Life with Bugeye

Gumby (no Pokey)

March 28, 2025 by bugeyeguy

My heart is filled with joy to have this car out for an hour-long drive today. Gumby was just 20 years old in 1979 when I found him forlorn on the street in New Haven, and $1100 later I was the proud owner of a beat up Bugeye in primer gray, with no interior and wiring that all melted on the drive home right after purchase.

Now, this is the best Bugeye of them all. Sure, I’m biased, but I’ve also driven more than 500 Sprites. This one is fast, stable, grippy, well damped, comfy, and the nicest dang color combination I’ve ever seen on a classic car. Supercharged, 1275, five speed, and rear disc brakes too! It is rewarding for me to think back to when I got this car, nearly 30 years before I started Bugeyeguys.

*Gumby circa 2016, before his transformation into the work of art he is toda*y. One repaint in about 1985 in BRG, then the Aston racing green repaint for the current color you see now went on next after a bunch of additional welding and bodywork.The car was originally cherry red, which you can see lurking on the dashboard area in the photo above…

Today, Gumby has a brand new custom tonneau (that fits over the head fairing, in matching green). Those stunning custom leather seats need protection.

Cars that are steeped in history make us smile. Today while out driving Gumby, my smile was as wide as a Bugeye grill.

If you want a killer Bugeye that is as nice or nicer than Gumby, check out Jesse, and Sage, two stunning sisters that are also the best of the best. You can see each of these cars by clicking their photos below. These are cars for people who want Gumby level expressions of these special cars. Limited. Exotic. Expensive. Unique. Perhaps even over the top. But if you want a one of a kind car that will stop traffic at any cars and coffee event (or show, or at the gas station, for the matter), these cars are worth special consideration!

Who’s got bling?

January 17, 2025 by bugeyeguy

I never tire of contrasting Bugeyes to modern exotics. They often arrive on our doorstep when shippers carry exotics (as most of our shippers do), and occasionally they unload something spectacular in our driveway while they make room for one of our little Sprites.

In the case of this car (Alex’s Bugeye on its way back to Florida), a Lamborghini Huracán emerged from this truck bed and allowed me ample opportunity to photograph some of the details in comparison to 1960 (or older) technology. The Huracán is spectacular… worth 200 to $350K.

I can’t help but think just how remarkable automobile exotics have become. This Lambo is a work of art, and it sounds spectacular, but then you put alongside this basic, simple little sports car, and in spite of my strong Bugeye bias, I don’t think you could give me that Lamborghini. Yeah, it would be fun to show off once or twice, but it strikes me as a massive liability. A stone chip magnet. A driveway disaster. Encounter a speed bump in your travels? See ya, front spoiler.

The back up camera better be really, really good… The shipper needed a handheld, old-school barber shop mirror just to see the edges of the car to prevent bumps and bruises on the way in and out of the trailer. While Bugeyes were never known for comfort, contorting myself into that Lambo just seemed like something that would make me frown.

I couldn’t help but post pictures of the truck driver climbing out of the Lamborghini once he drove it back into the truck. If I thought life with a Bugeye had some minor challenges given it’s ergonomics, the fact that the Lambo is almost too wide to fit in this giant truck and necessitates exiting through the window made the Bugeye smile a little brighter.

Our car will ride in comfort flanked by a Bentley in front and the Huracán behind (and I’m delighted that they can all hang out together and get to know each other), but I keep coming back to the simplicity and elegance of a basic little car that does all the right things, and makes people smile. No pretension, no Lambo bling, just Bugeye bling (at a comfortable level) and a lot of smiles for everyone who see it. Sometimes, less is more.

I have nothing against the supercar revolution that keeps the aspirational auto market strong and healthy. All you need to do is spend a few minutes with a modern Lamborghini and you’ll realize that there will be plenty of Bugeye lovers for generations to come.

The Bugeyed Elixir Of Love

January 3, 2025 by bugeyeguy

We see lots of great Bugeye custom plates. Many are marque related, such as AN5, Frogi, Frogey, frogari, bugeye, buggy, bugi and the like. Then there are the more personal plates, such as the one above.

Longtime readers may remember Dimitri, the singing Bugeye driver (Check out a post we made about him in 2016 by clicking here). This is his personalized license plate. An Elixir is defined as “a magical or medicinal potion guaranteed to induce love.” Thus, his plate is pure perfection to me, as it beautifully defines what moves me each time I drive (or look at) a Bugeye Sprite.

