bugeyeguy – Page 5

Own one of the first Bugeye Sprites to reach America in 1958!

October 4, 2024 by bugeyeguy

Here’s a rare chance to own a very historically significant early Bugeye Sprite! This is one of just a handful of Gold level concours Bugeyes (nationally judged). We are entertaining offers! Call if you are interested!

This is a 1958 Frogeye that we restored to gold level concours standards in 2015. The car was judged in Gettysburg, PA at the national Austin Healey Club enclave and attained gold level, which is the highest honor a Bugeye can attain for accuracy and condition. In fact, four judges spent roughly three hours evaluating the car and scoring roughly five pages worth of components for originality and condition. It is a high honor to wear a gold concours registry badge on your grill (below)!

This early car was well worth the hundreds of hours we spent preparing this car for the concours event. We made a DVD/digital download about the unique early features (which you can purchase by clicking here), all of which we restored to capture these features for posterity. For example, we built a custom spare tire tray to match the one shown in the original Bugeye brochure. This tray is still visible in the boot of this car (below).

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Color sense

September 27, 2024 by bugeyeguy

How do you go off the map without breaking it? We love making art and we love original Bugeyes. We also love contemporary interpretations of everything… as long as they don’t go too far afield.

Meet Sage, a new Super Sprite we are building (will be done soon). With this car, we wanted to evoke tradition and innovate at the same time. So the spiffy Sage color is Leaf green derivative (one of the original Bugeye colors), yet totally current at the same time.

We faced multiple choices (re)designing the interior, and after much rumination, we settled on pebble grain leather for the seats and distressed leather for the dash and panels. This week, we chose to line the doors with wool carpet to match the floor pans. We might have used rubber per the stock configuration, but this created a bit of a dark cave (see photo below). Tan wool (above) gave us a lively and integrated door face and thus won our hearts.

The black inner door liners we normally install on all of our Bugeyes created a bit of a “black hole” vibe that we weren’t thrilled with, so we went with the same wool carpeting we used for the flooring.

Every choice matters, such that we integrate each texture into the special completed whole. Now, each driver can paw his way into the driver seat and savor the smell and feel of freshly tanned leather. A stunning wooden steering wheel is also to come.

*The sewn pieces on the floor are in-house color tests and mock ups*

Next up, new tonneau material… dark or light? Stay tuned! And if you want to buy this car, it will be complete shortly, and you can help us with the final color choices!

Check out the video below to see more of our thought process, as we move toward completion of another ultimate Bugeye!

Dem Bones

September 27, 2024 by bugeyeguy

Checked your dog bones lately?

*A brand new dog bone (left) versus two worn ones (center & right).*

We run the cars through their paces to get them ready to depart, and here’s our car #420, at rest and at speed in preparation of departure for California.

Tate parked in Connecticut, and ready for a long trip to a new home in California!

On “Tate” this week, we had a minor rear end rattle and traced it to a sloppy dog bone joint. The dog bone rubber perishes and the joints can get sloppy. Check out the video below, to see the floppy bone in action! This was a satisfying fix!

If you need your own new bones, click the photo below to order!

*Rear shock “dog bone” connecting link (sold individually)*

1960 Bugeyed Sprite for sale, with all the right upgrades!

September 20, 2024 by bugeyeguy

NOW SOLD to Nils in California! Congrats on taking home car # 421!

Meet Scotty (AN5L 29291). Scotty is a 1960 Bugeye that came to us from Arizona, where this car enjoyed an engine rebuild and Ford Five-speed conversion just about 1000 miles ago. This one has been sitting for about four years, but we have brought it back to life this past week and it drives great.

Power and oil pressure are excellent. Disk brakes, wire wheels and Ford five-speed transmissions are our favorite!

The car has a nearly new five-speed conversion, roll bar, and nifty LED third brake light. Tires are aged out but we have new ones in stock, and wire wheels are quite popular. Scotty also has a single Brooklands windscreen on the driver side, so you can remove the four screws that hold the windshield to the body and strip down for hot weather mini windscreen fun! (we’ve removed the screen and left the two brooklands support stanchions in place, in front of the steering wheel… easy to fit that little windscreen with allen set screws)

This car needs some more refreshing, which we are happy to do for the new owner or you can do it yourself if you want to do some tinkering. Nothing major is needed, the hard stuff is already done. But for example, the radiator is ugly. We have good used ones, or maybe you want an aluminum radiator, depending on your home climate.

