bugeyeguy

“Rocky,” a striking restored 1960 Bugeye Sprite for sale!

June 20, 2025 by bugeyeguy

This car is #32752, a rotisserie restoration done in 2015. We sold the car in 2016 to Terry, who put about 3500 miles on it, and now has asked us to sell it for him. It is still stunning and quite fresh, still looks new!

Rocky has a 948 engine with an upgraded rib case transmission and front disk brakes. I love the quality of the build, and the navy blue interior looks quite smart. If you’re looking for an excellent restored Bugeye, give this one a serious look!

We just got the car and need to put in a new slave cylinder (there’s a leak) and fix the brake line that has a union (we never like those); we will put in a new one with no splices for maximum durability and safety. The tires are from 2012 so they have aged-out, and we will change those too at no charge to the new owner. Same with the fuel pump plumbing-we can do better, and will upgrade that mount and hoses for the new owner at no charge.

There is a top, windows and tonneau included, as well as top bag and sidecurtain wallet. We’ll get you pix of those next week when we have a minute, but it’s all in quite nice shape! I love the wind wings and three point seat belts are already installed. Also, the restored original steering wheel is a wonderful asset to this restoration.

Click “read more” for the full suite of photos and give us a call if Rocky is the Bugeye for you!

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Vin Verification

June 20, 2025 by bugeyeguy

British numbering always seems more art than science, especially when it comes to Bugeyes and other classic British cars from the late 50s and early 60s. It seems there were errors and anomalies that one would not expect.

The original number plate from car 501, the first production Bugeye Sprite. There should be an “L” after the 5 in AN5, but the factory missed it (or thought the first car would be home market RHD and then instead decided to send 501 to the USA without adding and “L” to the plate).

We have written extensively about the first production Bugeye, which is AN5L 501 but shows a Vin plate without the L on it. This has been documented as human error at the factory during stamping (see #12 below) process. It was easy for us to shrug that problem off as growing pains for a busy team of people trying to pump out an inexpensive sports car at a rapid rate. (And by the way, to build 50,000 sports cars in that era in just three years is actually a very impressive accomplishment!)

*501’s heritage certificate confirms the number plate mis-stamp on the factory floor. Still working the kinks out!*

This week we saw something new on car number AN5L 49296, a car near the end of the Bugeye production run. When we removed the dashboard for a re-wiring, we found that the back of the dash shows a different number than the chassis plate, off by one digit, thus a new type of numbering error that we not seen before.

*The VIN plate on this car shows chassis number 49296, as does the title.*

*The dashboard, which was marked in grease pencil from the factory with all sorts of specs so the assemblers knew what options to fit to which cars, clearly shows chassis number 49297. A mismatch!*

In this case perhaps the green dashboard was built and marked with the specs for car number 49297, but 49296 was the next car that had a green exterior and fit this dashboard, so they made the swap, likely without even noticing. In other words, in the fast-paced production line presumably they worried more about putting like with like, and didn’t put as much emphasis on the numbers being accurate on the back. Its human error, once again displayed on the British car assembly line.

Sometimes, we get an additional window into the challenges faced at the Spridget factory, as evidenced by the Heritage certificate below:

Here’s a picture of the heritage certificate for the Midget we are selling shortly on Bring a Trailer, a special “unrestored” car that was the subject of a $23k mech refresh.

Note the engine information, this car had 2 other engines and one other transmission before it left the factory, more evidence of human error, and how the factory dealt with it!

If you’d like a heritage certificate for your car to see if there are any anomalies, click here and we will get you one!

More Bugeye long distance adventures

June 20, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Our third long distance Bugeye driver (for the summer of ’25) (Ray) picked up his Bugeye and promptly drove it to Brattleboro, Vermont on his first shake down drive!

Meet Ray in the video below!

“Dudley” and Ray have been together since 1970, so it was a privilege to help renew their vows with lots of new parts! Thanks Ray!

Enjoy the video below, taken by Ray on the road to Brattleboro!

To see what Dudley looked like prior to its transformation, you can read an article about his arrival here. If you want to have your Bugeye transformed into a cross-country cruiser, give us a call!

1967 MG Midget survivor for sale, completely refreshed with a whopping $23k in recent receipts! New video tour!

June 19, 2025 by bugeyeguy

COMING SOON TO BRING A TRAILER! STAY TUNED!!

