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

1960 five speed 1275 Bugeye driver for sale!

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NOW SOLD to Barb in North Carolina! Congratulations on bringing home our 404th Bugeye sold!

This is a very thoroughly worked-over Bugeye and a great opportunity to own a very well-sorted classic car that has enjoyed generous spending from prior owners! 

This is “Bucky” (AN5L 18013). We first met Bucky in September 2018, when we picked it up for a client in Wisconsin and brought it to our shop for a five speed upgrade along with multiple other improvements totaling about $19,000, including:

  • Rebuilding the entire front end
  • New disc brake kit
  • New swivel axles
  • New rack boots
  • Repaired parking brake
  • Replaced pinion seal
  • New steering column bushings
  • New hanging gas pedal
  • New header with our twin-tip muffler
  • Aluminum Radiator
  • Six-blade fan
  • K&N Lifetime air filters
  • New leaf springs
  • New flywheel ring gear
  • Upgraded rear view mirror 
  • (there are lots of other items we addressed, ask if you would like to see that build sheet)

We shipped it back to him with about 20 miles indicated on the new GPS speedo in 2018. He put about 1500 miles on the car, then his priorities changed, and he sold us the car in late 2021. In March of 2022, we sold the car to Roy in Oklahoma, and before it departed for Oklahoma, we added another extensive list of roughly $15,000 worth of upgrades. 

That round of improvements included:

  • New master cylinder
  • New hard brake and clutch lines
  • Upgraded later Sprite rear drum brakes with new wheel cylinders and shoes
  • New front shocks and shock bushings
  • New radius arms
  • New fuel tank and fuel pickup line
  • New solid state fuel pump and end-to-end hard fuel line
  • New wiring harness
  • New dummy regulator
  • LED light conversion including LED headlight bulbs
  • New electronic distributor and coil
  • New spark plugs
  • New battery and battery cables
  • New oil pressure line kit
  • New radiator hoses
  • GPS speedometer
  • Electronic tach
  • Full dashboard restoration including welding up extra holes, smoothing and recovering with new vinyl
  • Recovered dash bar
  • New dash grab handle
  • All-new dash knobs
  • New choke cable
  • Rebuilt fuel gauge
  • New door liners
  • New black bikini top
  • And more!

Roy has decided to get something different, so we have the car for sale again, and now we are able to offer an extremely well-sorted Bugeye that’s been impressively upgraded and maintained with about 2300 miles showing on the clock. It’s too bad it never got a repaint, but it remains an awesome experience to have an ultimate driver with a five-speed transmission and all the other correct improvements and make these cars so special.

If you are not cosmetically picky and love the idea of a five-speed overdrive-equipped car with a fully synchronized gearbox, Bucky could be the perfect Bugeye for you! Click “read more” below for a full compliment of photos, check out the driving video above for a taste of what Bucky is like to drive, and give us a call if you’d like to make Bucky your own! Click “read more” below to see the extensive photo album.

[Read more…] about 1960 five speed 1275 Bugeye driver for sale!

Electric Bugeye at 80 MPH-VIDEO

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Here’s our latest FrogE trip on Interstate 95. It’s a joy to drive this car- fast and smooth. We fit a new blue stay fast top on the car this week, and it’s nice and toasty inside with the electric heater that requires no warm-up… the cabin heat is instant!

Watch the video below to see twilight cruising at speed:

I’m excited that the car should meet or exceed our 100 mile range projection. I drove the car mostly on the highway this week, and that’s where electric consumption is the highest because of aerodynamic drag. Yet the range is looking good, in spite of some long highway stints, the car still shows about half charged after about 75 miles, so we have more to go!

Check out the walk-around tour below and call if you want us to convert your Spridget to electric power!

A “wheel-y” important service item!

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Next time you remove a wheel, I invite you to put some energy into your wheel studs (that’s mental energy, not wheel torque energy). The wheel nuts on our Spridgets (all Bugeyes through rubber bumper Midgets 1958-1980) should be torqued 38 pounds each. The entire universe is designed to torque to more foot pounds than that, and if any modern shop gets anywhere near your Spridget (unless you have a technician with old car experience), chances are good your studs will be stressed by too much torque. Modern equipment is just plain over-built for our application. As a result, it’s not hard to over-torque Spridget wheel nuts and damage the threads of the lug nut and/or the lug stud, and this can create a serious safety issue.

Here we see a badly stretched wheel stud (left) versus a brand new wheel stud (right). Note the noticeable “dip” in the threads on the stretched stud, indicative of too much tightening force. You can also see the extra large gap between threads where they were stretched.

It’s difficult for some people to spot a stretched stud. They don’t always look as obviously stretched as above. More commonly, you might see some loose threads ripped out of the lug nut if an over-torque event has occurred. Keep an eye on this next time you remove a wheel from your car and see if anything looks out of sorts. If a new lug nut catches as you thread it onto the stud, that could be a sign that the threads are damaged. 

