Bugeye Restoration

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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There’s Always A Catch

June 7, 2022 by bugeyeguy

Here is an essential item we’ll make sure is present on our Concours restoration of the first Bugeye, AN5 501 (which is projected to arrive in our building some time this July). This is the bonnet safety catch that was built-in at the factory. It was installed just in case you failed to latch the nose properly with the twist latch, so that the nose didn’t fly up at speed.

If you’ve lifted one of these conventionally hinging noses recently, you know all too well that it would take typhoon-like wind speeds to lift the nose even an inch; and with a realistic (if not ambitious) top speed of around 100 miles an hour, there’s just no way that a steel Bugeye nose is going to lift on the highway.

As a result, we remove these catches.

The bonnet safety catch has caused trouble with many a paint job in the past 65 years.

Aside from their redundancy, another main reason is because of what you see in the picture above; they are commonly not aligned with the square hole they cut into the bonnet, and, consequently, they bend and scratch the daylights out of the underside of your nose.

So, if you have one of these things installed, you’re invited to remove it. Your nose will thank you, and no one will ever know!

If, however, you’re into Concours details and wish to keep your Frogeye 100% factory correct, then you’ll need one of these latches. We just so happen to have good stock! You can purchase yours here!

Why We Do What We Do

May 27, 2022 by bugeyeguy

This is the 350th Bugeye we’ve sold, “Mooney,” and this is a big moment for us Bugeyeguys. We are extremely excited to have reached this milestone. It seems like just recently that we sold our 100th (and that’s when it became clear to me that we really had something here), so to now reach our 350th car is a milestone I had never imagined possible.

More importantly, Mooney represents a true rescue of a forlorn Bugeye that was waiting its turn in someone’s garage for years. Intentions were great, but life got in the way, as most of us know all too well. We are grateful that the previous owner gave us a call so we could acquire the car, and thus, Mooney could come out to play once again.

Mooney is a good car with good bones; our job was to revive the important systems to make it a driver once again for the new owners, a wonderful father/son team who will certainly bring this car to new heights!

We rebuilt the dashboard, installed a new wiring harness, re-plumbed and replaced the hydraulics, and the rest is up to the new owners. Check out the before and after pictures in the video below!!!

For this car, we have been the conduit to bring a hibernating Sprite back onto the streets for all to observe and enjoy, and for all to ponder how we once routinely transported ourselves from point to point. In so doing, we created a new way for a father and son to come together with a common goal, which is to have fun and to keep this car alive for generations to come.

That is an accomplishment truly worth celebrating.

Electric Bugeye For Sale! With Driving Video!

May 19, 2022 by bugeyeguy

NOW SOLD to a client of ours who is making a surprise gift! Thank you and congratulations!

It’s time for us to make some space in our crowded shop, and we’ve got so many projects moving forward that our fully restored electric car is not getting much use. I figured it would be nice to send it to a new home. Many people have inquired about kits and about having us build an electric Sprite for them and you might find that buying a completed car is a more practical and ultimately more cost-effective way to go.

We built “Frog-E” as the ultimate prototype for electric classic Sprite conversions. It has taken me up to 109 miles an hour with no shortage of speed in reserve, and it’s delightfully balanced with a 50-50 weight distribution courtesy of the fiberglass nose. In fact, the net weight of the car is about 50 pounds greater than a steel Stock Bugeye, so weight distribution is better and weight is minimally impacted by the electric conversion. Frog-E’s range is about 100 miles, the torque is smooth, ample, and delicious, and the ramp-up of power is moderated by the computerized controller, so there is no risk of breaking the driveline due to stomping on the “gas” pedal.

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A Very Enlightening New Product!

May 13, 2022 by bugeyeguy

This may be one of the most significant products we have added to our catalog in a long time. The perfect storm of old British cars (and drivers) not getting any younger and new drivers paying less attention sometimes creates a precarious situation if your classic breaks down on its next trip. Thus, we are required to fortify our defenses. We are pleased to offer our new LED Rechargeable Flashing Roadside Flare Kit as just such a fortification. These lights should be required equipment for every classic car. None of the vehicles on which we work have hazard lights, so these portable hazard lights are really a hot set-up should anything go wrong with your vehicle and leave you on the side of the road.

Our handy roadside hazard light kit comes with everything you see here. Click here to order!

There are three lights in each package. There are no batteries; all you need to do is charge them with the included USB cord and stick them to the back of your car. In the unlikely event of an emergency, simply stick the handy magnetic lights on your back deck and hit the button. You can pretty much wake-up anybody barreling down the road behind you, day or night. I’m putting a set in each of my cars and you should too! Order yours today!

Sender Gasket of the week!

May 6, 2022 by bugeyeguy

This week, we upgraded CiCi’s Iris Blue Bugeye (here from Incline Village, Nevada) with a fresh 1275 engine and ribbed-case transmission. While checking over the car, we found the tell-tale sign that her sending unit gasket had failed.

Can you see the clue in the photo below?

Look very closely. Do you see the stripes running left to right? Those stripes were caused by a leaky fuel sender leaking fuel out of the top of the tank.

Look closely and you’ll see some fine lines along the bottom of the tank. We didn’t fill the tank so we had no gas smell to reveal the presence of fuel sitting in the sender well, (nor did we want to fill the tank incase we would immediately have to drain it for repair). But these fine lines gave us enough of a clue to dig further.

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