BARN FIND!
UPDATE 9-9-18:
New pictures are posted. We have verified that that car is complete. For sale now at $5,995. I have seen Bugeye restoration projects trade at prices ranging from free to about $9,000. Incomplete or bondo-ladened or disassembled cars (which are harder to put together), can be had for less than this one. This car commands a premium because it has been off the road since 1974, it is complete and has not been molested (and it has a great story). Read about it below, and give a call if you are interested!
It’s getting harder and harder to find complete unmolested Bugeyes so we are pretty excited to find this one!
I first met AN5L 37802 in June of 2015 when the owner (“Skip”) was taking down his barn in the Catskills (in New York) where the car had been stored since 1974. In the picture above from 2015, you can see Skip extracting the car as the barn is removed. He had purchased it in about 1967 from the second owner.
You can still see the original Crandall-Hicks plaque on the back of the car. This was the New England British Motor Corporation distributor at the time, so this is a wonderful plaque to still see in place. You might enjoy reading a bit about Crandall-Hicks at the link here… they sold Indian motorcycles in the 30s and later helped bring the BMC line to our shores. I was amazed to read that in 1955, they built a Quonset hut (just slightly larger than ours) on their property, to house their shop and British car inventory! (That structure was destroyed in a snowstorm but was replaced with another Quonset hut!!! They are still in business, and it looks like they now sell power equipment, albeit not from a Quonset hut.)
Anyway, Skip ended-up trading the car for a Ford tractor and brush hog in 2015, but I was lucky last week to buy it from the latest owner (who merely stored the car inside since 2015). It still looks the same today as it did when it came out of Skip’s barn.
I enjoyed finding the 1973 Major League baseball rule book under the passenger floor mat. I called Skip this week and asked about this (he’s happy to meet the new owner) and it turns out he drove the car everywhere in the early 70s as an umpire for little league games.
The car is well-preserved. She needs a complete restoration and there are some small holes in the floor pans. But this is a great candidate, with minimal rust-through and a good underside. It’s somewhat crusty underneath, but thankfully, it looks like the car was sitting on wood planks instead of a dirt floor. Floor patches will be needed, but the underside is much more solid than most. Take a look at the underside pictures in the photo album for more details.
Skip parked the car in 1974 because it had low oil pressure, so you’ll need to rebuild the stock 948 engine in the car, which would likely need a rebuild from sitting all this time anyway. The original hardtop is a nice detail that comes with the car. But most importantly, everything is in place just as it was in 1974. The car is a bit of a time capsule. Original jack and jack handle is included as is original (torn) tonneau. Period Amco front and rear bumper bars are also nice to see.
Indicated mileage is 74,114. It’s always amazing to think back to a time where it was common for people to routinely use these cars as daily drivers. This one was parked after just 14 years on the road. We’ll never know if it went 74k or 174k miles in those 14 years. But it’s nice to see a car that hasn’t been modified or disassembled, which makes the restoration more attractive and a lot easier to organize and complete.
Tires will of course need to be replaced after sitting for so long. The car rolls freely and we can ship it anywhere in the world. The car is currently in our shop and comes with complete paperwork for the new owner to register the car, anywhere in the world.
Call 203 561 6929 if you are interested!
