NOW SOLD to John in Texas! CONGRATULATIONS!

Looking for a great Bugeye project?

If so, this is AN5L 39735 and worth a serious look. This is a 1960 Bugeye (first titled in 1961) and long time Arizona car that has enjoyed a long life in the desert southwest, and while there is a lot of work to do, it’s in much more solid condition than most of the project cars that we encounter. It’s all apart and ready for a passionate restorer to dive-in. We’re excited to help bring another Sprite back onto the road .

She was disassembled about five years ago. Due to a death in the family, the project has sat idle for four years and is now available for completion and assembly with a clear Arizona title.

There is one small hole at the front of the rocker panel as well as one in the driver side “a” pillar. You can see those issues in the photo above. So you can expect to do some body restoration but it mostly appears to be a very solid car. And it comes with an original hardtop (and all the spares shown in the photos).

The engine is disassembled and there were also a few extra engine parts from other sprites so the parts inventory is good. Original seats are also included as shown. If you’re in the Phoenix area and you have a trailer, this is an exciting project. It will take some work to load it from its current location (where it’s been sitting for the last four years) but you can drive a trailer right up alongside, with good access. You’ll be rewarded with a very rebuildable Sprite that will come back to life under your supervision! And remember, we have any parts that might be missing in our parts catalog, so you can make this restoration wonderful.

The car comes with the title and bill of sale in the seller’s name so you’ll have no problem registering this car anywhere in the world but it is not a roller so you will need to have a trailer and some muscle to move it out of its present location and back to your shop. Sorry the pictures aren’t great, but this is all we have available since the car is not at our facility. Feel free to call with questions!

Pause Play Play Prev | Next

NOW SOLD! Congratulations to Joe from Alabama! Our 309th!

This is a unique and special Bugeye! This is “Liberty” (AN5L 31508) and this car was fully restored by Liberty Motorsports in California about five years ago. If you are into 356 Porsches, you might have heard of Jim, he is a master restorer, and he always wanted a Bugeye, so he built up this one.

What I love most is that he restored it like a crazy hot-rodder might have done in the 60s or 70s… but with the quality workmanship for which Liberty is known. In other words, he let his imagination run wild, and then executed a one-of-a-kind restoration with bells and whistles to meet his taste, and since he is so skilled, it’s an impressive package!

On-board we have in-period stopwatches and extra gauges, as well as Brooklands screens and most notably a Judson supercharger. The Judson is a fantastic vintage performance piece you might remember from advertisements in Popular Mechanics and Sports Illustrated in the 60s. This was a cure-all booster for corsairs, beetles, British sports cars and many other engines longing for a bit more juice.

Jim has also installed a Garmin GPS on a stalk in the cockpit, which we have since removed. While it is also outdated, it doesn’t fit the period vibe, so we prefer the look without it, but the new owner can choose. New dash pictures to follow!

Driving is delightful, and this particular set up works great, as you can see in the video above. The exhaust note is excellent courtesy of another vintage treasure, the rare Abarth twin-tipped muffler that is fit to the original 948 engine (the 948 engine present, 9CUH 30358, is the correct original engine for this car). This engine is mated to a solid rib case four-speed transmission.

She stops well with disk brakes up front, drum brakes in back.

Minilite wheels are custom color matched, and the racing style single-seat hard tonneau is a bonus, for an even bolder statement. When using the hard tonneau, the car is also equipped with a custom single cockpit soft tonneau (black with primrose thread) that integrates with the hard tonneau and headrest. Or you can use the car in two-seat mode, and use the full-sized soft tonneau to cover the entire cockpit when you park. Both look great. But most people will probably leave just the “D-Jag” hard tonneau in place, as this configuration is most unique and eye-catching.

There is no full-sized windshield included, although we can source one for you if you live in a colder climate and the cut windscreens are a bit too cool. They work better than you think, BTW, and shield the driver pretty nicely. But they are best in warm weather.

The windshield wipers are capped, and thus this car would not pass inspection in Canada and in a few select states like Massachusetts, that require safety inspections before registering a vintage car. But in most states, the lack of wipers would not be an issue, particularly since Rain-x works better than wipers on these cars anyway!

If you want a show-stopping and unique Bugeye hot rod tribute car, this one is for you! Call or email if you are interested!

Pause Play Play Prev | Next

NOW SOLD to Richard in Austin Texas! Congratulations!!!! Our 310th!

