Bob wanted to take the Bugeye, but the wife wanted to bring the Jeep, so they compromised, and capped their SUV with a Bugeye hardtop, so that everybody got what they needed.

(Actually, this was an attempted hardtop pick-up after purchase, but the buyer ultimately opted for a crate and shipment instead, lest this lid fly off on the highway!)

Looking for your own Bugeye hardtop? We always have a few for sale, and you can see one by clicking here!

Here’s an add-on voltmeter and bracket you might like. We put one in a customers car so he can watch his new generator/alternator at work. In the short video below, you can see battery voltage at rest with the engine off, and you can watch the voltage increase as the generator/alternator starts to spin. The gauge verifies that our new alternator disguised as a Bugeye generator delivers a healthy output at lower RPMs than the standard generator. The product is also lighter with better bearings.

As far as supplemental gauges, the dashboard shown here is non-stock but also somewhat typical. This is a later Sprite/Midget dashboard installed in a Bugeye. You can tell because it has a smaller center-mounted ignition key.

In this dash, we have fit our new GPS driven speedometer, a new electronic tachometer, and now a voltmeter. This particular new gauge is made by VDO, but we have new Smiths gauges on the way, if you would like to add a voltmeter to your car too while retaining a more British appearance.

We have mounted this VDO gauge under the dash to avoid drilling through the vinyl dash cover and dashboard. The under-dash bracketing also suggests that the gauge can be easily removed should someone in the future want to return their Sprite to a more stock appearance. But it’s a nice supplement to any Spridget, and I doubt anyone would ever regret supplementing their dashboard this useful information about the charging system. It’s easy to wire up and easy to mount.

We have located the gauge off-center so that it is out of the way of your knuckles while shifting. I should also be out of the way for most knees. We have set it back behind the dash a bit so it takes a back seat to the factory metal dashboard.

Thanks to Len M for lending his 5-speed Bugeye “Hinkley” for these upgrade and for the photos!

You can purchase a Smiths voltmeter for your Bugeye by clicking here.
Get your gauge bracket by clicking here.
And generator/alternators can be purchased by clicking here.

Here’s a Bugeye with the perfect mascot…

This is one of the best cars we have ever built.

How could this be? Am I really claiming that a completely electric powered vehicle is better than our best gas-powered wonder? Well, if I told you we had an iconic classic car that needed a fraction of the maintenance of its petrol brethren, always started, leaked no oil, never overheated and never needed another gearbox rebuild, wouldn’t that interest you?

And I haven’t even gotten to the performance… this thing is a rocket. Imagine squeezing the throttle and inducing oversteer any time you want, with acceleration times finally getting in the neighborhood modern vehicles. This car gets to 60 mph faster our best 1275 supercharged Bugeye. Faster with fewer headaches is no small feat.

You DO have to keep it charged. There is that minor detail. Sparky needs to be plugged-in every 100 or so miles, or you will get to tow or push home this car (just like any gas-powered Bugeye). It does have “limp home” mode, which automatically activates when your power level gets below 30%, and it drives you home at 30% of normal HP (a mode in which it is still quite a bit faster than a 948 Bugeye).

We have fit the car with a 110 receptacle in the fuel filler cap that will take any household extension cord. We’ve also fit a 220 fast charger, so you can revitalize the power plant in as little as a few hours if a 220 wall charger is or public charging station is available. These home wall units BTW are about $300 and require a 220 line. So, yes, you do have to keep it charged, but don’t most Bugeye owners generally make sub-100 mile trips anyway?

I did not expect to be so smitten by this car. Perhaps it is the balance-the car feels light and neutral, we got the weight bias right. Or it’s instant acceleration at all throttle settings. These are very seductive qualities. But I am most smitten about how much better this performs than the gas powered equivalent. To get this kind of performance from a gas Bugeye is very hard, almost precarious. Every system starts to suffer when you push gas Bugeyes to these performance levels. They were not designed to handle more than 100 HP (remember the stock 948 engine was about 45 HP. But this electric drivetrain is not being taxed at all when you press the throttle to the floor. Nor is the clutch suffering, or anything else. This feels like it can take it, and will be able to take it for generations to come. We’ll let you know as we build some test miles…

When you drive this car, you start to understand why so many major performance car companies are using electric motors in their new supercars. The technology is that good.

I had a long talk today with one of our typical customers, late 60s male, grew up around British cars, now owns a Westfield Eleven, Bugeye and Big Healey, and loves these cars because they evoke the sounds, smells and sometimes problems that remind him of his youth, and great adventures he had before the age of the Internet, cell phones (and maybe even fast food). When I asked him about the electric Bugeye, he replied, “keep your day job.” For this man, an electric Bugeye sounds about as attractive as a vacation in Baghdad.

I imagine a few of you readers probably feel the same way. And don’t worry, we will continue to build great dinosaur drive Bugeyes with the same enthusiasm. In fact, we have petro-cars in our shop from all over the country for sorting, that will keep us busy for the next three months. But it’s difficult to disregard electric drive when it works this well.

We will next complete the cosmetics on the FrogE, and finish detailing a number of fun accents to give this unlikely recipient of high tech wonders some dirty fingernails (and a Prince of Darkness sense of humor) of it’s own.

It is, after all, only a Bugeye.

You never know where our cars will show up… here’s Dave P and his daughter-in-law Marenda in “Red,” (our 222 sold) at the Tennessee Soybean Festival parade in Martin, TN. this September. I am honored one of our beans was present! Could be the first time a Bugeye ever appeared in a Soybean festival. Looks like fun!

This one fails.

Lever shocks have to work properly on Spridgets or they drive like crap. In fact, I would bet that anyone who says they were terrified while driving a Bugeye at speed was driving a car with blown front shocks.

It’s pretty easy to tell if the shocks are gone, you can see in the video below why this car needed new shocks immediately. A car with good front shocks will bounce once and stop, with well-damped motion.

We sell two types of shocks in our catalog. To view our standard front shocks, click here. For the rear shocks, click here

To view our upgraded performance version, click here for the front shocks and click here for the rears.