BugEyeGuys – Page 35

Stunning 1995 Porsche 993 six-speed C2 Cabriolet for sale!

November 9, 2023 by bugeyeguy

NOW SOLD to Roger of NC. This beautiful Porsche is going to live along side Candy! Thank you and congrats, Roger!

NEW-We’ve just modified wonderful stainless exhaust tips to make them fit properly, so check out the new look for the back end! Fantastic!

This 1995 Porsche 993 911 C2 Carrera Convertible (WP0CA299XSS341789) is remarkably clean. It’s hard to believe the car is 28 years old with almost 71,000 miles. Take note of the engine, which is quite tidy with a handsome stainless exhaust system!

Like many, I am a huge fan of this 993 series, the last of the air-cooled 911s. I have a white ’97 twin to this car, and I have loved every mile in that machine. Many agree these cars are at the sweet spot in the 911 evolution… simple and analog enough with nice comforts added, and easy to drive well. You should be able to see from the driving video below that this car roars!

The paint is excellent. I could find only one tiny stone chip on the front bumper… the rest of the car is ding free, and the paint is quite lustrous. The aftermarket 18 inch wheels are arguably a lot more interesting than the flat and dare I say boring original wheels that came on the car. Tires are a bit older and would be nice to replace. Interior is excellent, just showing some wear on the shift knob, but the seat bolsters are in wonderful shape.

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A beautifully Rescued Bugeye! Land speed record candidate?

November 4, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Here’s a special car that we’ have’ve been working on for a long time here at The Bugeyeguys World Headquarters. The car has moved to its home in Indiana, but I have reposted this because it’s such a cool build, and fun to revisit!

This car started as a Bring a Trailer auction vehicle that needed just about everything repaired, tightened-up and/or replaced. We bought it on behalf of a client who wanted us to create a Bugeye capable of competing for a land speed record attempt in the under one liter class, which was a tall order for a car with so many worn components.

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Our best performing Bugeye to date!

November 3, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Our third electric FrogE conversion (E3) is now complete, and I was delighted to lay down the fastest 0-60 time I have ever recorded in a Sprite, 7.29 seconds (measured by our GPS speedometer’s 0-60 recording feature).

For context, the original 948 powered Bugeye reached 60 in about 20.5 seconds.

Our fastest perviously timed 1275 powered Sprite, with performance mods, reached 60 in about 10 seconds. Per published road test data, a 1969 Lotus Elan reaches 60 in about 7.2 seconds, and that’s with the stock twin cam 1600 engine and dual Webers. A 1969 Porsche 911S reaches 60 in somewhere between 6.5 and 8 seconds (depending on which test data you believe). But the numbers are almost irrelevant… what matters is that this car performs like a very respectful sportscar that can suddenly be mentioned in the same sentence as these supercars of the day. We’ve entered a whole new universe with this conversion, different from anything and everything that we’ve known in the Bugosphere up to this point.

I have driven more than 500 sprites. This car has the most impressive performance of any of them. There’s enough power to spin the rear wheels in ways never before possible in any of the gas-powered Sprites I have known and driven through the last 17 years. And the car still retrains delightful balance and handling, just like the original.

I have never driven a V8 Sprite and I suppose that power plant is extremely quick in a Sprite too, but I haven’t pursued V8 conversions because I fear they upset the delightful weight balance, change the handling, and change the steering input required given a more front heavy front end bias.

In our electric FrogE, balance is right and steering is light.

This is a game changer.

Regardless of how you feel about electric conversions, there’s so much performance in this package that you have to at least consider this new option. We’ve built a classic car that will never have a leaking rear main seal, piston-wall scoring or leaking valve guides. These electric motors are bulletproof and will run far longer than even a brand new rebuilt 1275 Engine. There is no transmission to fail, no synchros to wear out, no tachometer-drive to bind or rattle.

No matter how much you miss the exhaust note, it’s easy to fall in love with the torque and overall performance of a FrogE. I found myself distracted relearning how to drive this car with so much extra power, and for me, that focus distracted me from any regret for the missing exhaust note. In other words, it’s easy to be distracted because this car is that much fun!

This one might be for sale… call to discuss. Or, we would love to build another one just for you!

Call or email if you are interested!

Reflections on 400 Bugeyes sold in a fun new podcast… click to listen!

