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(if a car is not pictured here, it has been sold)

Restored 1960 Bugeye Driver for sale!

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NOW SOLD to Michael in New Jersey! Congratulations!!! Our 272nd!

This is “Powell,” a 1960 Bugeye Sprite that has just enjoyed an extensive makeover at our facility. We picked it up in Ohio for the current owner, and brought it to our shop for repairs. And now it has just about every component refreshed and renewed. The owner has asked us to sell the car on his behalf but to first prepare the car for the new owner, and now that task is complete. The car is ready for us to ship to your door.

We’ve recently completely rebuilt the stock 948 engine and upgraded it with a 1098 head with bigger valves for a little more power. We’ve also added brand new HS2 carbs and lifetime K &N filters, so the car now runs great!

All the hydraulics are new, so the car stops wonderfully on original drum brakes. Clutch slave and master and shocks are also new. Interior is new. The car looks quite handsome, and was painted about five years ago.

There’s a lot to like with this package, and please call if you would like Powell delivered to your door!

About the nicest Bugeye Sprite barn find restoration candidate you will ever find

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NOW SOLD to John in Ashville, NC! Congratulations John! Wishing you great fun!

Take a close look at this car, because it is about as solid a project car as you will ever see. Don’t let the peeling paint fool you-if you are looking for something fun to rebuild, this is a great candidate because there is virtually no rust.

AN5L 19068 is a 1959 Sprite that was taken from California to Massachusetts in about 1985 and has sat ever since. The clutch pressure plate is broken, and we believe it was this failure that caused the car to be parked in about 1985. Fortunately, it was parked all these years in a heated space, because the car is amazingly well preserved.

We’ve made the car run and drive, by installing all new wheel cylinders on the original drum brakes as well as a master cylinder. The brakes now function well. It shifts into all gears, although the pressure plate is acting up and the clutch is not always fully releasing. I believe one of the clutch fingers is broken. We can change the clutch for the new owner, this is not a difficult job.

The 948 engine looks to be original, but the number plate is missing so I can’t confirm. It is smoking a bit, which may clear up, but I would presume the engine needs a rebuild.

We have too many projects in the works at the moment to take this one on, so we are offering it for sale. What you are buying is a restoration project that is extremely solid and a wonderful starting point. If you want a Bugeye to restore, or to drive and restore, this is a great car!

Below you can see a video tour of the body panels and floors:

The car comes with good sidecurtains and an old white top, as well as a jack as shown in the photos. I believe this was an olde English white car that was repainted once, with the white paint you now see.

The floors are excellent original pans, still with the original drains and sling holes. The rockers are excellent, as is the sheet metal in all the places where Frogeye often rust… not so with this car! Other than the surface rust you see on the exterior, there is virtually no rust on this car. The inner fenders are straight, so it appears this car was never in any accidents.

If you are looking for a project car that won’t take a lifetime, this is a great choice!

Bugeye Therapy

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We are open for business and have remedies for what ails you!

Everyone seems to be spending a disproportionate amount of time in the garage these days and we are well-stocked with good medicine…. PARTS! Most of the other parts suppliers are closed, but we are open, building cars and shipping parts daily. Click here to check out our parts store and use our search window to find what you need.

We can’t help with a vaccine but we certainly can help with Bugeye therapy! (PS, I am told the photo above is a photo of a drive-by Polio vaccination, circa 1960. Oral Polio vaccine was widely used starting in 1961. Shoulder belts and child car seats came later-1985 was the first year for child car seat laws!)

The distinct features of a 1958 Bugeye Sprite

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We have been working on a very special 1958 Bugeye for a customer from Massachusetts. This car has many of the early car features which I look forward to sharing with you here. Number plates are missing on this car, but we believe this to be a particularly early car. In this post, you will find a video that calls out what is special about 1958 Bugeyes.

I can’t tell the difference when driving a 1958 or 1960 Sprite. A Bugeye is a Bugeye as far as driving qualities. Even though the rear end was “beefed up” on later Bugeyes, I am not able to discern that difference in the drive quality. These are mainly novelties that make collecting Sprites a little more interesting.

Check out the video below:

Below is what could be one among the last early 58 radiators. Look closely and you can see there are no side shrouds, and no top shroud above the fan. This was a feature alleged to only be present on the earliest cars. It’s hard to know if this radiator was switched from an early car, or was left over at the factory and installed here, but regardless, it was great to see an original early radiator in place. That said, we removed it and boxed it for the client to stay with the car, because it had been leaking, had been repaired numerous times, and, without the shrouding, would not cool the car as well as the later Bugeye radiator we installed instead.

