Now SOLD to Mike in Kentucky! Bugeye #452! Congratulations!
This is AN5L 552, one of just a handful of Gold medal certified Concours Bugeye Sprites. In 2015 we took this car to Gettysburg, PA for more than two hours of judging by four Austin Healey Club experts who scrutinized every nut and bolt and awarded this car is the highest honor in terms of originality, accuracy and condition.
It’s a very high honor and having done it twice (our second car was 501, judged 2022), I can tell you it’s a very difficult and rigorous process. Four ruthless judges run through five pages of judging sheets and pick on every aspect of your car until they’re satisfied that they deducted points for anything that they don’t like or that is inaccurate. At the end of the day, if you have more than 950 points, you’re awarded a gold medal. It’s not for the faint of heart.
This car was awarded 967 1/2 points and impressed the judges, given the car’s accuracy and uniqueness. We chose this car to run through the concours process because it is historically very significant, and believed to be one of the earliest Sprites, a pre- production car used when the car was introduced to the media in early 1958 before the first production Bugeye Sprite, was released.
This early car failed preproduction testing, and was rebuilt with improved rear body gussets that are shown bolted into place. Only are the earliest cars featured these bolted gussets, and once the car was reinforced it was put back onto the production line and assigned chassis number AN5L 552.
After the car was awarded a gold metal in 2015, 552 was purchased by a high-level collector who drove the car sporadically and recently sold it back to me so that we could find it a new home. Once we purchased early this year, we went through another comprehensive restoration, including an engine out service and modification of many little details that we knew could be made even more accurate this time around. Our goal was to push the bar closer to perfection and thus closer to the mythical thousand point goal.
This time around, many additional little details were addressed… the engine came out and we diminished the list of faults that were listed by the judges in 2015 and also fixed many other little inaccuracies that we’ve learned in the intervening ten years since the car was first judged. Thus 552 has stepped-up another rung in terms of accuracy and Concours merit.
AN5L 501 (the first production Bugeye) is the only other car we’ve had judged in this rigorous process and we took what we learned with 501 and applied it to this car, so now 552 is that much more special and that much more correct. That means that the new steward of this car is buying a wonderful time piece and marker of exactly how these cars were constructed in 1958.
This is a museum car that will forever demonstrate the way it was done at the factory. It’s also the perfect car for a collector who wants to drive and enjoy their car, but primarily show it and showcase it at cars and coffee events as a perfect original expression of the way these cars came when new.
552 is currently riding on the original bias ply tires for that reason. They complete the experience-it’s tons of fun to slide through the turns on these skinny rubbers and they grip better than you might think! Check out the video below that features PBL 75, a sister to this early Frogeye.
So if you’re a serious collector, or if you have a performance Bugeye, but really want an original example, this is a serious car to consider. The new owner could take this car to be judged at a future national Austin Healey club event to see how close you can come to 1000 point perfection! Alternatively, the car can be shown at just about any national mixed-make Concours.
The time and money that went into the restoration and re-restoration of this car outweighs the cost to purchase it by a very dramatic factor. But hey, that’s what we do here… we want to preserve this mark and do it properly so the two Concours cars that we built are exceptional examples that future generations can use to keep these cars alive long after we’re all gone.
So have a look at 552, and to call if you are interested in owning this rare example. An opportunity like this doesnt come often! Click “read more” below for the full photo gallery!
