How did you come to own a Bugeye?

[Rut]

I started off with TR3s, 4As, and a TR6 in the mid '60s thru '70s and loved them all, but in 1968 while in college a friend of mine, Rob Mientzen, restored a Bugeye and I never forgot it. I've lost track of my friend, but the Bugeye always called my name. After searching for a few years I bought a 1960 with a 1275 that's going thru a restoration/restomod with the 1275 and 5 speed. The older I get the more doubtful I am that I'll ever fit in this car, but I sure do love it! What's your story?
Rut

 

[Jim_Gruber]

June 1968, my best friend Tony received a dark Blue '68 Sprite as a HS Graduation present from his parents. Purchased new from Stillpass Motors in Cincinnati. I can recall in first year several broken halfshafts and several transmissions as Tony continued to try an chirp the tires, especially in reverse....snap! Eventually he figured out how not to break it. Freshman year at Univ of Cincinnati almost flunked out as we had way, way too much fun. Fast forward to 2001, divorced, temporary split from my then girlfriend, now my wife. Saw a picture on line of a really cool white '62 Mk II and the guy was in Cincinnati. A buddy of mine had a really rusty '69 he was trying to sell me and a BE Bonnet. I passed on the '69 as having way too many rust issues and called up the guy with the White '62 and asked him if he knew of any Sprites for sale. His response way I've got 5 in my back yard. After some dickering I dragged home Bugsy i a '68 Sprite and purchased the BE Bonnet from my buddy. Bonnet sat in the back of garage through 2-3 moves and finally in 2008 I replaced Spridget Sheetmetal with a BE Bonnet. I now had what everyone mistook for a BE but with roll down windows, a trunk, and a 1098 with a Smoothcase.

Now for 10 years I lusted after a BE, getting lots of experience solving Spridget problems with Bugsy and getting to know folks around the country and around the world via multiple forums I subscribe to. About 9 months ago, I found Bugsy II for sale in Toronto. He had been taken apart for metal work, new floor, rocker, A Posts, bonnet repair, rear sheet metal below bumper repair rear quarters, and DS repair to spring mounting area. Now that repair had started in 1985 and Bugsy never got put back together. He was cared for and moved from garage to garage always kept indoors with the hope time would eventually be found to put him back together. Eventually time ran out and owner put him up for sale. After several months of negotiations, and a decision by the owner that I was the right person to pass Bugsy II on to, I was able to bring him home April 6, 2013. Now he is sitting n my garage awaiting Spring Planting and Garden Work, 75% complete, Kitchen Remodel, Ski Boat launch, and several other Projects to be complete before I have time to get started working on him. In the mean time I'm sourcing missing parts, getting ready to send flywheel and dual master out to Gerard to be rehabbed for the 5-speed currently in my garage, and conversion to disk brakes. A 1275 is in the back of the garage as well, needs to go for a valve job and likely rings and bearings. I plan and plan and find missing parts needed and soon the build will start. Another BE will hopefully come back to life over the next 18-24 months.

 

[paulsherman]

In late 1959, I purchased my first Bugeye from Tom Carsten in Tacoma WA for about $1750 brand new with radio, wipers and WW tires. Iris Blue. Licensed as a 1960 (wish I could find the VIN #) .My wife decided to have twins in Dec. of 1962, so it had to go away. Traded it off in Santa Maria CA. Forty-for years later, in late 2003, I bought my next BE from a guy in Napa CA. Not the same car, but near the serial number as original BE. It was all apart, in boxes. It had come from Ravenna Motors in Seattle. Now, just yesterday, it is sitting in my shop, sitting on all 4 wheels, but have a problem with the alignment of the front wheels, pointing outward maybe 10 degrees. I hope it is just the fact that the steering arms are on the wrong side. Now regarding weather I can still fit in it, I have vowed to make myself fit, if possible. Hope to have a fit check in a few months. I was told by a guy just the other day, that the problem is not how my belly will fit behind the steering wheel, but the problem will be how I fit below the steering wheel, as he looked at my big butt and my equally ample belly.

 

[Gundy]

Traded a 1966 GTO with a blown motor
( I held 3rd a bit long racing a 390 Mustang ) for a 1967 Sprite.
Blew up the 1275 after losing an axle
or two along the way. Re-built and
built it up a bit. New paint, engine,
suspension. It was sweet.
I always wanted a Sprite since my
older brother test drove one in 1965.
He got a 1965 Malibu SS instead.
What was he thinking?
Drove the 67 all through college.
Sold it to pay for post grad school.
Decades passed and I never forgot
that BRG 67 hot rod.
Bought my bugeye just a few years ago.
Mostly completed by several owners.
I've added my touches since.
Seems like yesterdays in so many ways.
Except with the bugeye it is up a notch.
I sometimes think about where the next
owner will take the old girl.
They lend themselves to personal
expression so well.

