Around the shop

Re-restoring a Concours Gold 1958 Bugeye Sprite

June 6, 2025 by bugeyeguy

We are revitalizing car AN5L 552.

*552 as it appeared at the 2015 Austin Healey conclave, the day it earned its gold medal concours certification.*

This car scored gold level concours certification at the Gettysburg, PA National Austin Healey meet in 2015; in the 10 years since then, the car was sold and the new owner added some non-concours upgrades for convenience and improved drivability. This included modern radial tires, an electronic ignition distributor, remote slave bleeder, and a later-style shrouded radiator (early Bugeyes lacked side shrouds), among other items; ordinarily we recommend these improvements on a garden-variety Bugeye, but they were out of place on this showroom-fresh and gold concours example.

*This “pozi-drive” phillips screw is incorrectly used to hold the windscreen to the cowl on 552. We will change them in favor of the correct screw which is shown at right.*

*This* “baby moon” *style of screw, as presented on 501, is the correct factory original style of windscreen screw. 552 will get a set of period-correct, freshly-restored screws just like these.*

As a result, we are making it completely stock once again and even more gold concours than it was during the last judging event. We are fixing a few of its point deductions and correcting a few flaws that the judges missed. It’s a very special early-production Bugeye and quite likely a pre-production model that failed initial field testing, was upgraded at the factory and then put back in the production line. AN5L/552 was recorded as the 51st Bugeye off the line, even though we believe it was built before 501. Thus, it’s worth spending the time to make this special car right!

One item the judges didn’t catch in 2015 was the location of the VIN plate. The plate is mounted too far back, too close to the pedal box. We have fixed this and it now rests in its correct location.

*501’s VIN plate is in the correct location. Note the difference in its placement from 552’s in the preceding photograph.* *Notice the correct gray speedo cable… 552 needs one of these too!*

If you like this sort of concours detail, you might enjoy the recent Hagerty story about our business which is linked here, and in which you can read the author’s comments about AN5L/ 501, which is another gold-certified concours car and the first production Bugeye Sprite.

Here’s a video that describes some of our recent efforts on 552! Stay tuned as we re-release 552 in improved concours condition, she will be for sale again soon!

Showtime!

May 23, 2025 by bugeyeguy

We’re excited to be invited to the 2025 Greenwich Concours with AN5L/ 501, the first production Bugeye Sprite. 501 will be part of The Cars of Donald Healey display… come find us there on Sunday June 1, 2025!

*We were last at Greenwich in 2023* in the Concours d’Sport’s “British Racing Green” exhibit, where we were honored to win Best in Class!

If you’re unfamiliar with this sort of thing, 501 is exactly in the same state as it was on the day it left the factory in March 1958. Every nut in bolt is a match; every component is exact. We painstakingly built the car to survive four hours of judging at a national Austin Healey club event in 2022, where every inch of it was scrutinized, and the car was given Gold certification, the highest honor. National club Concours is a grueling affair, not for the faint of heart.

At the Greenwich Concours, and most other similar national multi-make Concours events, judging is more of a 15-minute affair where a team of judges listens to the car’s story and gives it a look-over to determine how it stacks up against other similar cars (of different makes) in the class. It’s a very different kind of show from a national marque-specific event. Greenwich judges will generally be looking at the overall package and story, while national club judges are generally looking at micro details. While both Greenwich and the Austin Healey national club meet are Concours events, they are radically different in their focus, and it’s exciting to be able to participate in both types of shows!

About a month ago, I spent most of the day driving around the Connecticut coastline in 501 for a magazine story that will be coming in June (stay tuned for that article in the coming weeks!), and I was able to again appreciate how nicely this car drives. While I really love the modifications and reliability upgrades that we perform for Sprites on a daily basis, it is always a pleasure to drive a totally stock, completely accurate Bugeye, and 501 works beautifully.

By the way, there is a driving portion of the club Concours judging; everything has to work as designed, and one of the judges went for a drive with me to make sure that the car performed accurately. At a Concours like Greenwich, you could push the car to its place on the lawn, so nobody cares if the horn or wipers don’t work; however, at a club event, everything has to work exactly as it did when it left the factory, so it’s a very high bar to obtain.