The steering hub horn push is missing. The prior owner has a dashboard button that works just fine. But we are happy to restore the horn to its original glory. Rear wheel cylinders and slave cylinder should be replaced. You have lots of choices. The value here is a freshly rebuilt 1275 mated to a great Ford five speed. And wire wheels. The floors have been restored with new sheet metal. So you have a great foundation.

The car drives great! Check out the full collection of photos by clicking “read more” below and please call if you are interested!

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Tate gets a makeover, thanks to our new “Bugeye runs better” kit!

September 20, 2024 by bugeyeguy

Tate just got a makeover! We removed the stock carbs and distributor and upgraded the car with the kit shown here.

Every Bugeye and Sprite mk2 needs this kit. Tate was a completely stock bugeye (with H1 stock carbs) and this kit really woke up the car, and made it much more peppy. More air and fuel in, more air out… and consistent, accurate ignition timing and spark was just what the doctor ordered. With this kit, you can transform your 948-powered car into a mover!

Even if you have a later Spridget that already has HS2 carbs, it is a good idea to reset the clock on your carburetors with this kit. Most of the carbs we see in the field are pretty worn and/or mismatched, so new carbs can really make a difference. Give us a call if you have any questions, or click here to build your own “Bugeye runs better” kit today!

*The air filters will be installed after final tuning, but Tate is looking better than ever after our kit was installed!*

Bugeye Sprite emergency brake

September 13, 2024 by bugeyeguy

Handbrakes matter. Most of them on cars of our vintage do not function as they should. This is a post to remind you to keep yours in top shape. You never know when you might need it!

*Bodhi says be sure your handbrake is in tip-top shape!*

They don’t call it an Emergency brake for nothing… if you drive a vintage car, you should find a big empty parking lot and go practice stopping by downshifting and using your handbrake. It may one day save your butt (and your car).

We’ve got more than 400 Sprites out in the world and have had zero loss of brake issues. But should a hydraulic hard line brake on your classic car, you’ll bleed out the fluid and loose your brakes. Or maybe you haven’t checked your hydraulic fluid in too long and it has been leaking out your wheel cylinders… but you didn’t realize it… classic cars do not have the redundancies and warning lights found in modern vehicles. If you lose hydraulic pressure, a good handbrake can make a huge difference.

I made the video below so you can go out and practice, and should you ever have a system failure, at least you will have practiced safely bringing your car to a halt with the handbrake. Remember to start slowly and get used to the greater braking distances when you practice a handbrake stop. The front brakes do the lion’s share of braking, so it will take a lot longer to stop with just the handbrake. But a good handbrake can still stop your car effectively, as shown in this video. And one day, that good handbrake may just keep you safe.

Your handbrake is also an important diagnostic tool. Pulling the handbrake is the fastest way to determine if your rear brakes are functioning properly. I have purchased hundreds of classic cars over the past 20 or so years and a shocking percentage arrive here with non-working rear brakes. Pulling the handbrake has been a quick way to ascertain if the rear brakes are working or not.

*An example of compromised rear brake components… gear oil leaked inside this rear brake system, oiled the shoes and made rear braking non-existent.*

Brake Shoes get wet with oil. The wheel cylinders leak or the axle seals leak (or both). Sometimes, the shoes are not properly secured to the backplates. Any and/or all of these things can diminish or destroy rear brake performance. It’s always smart to remove the drum and make a visual inspection. But if you pull the handbrake and nothing happens, you’ll need to make that inspection sooner rather than later.

We carry a full line of parts in our catalog to restore and optimize your braking system. We encourage you to make your rear brakes work perfectly! This will shorten your braking distance and make your car safer. Click the links below for more information on some of our brake components or click here to view our complete catalog!

*“Wet” rear brake rehab kit for leaky axles (All Spridgets)*

*Sprite/Midget rear brake spring kit (EARLY rear drum brakes only)*

*Handbrake/emergency brake cable (thru 1976)*

*Premium Sprite Rear Wheel Cylinder with boot – Early Type (sold individually)*

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