Around the shop

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!

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!

Fouled-up frame horns

June 13, 2025 by bugeyeguy

Noses get hit. And then these frame horns bend. This makes locking your bonnet down a challenge if you have the conventional hinge arrangement, and it makes life even more challenging if you want a flip nose conversion. With the front flip kit, you need these horns to align such that your nose will hinge properly and also latch in the right place on the back and sides. If these are not parallel, your nose probably won’t have a soft landing.

We straighten many of these.

The car pictured here had mangled horns, so we cut them off and replaced them. Now, we have a great foundation for the flip nose work to follow!!!

After cutting off the bent horns, new ones are welded into place. Note the threaded rod run between the two frame horns; this is used to keep the horns level with each other and also helps to keep them straight while welding.

*After welding on the horns, welding on the radiator supports, and checking everything for level, a coat of black paint is applied, and the frame horns look better than they did from the factory!*

If you want your nose converted to flip-forward, call us, we’ll pick up your car and make it happen! Check out the video below for more information on frame horn replacement.

If your frame horns are mangled and need to be replaced, or if you are looking to install a front flip kit of your own, click on the photos below for more information on some of the parts you will need, or click here for our full catalog!

*Bugeye Sprite Front Frame Rail Horn (sold individually)*

*Front flip nose conversion kit (Bugeye only)*

*Bonnet “X” Bracing (for Front-Flip Bonnet Installation)*

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!