bugeyeguy.com

The largest restorer and reseller of Bugeye Sprites in the world


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

This week at Bugeyeguy, in photos

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One of the many nice things about working with our new guy Austin is that he offers many great photo opportunities (and has a good sense of humor).

Here’s what Austin and the rest of the crew have been up to this week, as we work to transform the latest crop of classic sportscars and move them through our facility…

When I come in the morning, I often find Austin spooning with the Bugeyes. He seems to like the red ones…

Mr Schade’s Bugeye needed a new hanging gas pedal since the original one was worn out and prone to jamming. Above, Austin is actually wrestling the old accelerator pedal bolts out of the floor pan…

“I saw Mr Spock do this… I just have to know how this car feels to wear these giant bumpers…”

Here, Austin mind-melds with a 74 Midget, as he removes the giant rubber bumpers from Andrew’s MG, so he can install new petite chrome ones…

Now 50 pounds lighter on the ends, with these new “mini” bumperettes…
A color-matched license plate plinthe is essential, and here, Terry installs the correct assembly on Rick’s Bugeye
This supercharged wonder if a new restoration we have done for Rick in Houston, and I have been testing it this week, what a blast! We have modified this supercharger kit for Bugeyes and now sell it in our catalog…
I’ve been testing the car with the bare minimums installed, kind of like we all did back in high school, when we were content with less (and didn’t know any better… )
“Before,” the gap between tire and fender at top of tire is excessive, and much higher than front…

Above you can see Fred’s Bugeye from New York with excessive rear end height. Terry put in some lowering wedges and now the car looks level and great… This is a common Bugeye problem.

“After,”note smaller wheel to fender gap at 12:00 on rear tire. Gap is now about the same front and rear…

And finally, above you can see Kenny preparing to install our flip nose kit on George’s Bugeye before it heads to North Carolina. Once installed you can see how he mounts the leather straps on the rockers in the photo below.

We’ll be back next week with more fun and transformation!!!

Restored 1966 Austin Healey 3000 for sale!

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Here’s a great chance to own a stunning Big Healey. This car (HBJ8L 31496) is a 1966 Model in British racing green with a new Black interior. It’s a stunning color combination and one of the most popular color schemes. It’s great to drive and it’s also fun to just stare at this iconic automotive sculpture. She looks good from every angle, and with the top up or down this is very handsome car.

The car was completely restored about fifteen years ago. It was purchased at a live auction in 2010 by the prior owner who has a large collection. The car was used very little since then and the car still shines beautifully.

She has the original engine as well as a rebuilt original four speed transmission with electric overdrive. Disk brakes are also fit in front with the correct brake booster (which you can see in the photo gallery, under the car), as was standard when new.

I’ve had my own BJ8 similar to this one in my little collection since 2015 and I love these cars, they are great to own. It can be hard to find good ones, but I bought this one because she has enjoyed such an extensive restoration. The underside is quite clean with evidence of good workmanship throughout. You can see the solid floor pans and outriggers in the photo album. And the engine is very strong with great oil pressure. Engine bay is very tidy. The interior was fully restored as well and the seats still look brand new.

Wiring was also redone during the restoration. The boot is super-clean. Everything was done well. You also get a very good top with a rear window in nice shape. She has the correct zip down rear window too… my favorite way to use these cars is with the window unzipped, because of great sun protection and lots of air flowing through.

She also comes with a top boot that you can see in stalled in the photo album, and a very nice black tonneau cover.

This car ticks all the boxes… it is from the second to last year of Austin Healey 3000 production and it is from the last series of 3000s with the best upgrades. The car has wonderful six-cylinder Big Healey grunt, with an unrivaled exhaust note.

Please give a call if you are interested in this fine car!

1963 Lotus Seven Transformed! Video…

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Sorting, we are always sorting.

So when a client who previously had us sort his Bugeye bought this Lotus online, we had it picked it up in California and brought it to our shop for sorting. It was running on three cylinders, rattling, vibrating and shaking (all at the same time). For such a nice car, it sure seemed to need a lot of work.

Three months later, the car is a superior, and delightful to drive. These cars are of course super light, and it seems like every bushing that can wear out, did wear out. Once we restored the suspension and the engine and transmission mounts, the car became a dream once again.

Of course this car was never meant to be a daily driver, but it was very satisfying to double the foam volume in the seat base and bottom, which made the ride almost just about plush. Also, we put on a smaller MOMO wheel so you can get your legs into the pedal box without too much trouble.

The tonneau was also quite rewarding to fit, because it would withstand a heavy rainstorm and will also keep people out of the cockpit when the car is parked at the store. We put in the cockpit fittings, templated the cover, and sewed it all in house. And finally, we fabricated an aluminum heat shield for the muffler so the passenger would be less likely to get burned while getting in and out.

You can see a video tour of the car below. We got the pre-crossflow 1500 CC Cosworth running beautifully and now this race car in street clothing is ready to travel to Florida, and it’s new home.

If you have a British classic that needs sorting, we will be happy to pick it up in an enclosed trailer and bring it here for evaluation. This sort of work is quite routine in our building and we would love to help!

Bugeyeguy 2020

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What a year!

