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CURRENT INVENTORY IS SHOWN IN THE SMALL PICTURES JUST BELOW THIS TEXT!
(if a car is not pictured here, it has been sold)

License to Bugeye

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There were no factory license plate holes on Bugeye Sprites, so people mess them up all the time. Thus, you should check the positioning of your license plate holes while restoring (and before painting) your car. We sell a template to help you determine what goes where, which you can purchase by clicking here.

Here, Kenny is using our license plate and emblem template to line up where to drill the holes needed to mount everything on the rear of this Bugeye. Click the photo to order your own template and take the guesswork out of hole placement!

But if it’s too late and the car is already painted, here’s a video on how we addressed off-center holes on our 400th Bugeye Lulu and how we fixed this issue for the new owner. If you want our license plate mounting kit, you can buy that by clicking here.

1960 five speed 1275 Bugeye driver for sale!

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This is a very thoroughly worked-over Bugeye and a great opportunity to own a very well-sorted classic car that has enjoyed generous spending from prior owners! 

This is “Bucky” (AN5L 18013). We first met Bucky in September 2018, when we picked it up for a client in Wisconsin and brought it to our shop for a five speed upgrade along with multiple other improvements totaling about $19,000, including:

  • Rebuilding the entire front end
  • New disc brake kit
  • New swivel axles
  • New rack boots
  • Repaired parking brake
  • Replaced pinion seal
  • New steering column bushings
  • New hanging gas pedal
  • New header with our twin-tip muffler
  • Aluminum Radiator
  • Six-blade fan
  • K&N Lifetime air filters
  • New leaf springs
  • New flywheel ring gear
  • Upgraded rear view mirror 
  • (there are lots of other items we addressed, ask if you would like to see that build sheet)

We shipped it back to him with about 20 miles indicated on the new GPS speedo in 2018. He put about 1500 miles on the car, then his priorities changed, and he sold us the car in late 2021. In March of 2022, we sold the car to Roy in Oklahoma, and before it departed for Oklahoma, we added another extensive list of roughly $15,000 worth of upgrades. 

That round of improvements included:

  • New master cylinder
  • New hard brake and clutch lines
  • Upgraded later Sprite rear drum brakes with new wheel cylinders and shoes
  • New front shocks and shock bushings
  • New radius arms
  • New fuel tank and fuel pickup line
  • New solid state fuel pump and end-to-end hard fuel line
  • New wiring harness
  • New dummy regulator
  • LED light conversion including LED headlight bulbs
  • New electronic distributor and coil
  • New spark plugs
  • New battery and battery cables
  • New oil pressure line kit
  • New radiator hoses
  • GPS speedometer
  • Electronic tach
  • Full dashboard restoration including welding up extra holes, smoothing and recovering with new vinyl
  • Recovered dash bar
  • New dash grab handle
  • All-new dash knobs
  • New choke cable
  • Rebuilt fuel gauge
  • New door liners
  • New black bikini top
  • And more!

Roy has decided to get something different, so we have the car for sale again, and now we are able to offer an extremely well-sorted Bugeye that’s been impressively upgraded and maintained with about 2300 miles showing on the clock. It’s too bad it never got a repaint, but it remains an awesome experience to have an ultimate driver with a five-speed transmission and all the other correct improvements and make these cars so special.

If you are not cosmetically picky and love the idea of a five-speed overdrive-equipped car with a fully synchronized gearbox, Bucky could be the perfect Bugeye for you! Click “read more” below for a full compliment of photos, check out the driving video above for a taste of what Bucky is like to drive, and give us a call if you’d like to make Bucky your own! Click “read more” below to see the extensive photo album.

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Striking 1275-Powered and upgraded 1959 Bugeye Sprite for sale!

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Ozzy is an incredible Bugeye we brought in last month after spending the past 10 years in the Pacific Northwest, where it was completely restored. Since we got it here, we have done a HUGE number of upgrades intended to make Ozzy into its best form, including all-new hydraulic parts including a new master cylinder, wheel cylinders, and new brake and clutch lines, a new fuel line from front to rear including our solid-state electric fuel pump upgrade, new front tapered wheel bearings, and so much more! This is truly the epitome of what a well-sorted, great driving, great-sounding Bugeye should be! Give us a call if you’d like to make Ozzy your own!

If you like tastefully modified Bugeye Sprites, here’s a wonderful modified Bugeye for sale called “Ozzy.” The car has all the right modifications and is painted in a striking color scheme with broad appeal. This one ticks a lot of boxes! The car shows 3039 miles on the odometer, I am guessing that’s the total mileage put on the car since the restoration about 10 years ago. The car still feels freshly restored.