But what makes his plate even cooler is that Dimitri has been singing in the opera titled, “L’Elisir d’Amore,” (elixir of love) for several years now. If you missed his prior post, he has been signing and pushing a mock bugeye around stage for dozens of performances, and now here is his very own magical car that actually drives (most of the time). That makes for one really cool license plate!

Bravo Dimitri!

Send us pix of your custom Bugeye plates, and we’ll feature them in an upcoming post!

100 pictures of beautiful Bugeye moments

December 27, 2024 by bugeyeguy

We just sold our 426th Bugeye Sprite.

I am personally in awe of this accomplishment. I never would have guessed when I purchased “Gumby” in 1979 (pictured below) that we would one day end up with a business born out of a passion for a simple little car with a lot of personality.

How can we objectively measure the quantity of Bugeyes we have sent to new homes?

It’s a column of Bugeyes 4,792 feet long, bumper to bumper, a procession long enough to reach, well, a bit less than a mile! (ok, they’re small cars)

It’s 281 tons of Bugeyes.

It’s 852 tuned and synchronized SU carburetors. (thank you Terry and Ted!)

It’s 1704 torn radius arm bushings we’ve replaced.

And probably 400,000 truck miles for all the cars we have transported around America and beyond.

But none of this data tells the real story.

About a month ago, we were visited by the owner of a couple of cars that we had a hand either in servicing or selling. He came all the way from Minnesota to meet with us, and brought with him pizza from the finest local pizzeria. The passion our customers exude is palpable, and we are very appreciative of each and every one of them.

[Read more…]

What’s in your garage?

December 20, 2024 by bugeyeguy

A few weeks ago, we posted a photo of a client’s garage with their Bugeye flanked by some very expensive modern automobiles and vintage motorcycles. Since then, we have had a few more Bugeye owners share their garage companions!

The garage above belongs to Doug in PA. He writes:

After reading your newsletter you recently sent, I decided to share a photo of my garage. Its a 1959 and a 1966 AH sprite. These two cars are mine and the bugeye I bought off my great uncle for $1.00 back in 1997. Its been in our family since it was purchased new. I’m the 2nd owner of the car. The 66 I bought from a local guy in 1999, who was selling it to rebuild his MGA twin cam engine and needed the money for the rebuild. Both cars have a 1275 in them and run great! Since you guys have been selling parts out of your catalog, you have been my go-to for all sprite parts! Anytime David uploads a video, I always check it out and watch.

(No origin story was provided for the matching red tractor.)

Dale from Colorado is the proud owner of “Penny”, Bugeye #413 sold with Bugeyeguys. Penny shares a garage with a prized family heirloom. He writes:

Thought you’d get a kick out of seeing what lives with my bugeye. It’s a ‘49 Farmall Cub that’s been in our family for 55 years and still gets a lot of use. Not a sports car but does have some things in common with Penny- it’s small, economical, great patina and good at what it was designed to do. They even have CubFests around the country to celebrate them.

Above, you can see a wonderful lift for low ceilings. “Zoya”, a stunning black Bugeye with wire wheels shares automotive bunk beds in Maryland with a Mercedes sedan. What an interesting concept!

Our final garage photo was provided by Barry in Florida. He writes:

To answer the question in your latest newsletter, here are the cars that share the fun with my 1960 Bugeye. The Bugeye is slow but a total hoot to drive while the Cobra is fast and a bit scary to drive and the Miata kind of falls in the middle, fast enough to have fun, has great handling, and won’t scare your pants off. Just wanted to say your weekly newsletter is the high point of my Saturdays. A big thumbs up!

Thank you all for the kind words and for sharing your garage photos with us!

From the Bugeyeguys vault: Miniature Bugeye Sprite racing video

December 6, 2024 by bugeyeguy

This is what we do, except in miniature:

You may have read here before that my formative years were spend primarily playing with a cabinet full of die cast metal Corgi cars. Now we work in a Quonset hut with full scale models, and these toys are mostly Bugeyes.

I love slot cars too, and thought I would share this link because it includes some great on-track footage. We don’t currently sell these slot cars but we do still have several full-size Bugeyes available for sale, including “Goldie”, a car that you could make a full-size remake of this video with! Click Goldie’s photo below to learn more and give us a call if you’re interested!

And BTW, we can no longer find studio-65 on the web so I don’t think you can buy one of these slot cars anymore, but we love the driving video nonetheless!