The time has nearly arrived for AN5 501 to land on our doorstep! After a seven month shipping soap opera that included several delays, inspections, rate increases and even a few surprises, the shipping container currently (supposedly?) housing the first production Austin-Healey Sprite has landed in New Jersey! All that stands between our Quonset hut and its newest occupant is a few days of paperwork, a sprinkle of red tape, and a 90-mile trailer ride.
We are elated to be able to take delivery of this important piece of British sports car history and mold it into the Concours-correct specimen it deserves to be.
Once the car arrives, we will have a monumental task ahead of us: prepare 501 for Concours judging at the National Austin-Healey Enclave in Pennsylvania on September 18th (this year!). That means we have 68 days from the projected landing date to whip 501 into Concours-Gold-winning shape.
I am confident we can reach this milestone for several reasons: For one, we have a team of exceptionally experienced Bugeye mechanics at the ready to tackle this project the moment it arrives. We also have a dedicated researcher on deck to find every nut, bolt, and screw that is out of place and figure out where to source replacements (most of which are already in our building). We also have many photographs of the car before it left Australia that we have studied, and we have been able to compile a preliminary list of items upon which we can focus our attention. But perhaps most importantly, we have a great DVD of how we did this once before, a very important tool already available in our catalog that will help us do the job!
When we set out to accomplish this feat on car 552, we decided to chronicle our experience and compile it onto a DVD that shows every detail of a Concours Frogeye Restoration.
We will be using the DVD as a research tool for 501 as well. 552 achieved gold at the 2015 edition of the Enclave, scoring 967.5 out of a possible 1000 points. In the DVD, I go over what we did to get our points, as well as violations for which we got deductions. If you are looking to build your own concours Frogeye, or just want to see what it takes to do what we are doing, this DVD is for you! Check out the trailer we made for the video above, and purchase your very own copy here, now available as a digital download!
