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!