NOW SOLD to Barb in North Carolina! Congratulations on bringing home our 404th Bugeye sold!

This is a very thoroughly worked-over Bugeye and a great opportunity to own a very well-sorted classic car that has enjoyed generous spending from prior owners! 

This is “Bucky” (AN5L 18013). We first met Bucky in September 2018, when we picked it up for a client in Wisconsin and brought it to our shop for a five speed upgrade along with multiple other improvements totaling about $19,000, including:

• Rebuilding the entire front end
• New disc brake kit
• New swivel axles
• New rack boots
• Repaired parking brake
• Replaced pinion seal
• New steering column bushings
• New hanging gas pedal
• New header with our twin-tip muffler
• Aluminum Radiator
• Six-blade fan
• K&N Lifetime air filters
• New leaf springs
• New flywheel ring gear
• Upgraded rear view mirror 
• (there are lots of other items we addressed, ask if you would like to see that build sheet)

We shipped it back to him with about 20 miles indicated on the new GPS speedo in 2018. He put about 1500 miles on the car, then his priorities changed, and he sold us the car in late 2021. In March of 2022, we sold the car to Roy in Oklahoma, and before it departed for Oklahoma, we added another extensive list of roughly $15,000 worth of upgrades. 

That round of improvements included:

• New master cylinder
• New hard brake and clutch lines
• Upgraded later Sprite rear drum brakes with new wheel cylinders and shoes
• New front shocks and shock bushings
• New radius arms
• New fuel tank and fuel pickup line
• New solid state fuel pump and end-to-end hard fuel line
• New wiring harness
• New dummy regulator
• LED light conversion including LED headlight bulbs
• New electronic distributor and coil
• New spark plugs
• New battery and battery cables
• New oil pressure line kit
• New radiator hoses
• GPS speedometer
• Electronic tach
• Full dashboard restoration including welding up extra holes, smoothing and recovering with new vinyl
• Recovered dash bar
• New dash grab handle
• All-new dash knobs
• New choke cable
• Rebuilt fuel gauge
• New door liners
• New black bikini top
• And more!

Roy has decided to get something different, so we have the car for sale again, and now we are able to offer an extremely well-sorted Bugeye that’s been impressively upgraded and maintained with about 2300 miles showing on the clock. It’s too bad it never got a repaint, but it remains an awesome experience to have an ultimate driver with a five-speed transmission and all the other correct improvements and make these cars so special.

If you are not cosmetically picky and love the idea of a five-speed overdrive-equipped car with a fully synchronized gearbox, Bucky could be the perfect Bugeye for you! Click “read more” below for a full compliment of photos, check out the driving video above for a taste of what Bucky is like to drive, and give us a call if you’d like to make Bucky your own! Click “read more” below to see the extensive photo album.

[Read more…] about 1960 five speed 1275 Bugeye driver for sale!

NOW SOLD to Ian in New York! Congrats on taking home our Bugeye #405.

Ozzy is an incredible Bugeye we brought in last month after spending the past 10 years in the Pacific Northwest, where it was completely restored. Since we got it here, we have done a HUGE number of upgrades intended to make Ozzy into its best form, including all-new hydraulic parts including a new master cylinder, wheel cylinders, and new brake and clutch lines, a new fuel line from front to rear including our solid-state electric fuel pump upgrade, new front tapered wheel bearings, and so much more! This is truly the epitome of what a well-sorted, great driving, great-sounding Bugeye should be! Give us a call if you’d like to make Ozzy your own!

If you like tastefully modified Bugeye Sprites, here’s a wonderful modified Bugeye for sale called “Ozzy.” The car has all the right modifications and is painted in a striking color scheme with broad appeal. This one ticks a lot of boxes! The car shows 3039 miles on the odometer, I am guessing that’s the total mileage put on the car since the restoration about 10 years ago. The car still feels freshly restored.

We owned, upgraded and sold this car in 2013, (around the time that it was restored by another enthusiast) and then sold to a collector in the Northwest, who drove it sporadically during his ten years of stewardship. He sold it back to us in October of this year.

When we received the car this year, we spent 40 hours going-through it… we performed a major service and also made additional upgrades to make Ozzy even better. Ozzy now has all the most desirable performance upgrades, including front disk brakes, sway bar, strong 1275 engine, aluminum radiator K&N lifetime air filters and a performance exhaust, so you have a sweet little package. This is a nice car…. solid, straight, well-finished, rust-free.