Thus 501 drives beautifully, and I’ll be blasting down interstate 95 on next Saturday morning, on my way to my place on the show field, zooming down the highway in much the same way the new owner of this car zoomed around California 67 years ago. Same car, same condition, same smile… different era!

The Greenwich Concours takes place on Sunday, June 1st, and you can read more about that event by clicking here. We hope to see you there!

And by the way, one of the more interesting aspects of Concours prep involves floor covering. Everyone wants the original rubber mats, but very few sets have survived 70 years of abuse, and no one‘s yet been able to make them. You’ll notice 501 has a custom floor covering that looks exactly like the original ribbed mats. Until somebody can 3-D print rubber sheeting, this is the next best thing to the original recreation, and if you’d like to order a set, you can do that by clicking the photo below, or by clicking here.

948s rule!

May 16, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Our intrepid adventurer Eric is currently west of Iowa City, Iowa, after a few great days heading west in “Red Baron”, his mostly stock Bugeye Sprite. If you missed last week’s episode, Eric took off headed for Oakland, California, so he can take his new Bugeye by ship to his home in Hawaii.

Since our last update, he has driven from our shop in Connecticut to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then onto Akron, Ohio on day two. Last night, he drove through western Illinois and with a stop in Iowa City, Iowa, to pay a visit to another one of our clients to fix Eric’s windshield wipers, which stopped working in the rain in Pennsylvania. Fortunately, Bugeye wipers are quite basic so Bruce and Eric got them going again!

*Made it to Iowa City and have wipers again! Eric (left) and Bruce (right) put their heads together and got the wipers working again before Eric’s next driving leg.* *Bruce owns the BJ8 in the background and is also having us convert his Bugeye to electric power.*

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Bugeye Roadtrip

May 9, 2025 by bugeyeguy

One pathway to Bugeye bliss is to simply choose a point on the compass and point the car in that direction, buckle-in and enjoy the ride. And that’s exactly what Eric is about to do… next week, he will head West out of our driveway in his 948 powered Bugeye with the port of Oakland, California set on his GPS (on his phone). For 10-15 days, he’ll get intimate with his new Bugeye as he clicks off the miles.

Meet Eric in the video below, and these are some pictures from our highway shakedown drive a few days before departure. We’ll post updates as he makes his way across the USA!

Long distance Bugeye preparation continues!

May 9, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Here you can see a car we are preparing for a summer drive from Connecticut to Minnesota, along with a car we just completed for clients in Pennsylvania. In the video below, you can see reliability improvements and select cosmetic upgrades while we maintain weathered cosmetics… drivability is the priority for both these cars!

Greasy Peazy

May 9, 2025 by bugeyeguy

King pins need grease.

Most of them we see are worn, so it’s pretty easy to surmise that people are not greasing them enough. The owner’s manual suggests we grease them every thousand miles, but I’m not sure anybody’s ever doing that, and as a result they wear out over time, so it’s worth doing them to the owner’s recommendation.

This chart taken from an original 1958 Bugeye owner’s manual has lots of handy maintenance items on it, but the red rectangle highlights the grease points most important in your regular chassis lubrication schedule. *Do these every 1000 miles.*

In the video below, you’ll see the grease points on the top and bottom of the king pin/swivel axle assembly. We also pointed out the other grease fittings present on a Bugeye’s undercarriage, which include the grease fittings on most tie rod ends (although some of them are sealed for life), the front suspension fulcrum pins, the emergency brake cable, and both universal joints on the driveshaft. In some cases, as with the tie rod ends, you may find a sealed lifetime u-joint that cannot be greased, so before you rip up the carpet on your tunnel to try to find the front, keep that in mind.

Chassis grease is our weapon of choice! If you need new u-joints, grease zerks, or even a new mini grease gun to put into your Bugeye tool kit, we have all of these items available and more in our parts catalog! Click on the photos below to learn more about some of the parts we offer, or click here or our complete parts catalog! You can also give us a call if you can’t locate what you need!