A used lug nut with damaged threads (left) versus a brand new one (right). Not as easy to see as a stretched stud, lug nuts with damaged threads are just as dangerous. You can see the threads on the old nut are notchy and look imperfect, unlike the new lug nut.

Make sure that if you bring your car to a tire shop, for example, that you advise them the proper torque for the wheels is only 38 pounds, and that you want your nuts torqued with a hand-held torque wrench and not an impact gun. If you have any feeling that your Studs are elongated or stretched, make sure to change them, along with your lug nuts, the next time you have the wheels off your car.

We had a call this week from a customer who called to purchase a single wheel stud, and when I asked him why, he said that he torqued the stud properly, and it broke. This is a major red flag… his stud sheared at the proper torque because it had been damaged previously by someone who had over-torqued and stretched it. That means that all 16 of the studs (and potentially the lug nuts as well) were likely damaged at the same time in the same event, and even though all of his lug nuts were now properly tightened to 38 pounds as a result of his attention to this matter, he is taking a chance by leaving those studs in place, and I’d encourage anyone in a similar situation to change all 16 studs and lug nuts with safety in mind. We offer new studs and nuts in our parts catalog; click the photos below to get yours, or click here for our full catalog!

Plain lug nut for steel wheels, sold individually (16 required per car, carry spares!)
Closed-end lug nuts, chrome (for use on minilite wheels)
Rear wheel stud (All Bugeyes & Spridgets with bolt-on wheels) (Sold Individually)
Front wheel stud (All Bugeyes & Spridgets with front DRUM brakes) (Sold individually)
Front wheel stud (All Bugeyes & Spridgets with front DISC brakes) (Sold Individually)

So be a good detective. Keep this in the back your mind, and I wish you a wonderful Spridget holiday season!

Will you fit?

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Tall clients often ask, “will I fit in a Bugeye?”

It’s an excellent question when you’re dealing with a diminutive little pocket rocket like our Bugeyes. In the new short video below, you can see Stephen, who is 6’3” tall, gracefully folding into the cockpit of our 400th Bugeye “Lulu.”. Of note is the hardtop in place, which makes for the greatest entry challenge. The hard roof sill does not yield, so you have to limbo under that bar. In fact, most tall folks prefer top-off driving, with no roof in the way.

Regardless, this video beautifully demonstrates just how, dare I say, “roomy” a Bugeye can actually be. And much like the classic Mini Cooper, the small exterior creates an illusion that the interior is also small, while in fact, large people fit quite well in these small cars. If you have decent body flexibility, even at 6’3″ Bugeye is a viable option for your body type. 

If needed, we can further help shoehorn you in with a smaller steering wheel. Lulu has an original (and quite large) steering wheel, so while Stephen was not phased, should you have a need for easier access, a smaller wheel helps. To further upgrade, a removable, steering wheel is a very luxurious option. Click on the photos below to learn more, or click here for all of our steering wheel solutions!

Bugeyeguy Thin Laminated Wood Steering Wheel – 14 Inch
Removable steering wheel kit
Leather-wrapped steering wheel

Excellent 2002 Boxster S for sale-time limited price reduction!

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NOW SOLD to Emery in MA! Congrats, Emery!

NOW THROUGH DECEMBER 10 ONLY!!!

Due to unexpected client health issues, the 2002 Porsche Boxster S we sold a few weeks ago is back up for sale at the special discounted price of just $13,995! The price has been deeply discounted to promptly move it to a new home.

After December 10, the car will be wholesaled to a late-model auto dealer (to be retailed at a much higher price) and will no longer be available… so don’t delay!

[Read more…] about Excellent 2002 Boxster S for sale-time limited price reduction!

Tonneaus matter

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This piece of flat fabric may be the most important part of any Bugeye. It protects your cockpit in multiple ways. A tonneau also allows a bold color statement as you can see on “Flip,” our 401st Bugeye sold! The Cream tan Tonneau that we ultimately fit on the car looks delicious and coordinates nicely with the white wall tires.

On Bart, our 402nd Bugeye sold, we custom fit a tonneau around his roll bar and also modified the pouch for his smaller than stock steering wheel. You can see the before picture here, and then after, the pocket fits the wheel nicely. Check out the video to see more about this particular custom tonneau.

Before fitment of a custom steering wheel pouch, the stock piece looked baggy.
After a custom fitting, Bart’s tonneau is looking sharp!

This cover is essential for every Bugeye and we sell lots of options. Click the photos below to browse and choose your own, as well as the accessories needed to install your own tonneau! You can also click here for our complete parts catalog.

Bugeye Sprite short tonneau
Bugeye Sprite long tonneau, premium vinyl
Bugeye Sprite Long tonneau, economy vinyl
Top and tonneau rear deck fitting template (Bugeye only)
Long tonneau fitting kit, male
Lift-the-dot punch
Contact us at customercare@bugeyeguys.com or call (203)-208-0980 Monday - Friday | 8 am - 5 p.m. EST