Ozzy makes all the right noises-we’ve just installed our twin-tipped muffler, and the sounds great. Seats are nearly new too, with new firm seat base foams and new covers. Ozzy is easy to love. The flip-forward nose makes for easy engine bay access too!

Here’s a list of the service work and modifications we made just this week:
New stainless steel header and exhaust including our twin-tipped muffler (hence the great sound in the video)
New hard brake and clutch lines throughout
New rear wheel cylinders
New rubber brake hoses
New rear wheel bearing on passenger side
New master cylinder
New solid state electronic fuel pump,
New fuel tank pick-up line and rubber fuel lines
New water hoses
New heater valve
New dip switch harness
New rubber oil pressure gauge line
New front tapered wheel bearings
New tank to carbs metal fuel line
New easier to use T handle locking choke assembly

These were the pressing items to make the car better than ever. The car runs and drives wonderfully, as you can see in the driving video below, which we made earlier this week.

As with all these classic cars, there are still some issues that the new owner may choose to have us address. For example, the tachometer and speedo both read too high… this is easy to fix… we sell a GPS speedometer and matching electronic tachometer and that will get the new owner more accurate readings, if so desired.

Also, first gear whine is a bit louder than on the rebuilt ribcase transmissions we sell… (they all whine and I would leave it, synchros are excellent, the car up and down shifts without complaint)… but this could open-up an opportunity to install a five-speed conversion… the car is well-worth investment in a five- speed upgrade. That said, I drove my Bugeye “Gumby” for 20 years with first gear making a lot more noise than this one, so it’s an issue you should know about if you’re thinking about the car, but it’s not something that needs immediate attention. If it bothers the new owner, a five-speed would be a nice opportunity while the car is still in our possession.

The seat belts currently installed are a vintage racing lap-belt variety belt, but I much prefer three point retractable shoulder belts, and we have those in stock in red or black-again, the new owner gets to choose.

The dashboard is perfectly nice, with a handsome fat wood steering wheel that feels right. I would refinish the dashboard and change the dash and dash trim bar covering to red and I would also put on a red tonneau because the silver and red color combination is quite striking and I would like to emphasize those strong colors. These are opportunities that we can address (while the car is here) before it gets shipped to the new owner.

The engine bay is stunning all new hydraulic hard lines, premium aluminum radiator and lots of upgrades. If you’re interested, click “read more” below for the full assortment of photographs and give us a call!

[Read more…] about Striking 1275-Powered and upgraded 1959 Bugeye Sprite for sale!

Now SOLD to Jim in Massachussetts! Congratulations on Bugeye #402!

This is a AN5L 48202, a modified 1960 Bugeye Sprite we call “Bart.”

If you like the old-school converted race car vibe, this is a great car to consider. The car is totally street legal and very useable on the street, with a bunch of performance upgrades to give it more grunt and better performance. You can drive this car anywhere. You can drive it to the autocross and play for the day. You can drive it to the supermarket. You can enjoy the racing heritage of all Bugeyes, and still go out to dinner in this one. It is modified for performance while maintaining plenty of everyday drivability. The car is built with a nice balance of fun and function.

The engine is an uprated 1275 with a performance cam. The idle is a bit lumpy, but still quite tolerable. When you get on the gas, the improved performance is apparent, and the engine pulls smoothly through the revs. The car has a performance exhaust system with a nice header and minimalist muffler. Bart sounds like a sportscar should. The nearly new Weber downdraft carb powers the car nicely.

Brakes are front disk and a rear drum systems from a later Sprite, with an add-on brake booster to lessen pedal effort. The car stops nicely. A slightly larger from sway bar is also fit for more agressive cornering.

Tires are 185/60×13, wider than stock, afforded by the fender flares. They give you a bigger footprint that further improves braking, acceleration and traction in general. These tires squeal and slide a bit more than I would like, because they are aged-out. New rubber would grip a lot better, and we can change the tires for the new owner if so desired.

The car has a flip-forward fiberglass nose with matching fiberglass flares fit on the original rear steel fenders. Two flush dzus fittings hold down each bonnet wing for a nifty bonnet hold-down system that you can open with a small screwdriver or quarter dollar. Engine access is great and the fiberglass nose is a great weight saving over the steel original!

There are a few minor cosmetic flaws but the car presents very nicely. This is a very cool car, great fun to drive, and it has a period-correct feel. We’ve put in all the correct dashboard components to preserve the heritage. The rib case transmission shifts wonderfully. Check out the videos, click “read more” below for a full compliment of photos, and call if you are interested!

[Read more…] about Modified Bugeye Sprite with uprated performance. Check out the NEW AND IMPROVED tire squealing videos!