A lot of Bugeyes have passed through our building this year, and it has been a wonderful ride for us. We are inching up on 300 Bugeyes sold, with two more sold this week. Thank you Bud in California (“Denim”) and Charles in New Jersey (“Kelly”) for propelling us toward the 300 car milestone (now 285)! Here’s our latest custom production, just coming out of the paint booth. We’ll be building this one up in the Fall.

Who would have thought we could build a thriving business based upon what was designed as a cheap sportscar that was never imagined to last 60+ years… through pandemics, fires and floods, no less!

And I continue to marvel at the fact that Bugeyes were made for just three years… and that 1960 was the last time anyone could purchase a new one. And yet the market is stronger than ever, with record numbers being realized for Bugeyes at auction in recent months.

This has been a big year for Bugeye Sprites.

Weather disruptions this month reminded me it hasn’t always been easy… a microburst/tornado passed through our area this week, knocked out power for the entire town of Branford and made a big mess of everything. Here you can see a few pictures from my route between the shop and our home. The last photo shows our backyard, after three large trees came down from three different directions, and wiped out many of our bushes and smaller trees. It took three guys all day today to cut and chip all the limbs that came down in our small yard.

A knotted mess in our backyard!

In spite of the fact that this is our second multi-day power outage this month, we push onward, and hope these weather events are just temporary. Fortunately, the shop escaped damage.

More challenging is the daily innovation required given limited parts supply due to pandemic supply chain disruption and a slowly descending quality standard for aftermarket parts. It seems like everything we take out of the box these days needs some fabrication to make it fit or work properly, and this has become somewhat routine, particularly as we try to push the envelope on quality and reliability.

Alas, we’ll be back next week, when the power is back on, the gas generators go quiet, and we continue our march to 300 and beyond!

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Bugeye reliabilty

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How do you use your Bugeye?

With nearly 300 now that we have sent out into the world, we hear a lot of stories from our clients, about car shows, cross country trips and everything in between. So I thought I would share a story about how I used (one of my) Bugeyes this week.

This is “Cole,” a sweet 1275/five speed Bugeye that I have had for a number of years. It’s a great driving car that’s in fantastic condition but not quite as perfect as my green Bugeye Gumby. So when I needed to pick up 100 top bows from the powdercoater (where you see Cole above), this Bugeye got the mission.

I am quite fond of removing the passenger seat bottom to open up carrying capacity, and with ample moving blankets, I am able to use a Sprite to carry a handsome load. For me, when utility and vintage sportscar can be combined, that makes a very nice drive indeed.

And by the way, these new top bows that I retrieved are superb. We have custom bent the right profile to make it easier to fit your top and easier to get a nice result once you erect your top. After fitting hundreds of tops and custom bending every bow to give the top the nicest shape (particularly along the rear deck, we finally made our own. You’ll find them in our catalog by clicking here…

1960 Bugeye Sprite for sale!

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Now SOLD to Morris and Linda in Massachusetts, former Sprite owners from years ago!!! Congratulations and thank you for diving in! Our 286th!


This is a 1960 Bugeye we call “Harris,” (AN5L 30825) which is nice driver with a ton of great new parts. The car has a strong 1098 engine with HS2 (1.25 inch) carbs and front disk brakes, new minilight anthracite wheels and new 155 tires.

The car also has a new interior, new carpet, new seat covers, and a nicely recovered dashboard.

The color matched original factory hardtop is a nice touch too, very popular. This top has the original glass window. BTW, there is no headliner, which is exactly how these came from the factory.

Under the hood you can see a very tidy engine bay, fit with a new heater valve and lots more such as a spin-on oil filter, K & N lifetime air filters as well as an electric fuel pump. The master cylinder is recent and the hydraulics are all up to date.

The new wood wheel is a nice touch, as are the rubber floor mats and protectors. Hardura mat was added to the trunk, which is a nice durable covering that dampens sound nicely. Center cup holder and cubby are also nice features.

The underside is well-restored, it’s clean, with a new driver’s footwell welded in place. Exhaust is new too! All the work was done recently, in dry New Mexico.

Below is a great photo of wonderful assets… brand new sidecurtains in a nice pouch, a great ever flex tonneau that was recently purchased from us and an original tool kit and jack.

The car comes loaded with great features, all very valuable. The prior owner spent very generously on this car! We’ve just installed a newly rebult original smooth case transmission so the gear box is good to go!

It’s a bit of an amateur body restoration that looks really sharp at 10 feet. Up close you see a few flaws in the prep work, and a few flaws in the way the metallic paint was applied. The red stripes are perfectly matched to the interior, so they look great, but there is a little bit of irregularity under the stripes on the back deck.

All in all, this is a very cool and striking Bugeye that is perfect for a driver who cares more about laying down the miles than impressing gawkers are car shows. (the truth is that ANY Bugeye, regardless of paint quality, will win car shows on personality alone!).

We have all sorts of customers, and the new owner of this car will be someone who wants to have a great time and cares less about meticulous body work. It’s a very solid car with a lot of expensive parts.

Give a call if you would like to talk about making Harris perfect and taking the car home!

Contact us at David@bugeyeguy.com or call (203)-208-0980 during business hours