Here’s a Bugeye with the perfect mascot…
Electric Bugeye Sprite first drive, videos
This is one of the best cars we have ever built.
How could this be? Am I really claiming that a completely electric powered vehicle is better than our best gas-powered wonder? Well, if I told you we had an iconic classic car that needed a fraction of the maintenance of its petrol brethren, always started, leaked no oil, never overheated and never needed another gearbox rebuild, wouldn’t that interest you?
And I haven’t even gotten to the performance… this thing is a rocket. Imagine squeezing the throttle and inducing oversteer any time you want, with acceleration times finally getting in the neighborhood modern vehicles. This car gets to 60 mph faster our best 1275 supercharged Bugeye. Faster with fewer headaches is no small feat.
You DO have to keep it charged. There is that minor detail. Sparky needs to be plugged-in every 100 or so miles, or you will get to tow or push home this car (just like any gas-powered Bugeye). It does have “limp home” mode, which automatically activates when your power level gets below 30%, and it drives you home at 30% of normal HP (a mode in which it is still quite a bit faster than a 948 Bugeye).
We have fit the car with a 110 receptacle in the fuel filler cap that will take any household extension cord. We’ve also fit a 220 fast charger, so you can revitalize the power plant in as little as a few hours if a 220 wall charger is or public charging station is available. These home wall units BTW are about $300 and require a 220 line. So, yes, you do have to keep it charged, but don’t most Bugeye owners generally make sub-100 mile trips anyway?
I did not expect to be so smitten by this car. Perhaps it is the balance-the car feels light and neutral, we got the weight bias right. Or it’s instant acceleration at all throttle settings. These are very seductive qualities. But I am most smitten about how much better this performs than the gas powered equivalent. To get this kind of performance from a gas Bugeye is very hard, almost precarious. Every system starts to suffer when you push gas Bugeyes to these performance levels. They were not designed to handle more than 100 HP (remember the stock 948 engine was about 45 HP. But this electric drivetrain is not being taxed at all when you press the throttle to the floor. Nor is the clutch suffering, or anything else. This feels like it can take it, and will be able to take it for generations to come. We’ll let you know as we build some test miles…
When you drive this car, you start to understand why so many major performance car companies are using electric motors in their new supercars. The technology is that good.
I had a long talk today with one of our typical customers, late 60s male, grew up around British cars, now owns a Westfield Eleven, Bugeye and Big Healey, and loves these cars because they evoke the sounds, smells and sometimes problems that remind him of his youth, and great adventures he had before the age of the Internet, cell phones (and maybe even fast food). When I asked him about the electric Bugeye, he replied, “keep your day job.” For this man, an electric Bugeye sounds about as attractive as a vacation in Baghdad.
I imagine a few of you readers probably feel the same way. And don’t worry, we will continue to build great dinosaur drive Bugeyes with the same enthusiasm. In fact, we have petro-cars in our shop from all over the country for sorting, that will keep us busy for the next three months. But it’s difficult to disregard electric drive when it works this well.
We will next complete the cosmetics on the FrogE, and finish detailing a number of fun accents to give this unlikely recipient of high tech wonders some dirty fingernails (and a Prince of Darkness sense of humor) of it’s own.
It is, after all, only a Bugeye.
Bugeye people
You never know where our cars will show up… here’s Dave P and his daughter-in-law Marenda in “Red,” (our 222 sold) at the Tennessee Soybean Festival parade in Martin, TN. this September. I am honored one of our beans was present! Could be the first time a Bugeye ever appeared in a Soybean festival. Looks like fun!
1959 Bugeye Sprite for sale, exceptional and beautifully restored!
Sold and heading to Nicolas in the UK and then Portugal! Congratulations!!!
This is “Tanner,” a rotisserie restored all-stock 1960 Bugeye Sprite, done to a very high standard and ready for a new home. The car is now back in our Connecticut facility and new pictures are posted below. We had hoped to sell the car while it was on the West coast to a customer in that region, but now that the car is back here, we can confirm this is still one of the nicest mostly stock Bugeyes on the road today. If you are looking for a fully-restored Sprite that looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor, this is the car for you.
