bugeyeguy

A new Super Sprite begins to take form!

July 3, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Happy Fourth of July!

Here’s a hot new Bugeye we’ve just painted and are restoring for Larry from Pennsylvania. He’s had this Bugeye in his garage for many years, waiting for restoration, and now it will become his dream car!

This stunning new paint job is done in Ford Liquid Blue Metallic with Acura Liquid Carbon stripes. These are super premium paints to give the car a stunning finish.

You might also be interested to see how the stripes are laid down… the silver goes on first and is then masked before the blue goes down over it. Thus the stripes are applied in reverse so there are no seams or edges. This way, it all flows together and gives us a premium look.

We’ll be assembling this car during the summer and we’ll keep you posted!

We have a red, white and blue Bugeye teed up for you for sale this week, we hope you’ll adopt one for your summer fun! Enjoy your long weekend, and we’ll be back next week with more Bugeye adventures!!!

1960 Austin Healey Bugeye for sale, best paint! One owner 50 years!

July 3, 2025 by bugeyeguy

“Bunny”, AN5L 26645, enjoyed a great restoration about 15 years ago by a passionate owner who ultimately owned the car for 50 years! 1275 engine, front disks and great upgrades throughout.

The car has the right upgrades including a premium aluminum radiator, thermostatically controlled oil cooler, extra large front driving lights, upgraded headlights, and a performance exhaust. The restorer was skilled and the work is great. Lots of love went into this car… now you can enjoy the fruit of this tireless labor of love.

This week, we added a new windshield and all new rubber on the windshield frame. Everything looks stunning. Lights are optional and we can remove them if you prefer. Call to discuss! A good one!!!

Enjoy a hot summer in a hot red Bugeye!

Click “read more” for more pictures and give us a call if you’d like Bunny to “hop” right into your collection!

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

July 2, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Check out the NEW driving video below to watch Rocky in action!

NEW walk-around tour below showcasing Rocky’s features!

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. 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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Excellent Restored 1960 Bugeye Sprite for sale!

July 2, 2025 by bugeyeguy

This is a 1960 Bugeye we call “Stanley,” (AN5L 37059) and this is a good one! He’s got a strong four speed transmission, a 1275 engine and front disc brakes, as well as handsome wire wheels. But most importantly, this car enjoyed a high-level restoration that was done quite well. If you are looking for a good car that is nicely restored, this one is worth serious consideration. There are no blisters or paint imperfections, dents or dings. This is a very clean car. The interior is also excellent.

This was an Arizona car with no rust that was restored about ten years ago in the Southwest and then was in Ontario for a time before we sold it to its most recent owner in 2021. The car has resided in a garage on Martha’s Vineyard since.

Before heading out to the Vineyard in the spring of 2021, we performed over $4,000 in upgrades and repairs to prepare it for new ownership. We installed an aluminum radiator, new fuel tank, pickup line, and solid state electric fuel pump, LED lights, new three-point retractable seat belts, a front sway bar, Pertronix electronic ignition with new coil, new rear shocks, new slave cylinder and fresh rubber brake hoses, a new battery, and more! All of this was done approximately 250 miles ago, so essentially everything is still brand new!

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1960 Bugeye Sprite for sale, 5-Speed 1275 rear disk brakes! Great fun… fast and sharp!

June 27, 2025 by bugeyeguy

This is AN5L 35180, a Bugeye we call Solo. This one was here in 2022 for about $20,000 in upgrades, including rear disc brakes, new Michelin XAS tires, a new wiring harness, and tons of sorting. Now, this car drives great, as this driving video can attest!

Only a few hundred miles have been put on the car since it left here in 2022, when she went to the home of a premier collector who used it little given the size of his collection. So this is a chance to enjoy a slick Bugeye with a massive investment already made.

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Vin Verification

June 27, 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!