We owned, upgraded and sold this car in 2013, (around the time that it was restored by another enthusiast) and then sold to a collector in the Northwest, who drove it sporadically during his ten years of stewardship. He sold it back to us in October of this year.

When we received the car this year, we spent 40 hours going-through it… we performed a major service and also made additional upgrades to make Ozzy even better. Ozzy now has all the most desirable performance upgrades, including front disk brakes, sway bar, strong 1275 engine, aluminum radiator K&N lifetime air filters and a performance exhaust, so you have a sweet little package. This is a nice car…. solid, straight, well-finished, rust-free.

Ozzy makes all the right noises-we’ve just installed our twin-tipped muffler, and the sounds great. Seats are nearly new too, with new firm seat base foams and new covers. Ozzy is easy to love. The flip-forward nose makes for easy engine bay access too!

Here’s a list of the service work and modifications we made just this week:
New stainless steel header and exhaust including our twin-tipped muffler (hence the great sound in the video)
New hard brake and clutch lines throughout
New rear wheel cylinders
New rubber brake hoses
New rear wheel bearing on passenger side
New master cylinder
New solid state electronic fuel pump,
New fuel tank pick-up line and rubber fuel lines
New water hoses
New heater valve
New dip switch harness
New rubber oil pressure gauge line
New front tapered wheel bearings
New tank to carbs metal fuel line
New easier to use T handle locking choke assembly

These were the pressing items to make the car better than ever. The car runs and drives wonderfully, as you can see in the driving video below, which we made earlier this week.

As with all these classic cars, there are still some issues that the new owner may choose to have us address. For example, the tachometer and speedo both read too high… this is easy to fix… we sell a GPS speedometer and matching electronic tachometer and that will get the new owner more accurate readings, if so desired.

Also, first gear whine is a bit louder than on the rebuilt ribcase transmissions we sell… (they all whine and I would leave it, synchros are excellent, the car up and down shifts without complaint)… but this could open-up an opportunity to install a five-speed conversion… the car is well-worth investment in a five- speed upgrade. That said, I drove my Bugeye “Gumby” for 20 years with first gear making a lot more noise than this one, so it’s an issue you should know about if you’re thinking about the car, but it’s not something that needs immediate attention. If it bothers the new owner, a five-speed would be a nice opportunity while the car is still in our possession.

The seat belts currently installed are a vintage racing lap-belt variety belt, but I much prefer three point retractable shoulder belts, and we have those in stock in red or black-again, the new owner gets to choose.

The dashboard is perfectly nice, with a handsome fat wood steering wheel that feels right. I would refinish the dashboard and change the dash and dash trim bar covering to red and I would also put on a red tonneau because the silver and red color combination is quite striking and I would like to emphasize those strong colors. These are opportunities that we can address (while the car is here) before it gets shipped to the new owner.

The engine bay is stunning all new hydraulic hard lines, premium aluminum radiator and lots of upgrades. If you’re interested, click “read more” below for the full assortment of photographs and give us a call!

[Read more…] about Striking 1275-Powered and upgraded 1959 Bugeye Sprite for sale!

Sweat the details

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Colors matter and we take them very seriously. We are delighted to have so many choices in our building to satisfy many color palettes.

We sold our leaf green Bugeye “Flip” today and the new owner wanted a new tonneau. Here are the color options we shared with them while we worked to choose the best-looking option. With whitewall tires in Florida (where the car is headed), a light color was most attractive, and in the end, the client chose tan. They’re all good choices, and our job is to make sure that each client gets the rolling sculpture that they most adore delivered to their driveway.

If you want your own color makeover courtesy of a new tonneau, take a look at our parts catalog here, where you will find quite a few options! If there is a specific color you’re wanting but don’t see it – don’t hesitate to give us a call!

Modified Bugeye Sprite with uprated performance. Check out the NEW AND IMPROVED tire squealing videos!

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Now SOLD to Jim in Massachussetts! Congratulations on Bugeye #402!

This is a AN5L 48202, a modified 1960 Bugeye Sprite we call “Bart.”

If you like the old-school converted race car vibe, this is a great car to consider. The car is totally street legal and very useable on the street, with a bunch of performance upgrades to give it more grunt and better performance. You can drive this car anywhere. You can drive it to the autocross and play for the day. You can drive it to the supermarket. You can enjoy the racing heritage of all Bugeyes, and still go out to dinner in this one. It is modified for performance while maintaining plenty of everyday drivability. The car is built with a nice balance of fun and function.

The engine is an uprated 1275 with a performance cam. The idle is a bit lumpy, but still quite tolerable. When you get on the gas, the improved performance is apparent, and the engine pulls smoothly through the revs. The car has a performance exhaust system with a nice header and minimalist muffler. Bart sounds like a sportscar should. The nearly new Weber downdraft carb powers the car nicely.

