BugEyeGuys – Page 45

Lawton leaves for camp!

February 17, 2023 by bugeyeguy

I’m always amazed at how difficult it is to get a sold car out of our building. I suppose most people in the automotive industry are anxious to get vehicles out the door immediately after a sale, but in our world it seems quite the opposite. We want to make absolutely certain that every broken thing has been discussed (and hopefully addressed) before we ship a car. We are dedicated to continuous improvement.

It’s common for online car purchases from others to arrive with a long list of problems, and we work very hard to make sure that our product arrives with no problems and works properly. We’re not perfect, and not everybody wants to invest in all the repairs that we suggest, but we work very hard to keep refining our pre-departure processes and to keep making our cars wonderful.

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Rescue this Bugeye! 1960 Bugeye Project For Sale!

February 10, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Now SOLD to Ed in Missouri! Bugeye #382 has been saved!

This car is a Bugeye we call Porcelain (AN5L 31252). It is a 1960 Bugeye that was used as a daily driver for an owner outside of Boston; it’s been sitting idle since the late 1980’s, but we were delighted to bring it to our shop and store it inside and start the process of bringing it back to life! Porcelain shows approximately 23,500 miles on the odometer; we have no idea if that is an accurate reading, and like most Bugeyes, it looks like a car that was used and enjoyed by several owners.

We removed the fuel tank to inspect the trunk floor, which is why no filler neck is showing here We offer new pressure-tested fuel tanks which this car will need.

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Sharp-looking 1960 1275, Datsun 5 speed Bugeye For Sale! NEW Driving Video!

February 3, 2023 by bugeyeguy

NOW SOLD to Steve in South Carolina! Congratulations on giving Bluey (our 379th Bugeye sold!) a happy new home!

Check out the driving video below showcasing Bluey! Read more about Bluey in the listing provided and give us a call if you’re interested!

This week we are ecstatic to be able to offer to you “Bluey” (AN5L 42453), a 1960 Bugeye that came to us this week from its most recent home in Florida. Bluey has a lot of popular upgrades already fitted and is ready for its next home!

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Awesome 1960 Bugeye Sprite With all The Right Upgrades For Sale! Driving Video!

February 3, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Now SOLD to Laura in Massachussetts! Bugeye #378 is on its way to Boston!

What a mild winter we have had this year! Such cooperative weather has allowed us to shoot some beautiful new photos and a new driving video For Eggplant. This is an extremely nicely-restored car that we’ve upgraded for prior owners with tons of new features; it has a sway bar and disc brakes in the front, strong 1275 engine, and a great Rib case transmission, but more importantly, since we’ve already run this car through our multi-page departure checklist and put in some new front shocks, it’s a rare opportunity to have a fully sorted car that’s ready to go! Eggplant is a striking and stunning color and turns heads everywhere you go!

In the driving video above, you should be able to hear that Eggplant has an excellent exhaust note courtesy of our twin tip stainless steel muffler; also, see how easily we can spin the inside rear wheel! This car has more than ample power; it’s a strong engine and a fast car! If you like spectacular colors on your classic cars, this one is quite striking and worthy of a close look. I really enjoyed having eggplant and I think any of our customers would too!

This is “Eggplant” (AN5L 49187), a Bugeye built in late 1960 (near the end of production) and titled as a 1961. The car was originally red and was completely stripped to bare metal in 1999. She was then painted this very deep and luscious color of aubergine. She shines beautifully!

If you love aubergine early Porsche 911s, this one evokes a similar delicious color scheme. Not a stock color here, but a striking color choice that looks stunning on this car in any light!

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501 winter driving impressions

February 3, 2023 by bugeyeguy

When it comes to the first production Bugeye, AN5L 501, we’ve become so focused on the concours details and the gold level point score (which is fundamentally obtained during a static judging process) that it’s difficult to remember the dividends concours restoration pays with regard to drive quality. A driving test is required for national judging; a judge did drive with me around the parking lot and made sure the brakes worked properly, all the lights were functioning, etc., but it was basically a couple hundred yards of driving and we were done. The remaining four hours of judging happened with the car at a standstill in a hotel lobby.

Terry’s face says it all: the judging process can be mentally draining at times! But it’s all for the love of these cars.

So now that the static judging is complete and I’m the proud owner of this massively significant piece of sports car history, how does it drive?

There is another very valuable benefit of national Concours judging, and that was very apparent to me on my drive in the video below, which we were able to make for you on account of the lovely weather we experienced early in the week. This is a car with no punchlist. There is nothing wrong with it. It does everything it was designed to do. Everything works. And that is perhaps the most valuable benefit of the concours judging process.

By returning this car to its original formula and doing so at a “gold” level, the car actually works just the way it was designed, and it works quite well. 501 drives like any of our fully sorted Bugeyes, and while this one is completely stock, it’s still ready to go in every way.

I’m constantly driving customer cars and trying to eradicate all gremlins. How nice that this car has none!

Nick’s Tech Tips: Adding fuel to the fire

February 3, 2023 by bugeyeguy

Each and every day, we see things that come through our shop that just make us say “Yikes”. Today’s “yikes” moment comes to us from a car we recently brought in for a fuel system service. As you can see in the photos below, this fuel tank sender looks like it was recovered from a salvage dive on the Lusitania. The tank this sender was removed from looked as bad on the outside as it did on the inside.

The arm on this fuel sender isn’t supposed to stand up by itself… this is a bad sign.

It is unfortunate that such a critical system on this Bugeye was allowed to fall into this state of deterioration. (We drove the car onto the lift, by the way.) While this may be an extreme example, fuel tank maintenance is often something a lot of Frogeye owners overlook or neglect, because as long as the car is running, there’s no reason to worry, right?

Bugeye fuel tanks were originally painted black. This one has seen many better days.

Well, as the photos in this post can attest, there are MANY reasons why routine fuel tank maintenance is important. In addition to rusting away into oblivion, a more common ailment that befalls our beloved Bugeyes is a leaky tank. So how does a fuel tank on a Spridget leak?

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