Lots of upgrades already built in for this money! Four page build sheet posted in gallery below for more than $23K in upgrades and improvements we completed in 2023. Scroll down to read that build sheet below and to see the dozens of improvements we’ve made to this car! Fly in and drive home!

I made a new tour of the car in the video below!

Check out the driving video below!

This car has great documentation, including the original Illinois title… in fact, this title documents that on May 23, 1967, Russell Beard paid $2,478.96 for his new ’67 Midget (he financed it), which he and his family kept for the next 56 years! (You’ll notice the Russ B front license plate which stays with the car in his honor).

We also found some of Russell’s vintage “Dog N Suds” napkins under the driver’s seat, upon which, while presumably sitting at a picnic table consuming said dogs and/or suds, he felt compelled to record his oil pressures at various RPMs, perhaps much to the delight of his fellow Dog N Suds patrons. (Is this really what we did with our free time before Smart phones?)

We can only presume that Russell, excited about his successful oil pressure documentation project and perhaps emboldened by the ample suds (root beer) he might have consumed, then took off in his Midget to continue his precision telemetry and record speed and RPM all the way up to 85 MPH (5500 RPM, for the record, on his original bias ply tires).

BMC engineers would be proud.

If you want to keep the flame alive on your own fast food and napkin adventures, give us a call and we’ll be happy to ship this unique Midget to your door!

This special 1967 MG Midget (GAN4L 52413) is called “Travis” in honor of its most recent owner, a good client of ours who recently passed away and wanted us to sell his beloved car for him and his family. This is an awesome car, one that is mechanically well-sorted while exuding a well-worn “work clothes” exterior.

Travis loved the fact that this was an unrestored mostly original car with a great history, unlike other Midgets of its generation. He hired us in July of 2023 to fix or replace anything and everything that needed attention, to the tune of $23,926.58.

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Bill’s Bugeye adventure-1500 miles from CT to WI to kick off the summer!

June 13, 2025 by bugeyeguy

1594 miles later, Bill arrives in Milwaukee! Not bad for a maiden voyage!

Bill dropped off his Bugeye in a U-Haul trailer roughly 60 days before his trip, and left our building in a refreshed Bugeye with an improved 1380 CC engine (and lots more HP), plus a five speed transmission and many more upgrades. The test drive video below, taken about a week before the big drive, illustrates the ease with which Bill’s car was able to reach 65 miles per hour, an appropriate “cruising altitude” for a Bugeye on the highway.

This is our second long client trip this summer (See Eric’s drive to Hawaii by clicking here). Eric had a stock configuration with a 948 engine and four speed for his journey… Bill had five speeds, plus a larger engine. Both made it with very few issues. Both gave their owners a lifetime of memories.

Check out the video below for an interview with Bill before his trip!

We’d love to prepare a car for you! Call if you want to create your summer adventure with us!!!

Timing cover trouble

June 13, 2025 by bugeyeguy

British cars leak oil. That is just a fact of life. Bugeyes are not immune from the typical underside drippings associated with British car ownership. However, when we spot a sizeable puddle underneath one of our Bugeyes, we notice, and we investigate.

*This much oil on the front edge of the underbody under the oil pan is excessive. Typically this is indicative of a leak at the timing cover.*

In the case of this particular Bugeye, the symptom was excessive dripping present on the front edge of the oil pan and the surrounding underside bodywork. This is indicative of a leak at the front of the engine. Typically, this means that a gasket or seal has failed; the timing cover gasket, the crankshaft seal, and the front oil pan lip seal are all frequent culprits. In fact, this leak looked for all the world like it was originating at the crack shaft seal, but was actually running down from a crack in the vapor canister and dripping from the seal. Glad we caught that!

1275 engines have this large crankcase breather canister on the timing cover that takes the place of the old draft tube used on earlier engines. This can get banged around over time and the brazed seam where they are attached can fail and cause a leak.

We often use a dye kit to accurately trace oil leaks, by the way, and we sell those here… they can really help with diagnostics. In this case, our oil detection efforts led up to the area circled below, the seam between the vapor canister and the timing cover. This seam was brazed or soldered from the factory, and over the years, this seam can develop cracks, and this crack will leak oil, and a lot of it. We will repair this crack and put this timing cover back into service, where it will perform better than new!

This crack in the brazing around the breather (circled) on this 1275 created the massive oil leak. Luckily, we found this before trying an easier solution, like changing the timing cover seal or gasket, *only to do the job over when we realized a crack was the culprit!*

We solder these to repair these covers, and if you have one that needs repair, call us and we can fix it for you!