Brakes are front disk and a rear drum systems from a later Sprite, with an add-on brake booster to lessen pedal effort. The car stops nicely. A slightly larger from sway bar is also fit for more agressive cornering.

Tires are 185/60×13, wider than stock, afforded by the fender flares. They give you a bigger footprint that further improves braking, acceleration and traction in general. These tires squeal and slide a bit more than I would like, because they are aged-out. New rubber would grip a lot better, and we can change the tires for the new owner if so desired.

The car has a flip-forward fiberglass nose with matching fiberglass flares fit on the original rear steel fenders. Two flush dzus fittings hold down each bonnet wing for a nifty bonnet hold-down system that you can open with a small screwdriver or quarter dollar. Engine access is great and the fiberglass nose is a great weight saving over the steel original!

There are a few minor cosmetic flaws but the car presents very nicely. This is a very cool car, great fun to drive, and it has a period-correct feel. We’ve put in all the correct dashboard components to preserve the heritage. The rib case transmission shifts wonderfully. Check out the videos, click “read more” below for a full compliment of photos, and call if you are interested!

[Read more…] about Modified Bugeye Sprite with uprated performance. Check out the NEW AND IMPROVED tire squealing videos!

Our fastest Bugeye ever is for sale!

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Ever since we got into building and selling classic cars about 17 years ago, we’ve been trying to build the most reliable Bugeye on the planet to provide a headache-free experience for our customers. This electric FrogE is the closest we’ve come to delivering on that commitment. I am well aware there are some people out there who are really resistant to electric classic cars in terms of removing what they see as the soul of the car and replacing it with electric components. For those people, we still have many gas-powered options. But for anyone looking for practicality, reliability and ease of operation, this configuration is worth a serious look. While there is no exhaust note, it’s so fast and smooth that the extra power is an attractive trade-off for many customers. You can have super speed with electric or super sound with ICE. It’s your choice. Regardless, the FrogE gives us one more platform to offer new customers and if it breaks down any barriers to entry, we’re all for it. This is one more way to keep these cars alive for generations. 

This particular car is the fastest Sprite we’ve ever built with a 0 to 60 time of 7.29 seconds, which is at least 30% faster than our previously quickest Sprite (which was gas powered). That’s fast.

We’ve completely restored this Sprite from the ground-up and then added the electric components which include five Tesla batteries from a low mileage Model S (that was totaled). These batteries give us 32 kw of capacity which is good for about 95 miles of range if you use the car in a spirited manner (as I have been). If you are conservative on the accelerator,  you can probably get more than 100 miles of range. Temperature matters too… if you’re in a temperate zone you’ll get more range than we’re getting right now in 40° fall weather in New England.

This car is a dream to drive. It has no bad habits and no issues- it just goes (and will continue to go) for a lot more miles than any gas-powered classic car engine will ever go. You will have to maintain the lever shocks (although we have a tube shock conversion that might help expand the longevity), and there are still rear wheel cylinders to wear out eventually (we do have a rear disc brake upgrade that would increase the lifespan of the rear brakes as well) so there is a little bit of maintenance. You’ll need new tires at some point (they’re brand new now, but they’ll eventually age out) but other than that, the motor is bulletproof, so is most everything else!

These batteries should degrade no more than 10% after 10 years and we made the system modular so that in 50 years the batteries can be removed and upgraded or replaced. Other than that, you’ve got an amazing reliable and consistent platform. All you have to do is charge it and we’ve made that easy as well with the flip-up fuel cap on the rear deck. 

Is this the future of classic cars? Time will tell, but in the meantime, we’ve got a really impressive way to live with a Bugeye. You can drive it with one pedal. The regenerative braking is impressive and all you have to do is regulate how much you back off as you decelerate for a stop sign to increase or decrease the regenerative braking and alter your rate of deceleration. It’s a lot of fun! You don’t need the brake pedal often and that will also increase the lifespan of the brake system. 

I’ve become quite a convert; I spend my days driving gas-powered bugeyes and other classic cars, but there’s something very refreshing about this electric platform because it feels very low stress and peaceful, especially the traffic lights where there’s no fumes and no oil spots on the ground and no vibration and no carburetors to manage there’s just a deep well of torque anytime you want. 

If you’re interested please give a call. We are selling E3 and we will also be happy to do a conversion of your classic British car to make it electric powered as well. People ask me for kits all the time and unless you are a highly qualified builder, I don’t recommend a kit… it’s very difficult to make these work, and we’re lucky to have the experience to be able to do that for you. Rather than purchase a kit, I’d encourage you to send your classic to us and we will do the conversion here and leverage our experience to get the job done promptly and safely!

Click “read more” below for a full compliment of pictures and give us a call if you’re interested!

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