If you’re new to our universe, you may not know that we own the very first production Bugeye Sprite, AN5L 501. If you’re unfamiliar, I purchased this car in 2021 from its previous owners in Australia and brought it here, at which time we completely disassembled it and made it exactly factory correct. 501 is now a perfect match of its former self from March of 1958 when it was constructed, and when this very car launched a series of 48,986 more Bugeyes that followed until the end of production in late 1960.
I had first seen this car in 2012 when it was a wreck; at that time, it was painted red with wire wheels and a roll bar installed. It looked like way more of a project than I had the time to take on at that time, so it made its way to Australia. 10 years later, I had an opportunity to purchase it again, now restored in its correct green color. However, many personalized modifications were made by the restorer, and I was much more interested in turning such a historically significant Bugeye into an accurate machine.
So when 501 landed in Bugeyeguys world headquarters in July of 2022 after several months of ocean travel, our team completely disassembled it, and restored it with proper original hardware and features. This included replacing nearly every fastener on the car with the correct period hardware, as most of the bolts holding the car together had been replaced with modern yellow chromium grade 5 bolts.
It took seemingly every minute of 68 days to complete 501’s re-restoration and countless hours of research. We then had the car judged at the National Austin Healey Club enclave in Pennsylvania, where a team of judges certified the car as a gold medal example. That it was quite an honor to take this car and rebuild it to exactly match the day that it rolled off the factory floor in March of 1958!
I’ve shown this car at the Audrain Concours and Greenwich Concours, as well as at British by the Sea in New London, where 501 has received some really nice awards. While we didn’t receive any awards for the Lime Rock Concours this past weekend, it was a lot of fun to spend four hours in this car on the round-trip drive from my home to Lime Rock Park in northwestern Connecticut. The drive gave me ample time to think about life with a number one example. This is arguably the most valuable Bugeye sprite in the world.
So what do we do with it?
Drive it in the rain of course!
These cars need to be driven (otherwise they leak even more than normal) so it was quite satisfying to burn a full tank of gas. I wish it hadn’t rained, but fortunately it didn’t rain too much and the roadway never got saturated while I was on it. I was able to take shelter when needed… I always seem to be able to find a bank drive-through for shelter when the sky opens up, and I have taken refuge in many of these. over the years.
As I was motoring along, I was humbled by the pure simplicity of a stock Bugeye. This simple design works beautifully when it’s set-up properly. I had someone at Lime Rock ask me if I still had “the dreaded Lucas electrics onboard, (which of course we do), and, as I told him, when it’s set-up properly to the original specs, it works brilliantly. In fact, everything on this car was set-up just the way the car was designed (in order to attain Gold Concours level), and lo and behold, when it is correct, it really works!!!
I was also impressed to see how the little 948 engine in this car allowed me to drive it at 65 miles an hour through quite the variety of conditions, all without issue. Of course, many people want five-speed and 1275 engine configurations for their Sprites, but there’s nothing wrong with the basic package.
501’s four-wheel drum brakes stop beautifully, its original 948 engine accelerates beautifully, and the car was a hoot to drive. Even with the original-style bias ply tires that are fit for Concours accuracy (you can buy your own set of bias ply tires from our catalog by clicking here), the grip is good since the tires are fresh and I was also impressed to get 40 miles to the gallon on these narrow tires. Rolling resistance is small, so if you want fuel efficiency, this is the setup for you!
The only issue with use of this particular Bugeye is the originally-equipped two-blade engine fan and shroudless radiator, both of which were fitted for concours accuracy, and both of which are pretty ineffective on a humid 80° day. Moving forward, for drivability purposes we are going to try a four-blade engine fan from the later cars. We will certainly keep the red two blade fan in the boot of this car, however, so that it can travel with the car for life and be re-installed whenever originality is desired, but the four-blade fan will really help to move more air through the radiator.
Increased cooling efficiency is one reason why the six-blade plastic fan is so popular for other less accurate road-going sprites. I hope we don’t have to remove the original early radiator, but the later radiator with side skirts is a much better design, so that the air would be better directed through the radiator core.
All in all, I was incredibly impressed to see the crowd excitement for our number one car. While we didn’t get a trophy at Lime rock this weekend, our car was the people’s choice in its class. Everybody loves Frogeyes; to see the first one was exciting for everyone who passed-by. We were lucky to make a new Bugeye number one sign for the windshield, our first ever to employ female lift the dot fittings so that I can anchor it to the windshield! That was fun as well.
And thus, we now have a Concours gold Bugeye that is both a trailer queen and a drivable machine. It’s a car that would be at home in any vintage transportation museum, but is also often seen in the parking lot at my local YWCA. I love to drive this car and keep sharing it with people, so I plan to keep using it, but obviously we poured hundreds of hours into making it perfect, and it’s certainly difficult to keep the car immaculate and use it at the same time (just another occupational hazard of owning the first Bugeye Sprite)!
if you like all original correct cars, we have AN5L 552 for sale, a pre production prototype, which you can see by clicking on her photo below!
