This is “Luigi,” (AN5L 3057). The car is fully restored and ready for a new owner. It’s a really nice car and it drives great. 1958 Bugeyes are the most rare and have a few unique features you don’t find on the later models.
Luigi is now sold! Congratulations Tom!
This is an early thin windshield 1958 car, about the 2500th made (of about 50,000). Notice the factory gusset in the rocker panel at the “B” pilar, and the early style windshield wiper motor top, visible under the bonnet. These are all rare features original to the early ’58 Bugeyes. Windshield frames changed at car #5277, and the fatter frame continued through the end of the production run. Early cars are getting more and more rare. Thus, Luigi is a very special Bugeye!
This car is available for $22,995
The car was named Luigi by “Perry,” the former owner, pictured here. He has lovingly cared for this car during his ownership since 2012. The car was completely restored in about 1985 in Alberta, Canada. Receipts are included for the engine rebuild at that time. In fact, there is a large book full of receipts from both recent owners. Perry brought the car to our shop from his home in Montreal for a major service a few years ago, and he drove the car less than 200 miles since. While he loved the car, he decided to sell it so someone else can enjoy it. The new speedo we installed a few years back now reads just 161 miles. It doesn’t look like the car has traveled many miles at all since the ground-up restoration years ago.
The underside is solid and quite clean and the car is still very sharp.
The car features a strong 1275 12V engine, from a later Sprite or Midget, with many upgrades, including lifetime K and N air filters and better (bigger) HS2 1.25 inch carburettors. It also has an electric fuel pump, auxiliary electric cooling fan mounted in the nose, exhaust header, fuel pressure regulator and coolant overflow reservoir to help keep air out of the cooling system. The electric cooling fan has a switch under the dash board as shown in the photos. There is a nice tonneau included (see picture) as well as new side curtains and a good top.
The interior is leather, the finish is excellent and the car drives beautifully–everything works. We just changed the front brake wheel cylinders to service the brake system. I have driven this car quite a bit and it is ready to go.
If you are wondering about the white reflective cap on the passenger side of the engine bay, it’s just a spray can cap over the fuse box. It’s not something you need, but it’s a nice way to store some reflective tape under the hood. I suspect Perry thought it might keep some moisture off the fuses.
The yellow “Frogari” stickers on the A pillars look great and will come off easily if the new owner desires. They are not hiding anything and were put there strictly for decoration. We should also be able to remove the Calgary event plaque on the dashboard if the new owner prefers (the car was restored in Calgary before Perry bought it). We can work out any cosmetic revisions with the new owner, but the car looks great as it sits. Another nice cosmetic (non-stock) touch is the chrome wheel trim rings.
Cheers Perry! Thanks for taking such good care of this great Frogeye!