501 – Page 6

501 Has Arrived! (Almost)

July 8, 2022 by bugeyeguy

Hopefully, something bigger than this vintage license plate will come out of the container when it lands!

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.

Last seen last December in Australia… what will come out of the container?

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.

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The Quest For Gold!

June 10, 2022 by bugeyeguy

As I write this, AN5L 501 should be loaded on its second container ship and on its way from Cartagena, Columbia, to Edison, New Jersey, where we can retrieve it after the long voyage from Australia and begin our quest for concours gold! The gold medal we seek will (hopefully) come when we bring the car to the Austin-Healey Club Enclave in the Pocono Mountains this September, where the car is entered in the Concours judging competition. Our goal at this event is to attain “gold” certification which means that out of 1000 possible points, we are able to attain 950 or more, as determined by a team of four judges and a roughly two-hour stem-to-stern inspection.

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All about the “L”, Part 2

June 10, 2022 by bugeyeguy

You may not remember that I had a chance to buy AN5L 501 in about 2012. At that time, the car was a basket case. It was also located in California, so I was not able to physically inspect it, nor did I have an abundance of photographs. There was also an additional anomaly… the number plate. The vin plate pictured above read “AN5 501.” But left-hand drive cars for export were all supposed to include an “L”(for left-hand drive) after the AN5.

This car was stamped as if it was a right-hand drive car, yet it was configured as a left-hand drive car. All documentation stated that the first production Frogeye was built for the USA market, so there should’ve been an “L” stamped into the number plate. Everything else (that I could see) checked-out on the car, but this numbering issue was unsettling, especially once I factored in the magnitude of work that lay ahead and the (at the time) outrageous price that was being requested for such a rough car; so I passed. (See my prior post about the number plate by clicking here.)

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AN5 501 is Finally on the Move!

April 28, 2022 by bugeyeguy

In case you missed it, I bought the first production Bugeye Sprite back in December, and have been waiting patiently for supply chain issues to resolve so that 501 could get a ride out of Melbourne, Australia where the car was parked at a dealership, waiting in limbo. We are exceptionally excited to have acquired this amazing piece of Bugeye history. Now we just need to get her here!

Our boat date was finally confirmed as April 30, and much to my delight, the car has been packed in a 40 foot container and she’s ready to go. You could put a lot of Foster’s Lager in there with our little Bugeye, and I have to believe that something must have been packed in there with it. I’d imagine that we don’t just have a tiny 11 foot long Bugeye luxuriating in such a big box, but I will never get to see the container, as I will not be present when all the kangaroos jump out when our box arrives in New Jersey.

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