Below, you can see the more abbreviated radiator shrouding found on early ’58 noses. Perhaps they were extended on later cars because of complaints about overheating.

Below is the smaller and triangular radius arm mount for the rear suspension. The radius arm bushings is self extracting here… we put in new bushings to tighten up the suspension.

Below, you can see the longer door levers found on 1958 cars. Along the way, someone mounted a later chrome door knob on the original lever.

In the photo below, Ken is installing our new zip-down window top on the car, and it also received a lot of mechanical restoration on this visit. It’s nice to see another 1958 Sprite out and on the road!

For more information about the type of details described above, you should own “Original Sprite,” a great hardcover resource that describes the production numbers and associated changes. We also made a DVD/digital download all about the gold level concours car we built in 2015. In that video content (which you can order by clicking here), I review the judging sheets and describe what is concours correct and where we lost points on that build, which scored 967.5 points out of 1000, to win a national gold concours award.

Sorting a top-shelf Bugeye Sprite… the quest for the ultimate sportscar

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“Cinnamon” (above, left) is our 266th Bugeye and she departed this week for a new home in Florida. In the video below, you can see some of what we did to this awesome car to make it even better. We are constantly leveraging our experience to make these cars better than new and to eliminate headaches for our new owners.

This particular car was great when we got it, freshly restored with lots of upgraded parts. But after another 30 hours or so in our shop, and lots of test drives and obliterated punch lists, the car became something truly special. We tightened up everything with any play, eliminated every rattle, upgraded any marginal functionality and the result is the ultimate vintage sportscar, a car with which you can blissfully become one.

Below, she is loaded into an enclosed trailer and ready for Mark to enjoy in Florida.

Powered by Nostalgia

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Paul Simon’s music sounded different this week. Crisp, clear and most of all, comforting. Same with Elton John, (who had his 73rd birthday this week). His music was equally grounding. Pink Floyd was also on the shop speakers a lot this week.

These are influential sounds from my past, from times in my life that made more sense to me, when the floor was the floor, and a pandemic was more science fiction than reality. I so appreciate my own personal nostalgic soundtrack these days, when it is hard to tell what will come next.

Safe inside

Locked in our steel Bugeye Hut this week, I couldn’t help but marvel at the nostalgia that surrounds us inside. Nearly everything with wheels in our building was built between 1958 and 1960. Our building itself was built in 1951. We have chosen to surround ourselves with these old things, they make us feel better. And now more than ever, the cars we love, our old cars, matter that much more.

Nostalgia is a powerful remedy in this day and age. It is helping me stay strong and well for now. But even if I should get sick, we will be back, stronger than ever, grounded in the past, and ready for the future.

Before

Because the other important quality that those of us who love classic cars all have in common, is the desire to make things better. We are fixers, builders, producers, and we are unstoppable, united when we see a path to improving that which lies ahead (that’s why we love old British sportscars, they all need improvement!). We will restore and evolve in the post pandemic reality. This is our gift.

After

This week, I looked through pictures of our Quonset Hut in the summer of 2015. At that time, you would never have thought it was possible to take a totally trashed structure (that many would have demolished) and make it into what it is today. Not just a cool, restored building, but a world headquarters for restoration of other cool old things (with a new extension on the back, no less). We’re not curing cancer in our building, but I think about our journey, and the pure realization of a vision that was unlikely every step of the way, and now, five years later, here we are, thriving. This is an expression of what is possible, when people set their minds to a common goal, and this very energy, this human capability, is exactly what will get us through this pandemic.

2015

It may seem a leap from Sprite restoration to people suffering in overcrowded hospitals, but the human desire to repair, to improve, to contribute, this is what will make us stronger. No virus can take that away.

2020


We are grateful for being in the nostalgia business. And in a business that makes people smile. Our work gives the world something fun to pull out of the garage, and from which to go out and explore the neighborhood and see it with new eyes.


When people are ready to come out and play again, we are happy to report that we are well-stocked with cars, parts and talent to support this little piece of our collective journey.

Come play with us.

With play and humor and a desire to make everything a little bit better when we touch it, we will all get through.

Bugeye meets Midget= “Bridget!”