November 3, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Wow, what a journey! Every Bugeye has been unique, every customer has had unique needs, every build required patience and flexibility, and lots of problem solving. And every one of the 400 has been a blast to build, test, complete and ship to happy customers worldwide. We have blanketed a lot of roadways with smiling little cars.

Click the photo above to listen to a new podcast on ‘Cars Yeah,” just recorded this past week!

Cars, restoration, parts, electric vehicles, a supercharged Gumby and the very first Bugeye… all from a Quonset hut that never leaked oil but sure leaked a lot of rainwater (until we encapsulated the building with a new standing-seam metal roof).

Thanks for coming with us on this ride, I hope you enjoy our celebration on the Cars Yeah podcast by clicking the picture and link above!

And if you would like to hear a similar podcast I recorded in 2017 (when we had sold our 211th Bugeye) click here to listen that podcast too!

400 Bugeyes Strong!

October 20, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Thank you and Congratulations Ed and Christine in Florida for making Little Lulu our 400th Bugeye sold! Thank you Bugeyeguys everywhere!

It seems just yesterday that we sold our 100th Bugeye Sprite, so 400 still feels to me to be a dream. I never thought this business would serve so many people, and that the Bugeye Sprite could endure so many iterations. We’ve sold cars to people all over the USA and Canada, as well as one to Brazil and several to Europe. The people and needs have been diverse, ranging from experienced collectors to complete novices… lots of surprise gifts for spouses… lots of bucket list purchases… and a particularly large number of people who never bought something nice for themselves, and came to us to indulge and celebrate a lifetime of hard work.

We have put a lot of smiles on the road. We have started a lot of conversations at gas stations. We have made the roadways of the world a little bit happier. We have met a wonderful array of people and built a big family who love this car and everything for which it stands.

Thank you to the great people who have supported us to build our Bugeye nation!!! Above is our “400 Strong” T shirt, featuring “Little Lulu,” (below)” that Bugeye that got us to this magic number. Click here to order!

Now that we’ve arrived at this amazing milestone, we have a minute to reflect on a few of our favorites!

Above is a great story… Phillip and Kathleen paused their Bugeye aspirations to have a their daughter Jenny… they went into labor on their way to see a used Bugeye for sale and went to the maternity ward instead! 50 years later, Jenny surprised them with this Yellow Frogeye above.

Below is another favorite, a dead Bugeye rotted and done, found in the woods and rescued, repainted, and put into the lobby of a condo in New Jersey as a display for selfies! The car would never have been restored, too far gone, but made a perfect sculpture!

This is what the display car looked like when it arrived… yikes! Time to work our magic!

Layout for the condo where “Luv Me” would live-(Square Sprite shown only for this sketch)

Jesse is another favorite, leaving this week for Glenn’s garage in California. This one is a particular favorite because it drives like a dream. We started with an awesome high-end Bugeye and added about 100 hours of maintenance and upgrades to make it even more superb. This car speaks volumes about what we do best… it drives nothing like when we got it… now, this is one capable machine. If you hadn’t driven more than 400 Bugeyes, you might not realize how much further a Bugeye can go, how much nicer, how much tighter, more responsive, powerful, etc. These are not hard cars to fix. But it takes experience to make them great. I am honored we have been given a change to build that experience. After 400 examples, we are still learning and still improving!!!

These three are some that stand out on our journey and we look forward to serving you as we build the next 400!

Most comfortable shoes

October 20, 2023 by bugeyeguy

We are always looking for small details to make these cars just a little bit more exciting … and this week, we wanted to point-out the superb tires we used on the Nevada Beige Bugeye called “Jesse.” These Dunlops are a personal favorite, as they wrap the tread so nicely, and look just that little bit extra macho. They seem to fill the well wells just perfectly. This is one of the little details that makes Jesse a favorite.

These 165 series tires are 80 series, a bit tall, and you may have to trim the front of your nose a tad for clearance on turns. (This is common with larger tires, and somewhat routine our shop.) If you are uncomfortable with this, then go with 155/80s that we sell here. Noses sometimes move aft from old crash damage, and so nose trimming is common regardless of the tire size you choose.

*Note the small air gap between leading edge of tire and nose. Sometimes, you have to relieve material here or these tires will scrape on turns. Check before driving!*

These are also the tires that I have on my personal Bugeye Gumby. If your tires are out of date (and most of them are!) consider ordering a spiffy set of new shoes by clicking here!

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