We’re excited to bring you a high-caliber completely restored car this week. “Sunny,” underwent an exceptional rotisserie restoration that was completed in 2008. The car went on to win tons of trophies at various car shows, including best of show at a national Healey Encounter event. It’s a quality job throughout and the car still looks freshly restored.

The original hardtops were almost all Ivory white but a “color matched” hardtop is a superb idea and very popular. They make the car look like a piece of candy and enhance the car’s already delicious personality.

Of course, some folks will remove the hardtop and leave it stored in their garage, so we have also shown the car with the top removed (the car also comes with soft top). Still other drivers will leave the hardtop on the car year-round for sun protection and/or the “yellow on yellow” bold look. We’ve fit reproduction Amco wind wings (coming soon for sale in our catalog) to make the cockpit that much more cozy when the lid is in place. Good sidecurtains are also included, as you can see in the photo album.

The car drives exceptionally well. I was told the car has traveled about 10,000 miles since the complete restoration but it sure looks to me like the car has only gone about 1000 miles… she looks that fresh. 69,335 miles are indicated. Regardless of the mileage, this is a very nice car!

The engine is a strong 1275 mated to a four-speed rib case and a 3.9 differential. The car is quick and also has great highway manners. New 175 tires are on the car, along with stock and well-finished original steel wheels.

The underside also looks great. She’s fit with a sway bar and custom driving lights mounted to the bumper. The bumper (and driving lights) are easily removed as are the Austin Healey shields which were added to the hardtop.

Give a call if you would like to make this car your own! It’s hard to find cars that are this nice!

Pause Play Play Prev | Next

It’s hard for me to imagine producing 46 Bugeyes in a day, but that’s just about what happened in the Abingdon factory that made Austin Healey Bugeye Sprites in the late 50s. It would take us about two years to upgrade 46 Sprites (and we have been practicing for 15 years) so it seems impossible to build two of these cars in an hour. The symphony of moving parts at the factory back then must have been very well-tuned to make it all happen on time.

All of the roughly 48,000 Bugeyes were made in 1958, 1959 and 1960. So roughly 16,000 Sprites were made in each of those three years. That equals about 1300 per month, 325 per week and about 46 per day based on a seven day work week.

Given what must have been an exciting day of production each day for three years straight, you can start to understand why there were inconsistencies. The cars were cheap, they needed to get them out the door, and they sometimes used what they had to get the job done. So occasionally, we see features that are inconsistent with what the text books say.

This Bugeye, “Ducky” is one of the first 1000 cars, and is unique in that it has many of the 1958 features visible. In the video below, you can take a quick tour of some of those “1958 only features.”

The cars were upgraded through the production run, and most of the changes happened early. So some people love to see the 1958 cars, with their unique early attributes.

“Ducky” is for sale and you can click here to see her profile page.

NOW SOLD to Thomas in Washington state! Congratulations! Our 308th! This is particularly exciting for us since he will drive this car from our shop home to Washington on his maiden voyage. We love these opportunities to produce the most reliable and drivable Bugeye possible!

Thank you Tom!

This is an early car made in 1958 (AN5L 1593), which Samantha has named “Ducky.” Production started with car 501, so this would be among the first 1000 or so Bugeyes ever made. There aren’t many of those first thousand cars left, so this is a rare car!

Engine is 9CUH 1156, the original 948 engine that came with the car. Carbs are the original H1 that came new with Mark 1 Sprites.

It’s very hard to find a good ’58 car, and this one has lots of potential.

The car presents well. There are a few small paint flaws, but the body is very straight and looks quite nice. The black stripes complement the car nicely. These are vinyl decals and can be peeled off if desired.

Floors were replaced with flat steel panels, and while not perfect, they didn’t diminish the pleasure one bit for the prior owner, who kept the car for the last 11 years.

She comes with a good top and aluminum side curtain cores that will need restoration. No tonneau, but we have those in stock if desired.

There are a few maintenance items needed. We can do all of them for the new owner, if desired. For example, the brake hydraulics will need refreshing. Tires have aged-out and should be replaced. The heater core is missing (but we have new ones if you need heat).

We can upgrade everything for the new owner, or you can do it yourself and we can provide all the parts. We look forward to partnering with the new owner so they can have “Ducky” in whatever form they like.

If you are looking for an early car, this one has an original ’58 nose (smaller radiator shrouding) and tub with the 1958 anomalies, and this is a rare commodity in the Austin Healey universe. Notice also the early and svelte thin windshield still in place, with proper body color matched windshield pillars.

Give a call or email if you are interested in this cool 1958 Bugeye!

Pause Play Play Prev | Next