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NOW SOLD to Karl in Massachusetts! Congratulations Karl!!!! Our 274th Bugeye!

Meet “Bridget,” a 1976 MG Midget that has been stripped of most of her sheet metal and mated with a Bugeye fiberglass front and rear end.

The result is impressive… it looks 100 percent Bugeye, until you look closely and find a few later components (such as the windshield frame and door handles). There are numerous benefits, however, which I will tell you about below. Ultimately, the result is a great little Spridget you can buy for a lot less than a correct Bugeye set up the same way.

Check out the video below… come for a drive with me:

The car has the original Midget 1500 engine and it puts out plenty of power. Acceleration rivals that of a strong 1275 engine. Front disk brakes are standard, and the Midget four speed transmission is fully synchronized, which makes shifting a breeze for all, including people who didn’t grow up with British sports cars. The half elliptical rear leaf springs, standard in this era, offer a noticeably more plush ride than the quarter elliptical Bugeye rear Spring equivalent.

We didn’t build it, but we’ve gone through this car and improved it extensively. We installed new painted wire wheels and 175 (wider) tires, LED brake and park lights, new Bugeye seats with all new components, new three point retractable seat belts, a new red tonneau, electric fuel pump, aluminum radiator, new rear wheel cylinders and slave cylinder, new electronic ignition distributor and more. We’ve gone through the entire car to optimize it for the next owner. We’ve also installed matching red three-point seat belts and a larger dash mirror.

The engine bay is clean, the underside is clean, the interior is like new, with all new seats and carpet. I had a lot fun driving this car, and you will too. It’s turn-key and ready to enjoy. Give a call or email if you would like us to send Bridget to your home!

Comfort food for socially distant souls

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As toilet paper gets more and more scarce, you can be sure we will always have a fresh supply of Bugeyes for you here on our shelves. In fact, these have been particularly busy weeks for us here. Thankfully, our entire team is well and strong, which has helped them to make the cars well and strong too!

Two kissed and made a third!

This week, we bid farewell to “The Lobster,” now on the way to Bend, Oregon (and Lou’s waiting arms) in this enclosed trailer above. According to the truck driver, he breezed through Indianapolis at rush hour without even disengaging his cruise control. That’s one small fringe benefit in these trying times… highway volume is way down, and trucks can make good time.

This week we also said farewell to “Indiana,” Pete’s Bugeye from Florida (with Indiana plates). This car enjoyed about 150 improvements on a multi-month sorting adventure in our workshop. According to the owner, he never would have gone above 40 mph before the car was here. Above, I am comfortably cruising at 75 indicated, on I-95. We completely transformed the car into a delightful driver and it’s in the trailer on the way to Florida as I write this.

Give a call or email if you would like your classic car sorted and transformed. And we always keep a nice inventory of fully-vetted classics if you would like to purchase one for yourself. Our cars are comfort food for socially distant souls.

We wish you and your family good health!

Don’t do this to your Bugeye Sprite.

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We are enjoying a steady flow of cars into our shop for sorting, which is keeping us quite busy. With our vast network of enclosed trailers, we can pick up cars anywhere, and so far, they have come to us from as far away as California for various repairs, supercharger upgrades, five-speed conversions and more.

Ellis in Massachusetts just sent us this fantastic very early 1958 Bugeye for a new top and multiple repairs, and the project is progressing nicely.

When we went to fix his right rear axle leak, however, we saw some not so fantastic workmanship by the last person who removed the bearing carrier, with a chisel. We have seen this before. Many people haven’t the socket big enough for the job.

You can buy the right tool by clicking here.

And new nuts too if you need, left and right. Remember, the left hand nut has left hand threads!

Ten-minute Bugeye Sprite tub tour video

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Sit back and relax for some good old-fashioned tin worm TV with the video below, because at least two things are certain in this day and age… 1) Spridgets rust. And 2) we’re here to fix them.

Our subject for this post came to us looking pretty nice (as shown in the photo). Upon closer inspection, well, there was work to do, as you can see once the paint and filler was media blasted away.

“Billy the Bugeye,” before blast-off

The car in this video was purchased in 1974 by a dad who used to sell BMC cars for a living in 1959. His son sent us the car (from Kansas City) so we could build a fitting tribute to his dad.

Gumby and siblings

Our parts catalog and workshop are here to help make your car right.

Contact us at customercare@bugeyeguys.com or call (203)-208-0980 Monday - Friday | 8 am - 5 p.m. EST