Here’s the man who started our LWB project and you can see his new Bugeye fits him like a custom tailored suit!
Some months ago, we sold a Bugeye to a great guy in Louisiana who had one as a kid, and now wanted a nice restored car. Problem was when he got the car it didn’t quite fit like he remembered, and his adult 6’4 1/2″ frame was not quite as nimble as it was during his teenage years. So he asked us if it might be possible to lengthen the cockpit, and we cut this car in half, added 5″ to the floor pans, doors and rockers, and made a one of a kind long door LWB Bugeye. You can see pictures of the project unfolding on the LWB tab under categories on the right margin of our homepage.
Bugeyes fit a surprising range of body types, and we had 6’2″ Rick drive his car (Abby) across country people quite nicely. But Dave was pushing the height envelope, and to get him into his Bugeye, we set out to build a one-of-a-kind special car.
This past week, he flew in to our nearby New Haven airport in a Cessna Citation Mustang (which ironically is s SHORTENED Cessna citation). Anyway, below you can see the video of Dave getting in the LWB Bugeye for the very first time!
Dave lit up a cigar, and off we went, and it was quite special to watch the look on his face as he bombed around our neighborhood in his custom car.
There were no issues building this project, hardest perhaps was the lengthening of the door top cockpit trim. We cut some damaged trim pieces in half to make extensions, welded the pieces together and then sanded and buffed them to a high sheen so the extension was not visible. It was also challenging to lengthen the doors and make them smooth with no sign of welding seams, but with lots of sanding and patience, there is no evidence that these doors were ever extended.
Other than that, most of the project was pretty straightforward. We finished out the car just like any other stock Bugeye, so the car looks stock in just about every way.
Once you see the longer door version, all the stock cars look like they have stubby doors, but regardless, I don’t anticipate that we will customize too many more bodies like this, unless of course the demand is there, in which case we will be happy to make a Bugeye that fits your particular body type. It was an exciting project for us, and we are particularly excited about this result!