Tanner shows just 399 miles on the odometer since it was restored. The car is finished in Olde English white with a red interior, exactly matching the creamy vanilla factory color scheme. With fully restored chrome, paint and an all-new interior, the car is a real head-turner. The top is nearly new too, stored in a fleece lined pouch so it looks new when you need it. And the car has a great new tonneau.
We originally purchased this car in 2012 when it was a fresh rotisserie restoration with everything brand new. We then sold it to Nick in British Columbia, Canada, where it has lived garaged inside a special “CarCoon” garage storage air capsule pretty much ever since (that’s the red oxygen tent shown below). He has only put a few hundred miles on the car, driving it only on nice days, and it currently looks exactly as it did in 2012 when it was fully restored.
The underside is immaculate. The car comes with new side curtains and top, as shown in the photo album. The switches and gauges are all in the right places, just like the original. Only the attractive wood Moto-Lita steering wheel is non-stock. Also, the aluminum trim strip above the dash should have been covered with red vinyl to match the dash. We can correct this if you prefer, but the polished existing trim strip looks great too. Some people like front bumpers. We have those too. It’s personal preference. As with all of our cars, we can help customize or fine tune any aspect, so that the new owner gets exactly what they want!
Give a call if you like the best of the best, and you want to make this stunning Bugeye your own!
Lime Rock Concours recap
We had a nice line-up of Bugeyes in our class at this labor day annual event. Three Bugeyes in one concours class was a major victory for the marque, it was great to see such a strong Bugeye presence. 
Judging from the response by the spectators, Bugeyes are more popular than ever. It was a particular honor for us to have two of our cars in the same Concours (a first). The third (silver) Bugeye was one I had not seen before, from North Carolina.
It’s difficult for a Bugeye to be acknowledged by judges in a mixed-make concours. Up against the most beautiful (and expensive) sports cars of the period, we don’t stand a chance.
So in our class (C2), trophies went to a racing xk120M, twin cam MGA with racing heritage and a beautifully restored xk150S. That’s fine, if I owned a perfectly restored 150S and a Bugeye took my trophy, I would not want to be the judge who had to defend that choice.
This is always an impressive show and for 2018, the Bugatti owners were there in force. I was most impressed with the interiors of the many Bugattis on the track. The leather work was exceptional, most of it with a stunning patina, which is understandable when you consider the conditions each cars sees courtesy of the adventurous pilots. Peppered throughout this post are some pictures of my favorite seats.
They are an intrepid bunch–I met one fellow from Belfast who brought his 30s era Bugatti from Ireland to England where it was shipped in a container to New Jersey so he could drive it to Lime Rock and other New England events this month.
Bugeye identity
The car you wear makes a statement about who you are and what matters most.
Meet Gary, who recently purchased our Bugeye “Bliss” and brought the car home to Massachusetts.
Gary immediately renamed his car “Evinrude,” after the bug eye dragonfly in the Disney movie “The Rescuers.” His daughter designed a sharp magnet to match, which Gary proudly displays on the car. You can see Gary beaming in his new alter-ego.
I’ve never met a Bugeye owner I didn’t like, perhaps because we all have a fundamental passion for the same thing… you can’t drive a Bugeye without challenging the status quo. The cars are so petit yet capable. So adorable yet sporty and spirited. So curvy and simple, yet these little cars have impacted and influenced many people who are leading players in automotive culture today. Lots and lots of people started playing with cars with a Sprite.
Thus we do not get tired of supporting people to have and enjoy these cars, and even after years of this work, we continue to hear new ways to language the passion and enthusiasm that surrounds our work. This week from Jonathan (above) in California… ” I love this little car so much. I never knew it was possible to love a car this much.” Not a trivial statement from a guy who also owns a 356 and has had 911s and lots of other cars.
Jonathan lives in the hills above Palm Desert and routinely driving his Bugeye (that we prepared for him) up and down a 3000 foot incline (where it is 110 degrees at the bottom). Armed with little more than an off-white bikini top and aluminum radiator, he’s sweating his way up and down that hill between home and office in a daily hill-climb. That sweltering drive seems completely impractical, there are many other much more capable air conditioned vehicles for that task. Yet, this week he sent one of my favorite quotes. The personality of a Bugeye is that big. That one could drive this car in these unlikely conditions is a big part of the fun.
