might enjoy the shot of him out in front of the Sandman Motel in Peru, Illinois, where he spent the evening last night because of the cloud build-up in his path. That’s a two-star hotel (according to Google) for 40 bucks a night. (I told him to sleep standing-up.)
Eric is piloting the Red Baron thus far with relative ease, and so far other than the wipers, his only other mechanical casualty has been his tachometer. This represents yet one more example of why we prefer the electric electronic version that we sell in our catalog over the original cable-driven type. The factory mechanical tachometers have failed on past cross-country drives with other clients; the cable and gearbox and interface between the generator and the gauge is always a bit fragile, and it’s probably one of those components that’s acting-up, but perhaps this is one of the least essential gauges on every classic car so it’s not something we’re terribly worried about.
Click the photo below to get an electronic tachometer for your Bugeye so you are ready for your cross-country drive!
Aside from those two inconveniences, Eric and the Baron are moving along beautifully with no issues, and all the gauges are making the right indications! Stay tuned for further updates!
Let’s plan your next big adventure! Call if you’d like to fly-in and drive home “Isaac” or”Emma,” two 1275 disc brake Bugeyes nicely suited for highway traveling!