 

[David_Doan]

My father-in-law bought a one owner 59 Bugeye in August 86. He was so proud of it. I met my wife to be in 89. Her dad showed me his prized possession and actually let me drive it before my wife did. At the time I was 22. I was mildly amused, but I thought who cares about a car with a 1 liter engine and only 40 horsepower. He died of cancer in 2003 and the car sat in my mother-in-law's garage for about 8 years.

She finally forced her son to take it, he put new tires on it and put in in storage. Later she moved and he put it back in her garage. In the summer of 2011 she decided to sell it to help my son buy his 1st car. I offered to get it running and driving to increase the value.

My 15 yo son and I worked on it for a couple months to get safe to drive. My favorite memory of that time was about 3 weeks into it we had the engine running, clutch working, and had rebuilt the back brakes so the hand brake would work. We took our 1st ride around the neighborhood with only the hand brake - no brake lights, no blinkers - we had a ball.

That's when I was hooked. We kept working on it, got it inspected and insured. Then grandma gave me the title and it has been my project since.

We ended up buying my son a 98 Camaro. The engine spun a rod bearing the day we drove it home. We replaced the motor and clutch and rebuilt everything else. The Bugeye wet his appetite for working on cars...

 

[BillW103]

1960 I sold newspapers in the barracks on Fort Lewis Wa and one of the GIs had a Bugeye and I saw it for about 6 months then it was gone. I never saw another Bugeye till 1979. While working on a job I ran into a down and out woman with a broken down Bugeye. She said $250.00 and it yours. After spending my last $250.00 and tucking the Bugeye into the garage I went looking for a master cylinder. It was quite depressing finding out a master cylinder was going to cost more than the car.
Running a business a wife and 3 kids life fly’s by. The Bugeye was lost in the garage.
Inspiration hit summer of 2009. I pulled it out and in one week had every nut and bolt apart. Summer of 2010 50 years from when it was built I drove it for the first time. It’s still an ongoing project drive it in the summer and upgrades in the winter.
I have done a lot of mechanical work over the years and I found the Sprite to be one of the most fun projects I have done. They are so simple and basic. I had hot rod guys trying to get me to stuff some monster motor in it (and we do have the technology to do it) but the 1275 fits so well and I stuck with it. My only regret is I forgot to take before pictures.
I just put 3.9 gears in and that was a worthwhile project.

 

[nomad]

This is an interesting thread! Thanks for starting it.
I grew up on a farm and had access to old junk engines as a kid so being interested in the internal combustion engine was kind of a natural.
Along came high school and all my friends were gearhead's. Of course that meant mainly big engine's and cars that would go fast only in a straight line. Then a close friend acquired a MGA and we began to get interested in what was going on in the rest of the world.
Hung out at the only foreign garage in the area and often would encounter a guy with a bug-eye. I liked the idea of a very basic no frill's car that the BE was but my companion's convinced me that I would not be happy with the power so I passed on one. The interest never really went away, though, and a decade or so ago I put one on my "bucket" list and have not been disappointed. Light and with tweeks, not lacking in power. Not perfection but their flaws are easy to overlook.

Kurt.

 

[aeronca65t]

I was born in the UK and my Irish father always liked clamshell-fendered MG-Ts.
When he was a teenager in Ireland, he once drove a three-wheel Morgan.
Even though he never owned any MGs, he sort of passed on the interest to me (and I've never owned a T-series either.....yet).
At one point, I read "The Red Car" around 6th grade and after that I had to have a sports car.
By the time I was 16, I owned a dreadful MGA. A year later I bought an equally bad TR3. I could barely keep them both running.
Eventually, I sold both of them (for a total of $200....and both ran) to buy an enginless Bugeye from my neighbour. He bought and sold cars and somehow, ended up with the Bugeye. I gave him $60 for it and soon after, bought a 948 from a junkyard for about $75.
I ran the car to college and also autocrossed it. But it was pretty rusty so I scrapped it when I bought my two-year old '67 Sprite. I gave the nose to a friend (I think he still has it). Another friend liked my Bugeye so much he bought one too (and he still has it).
The first shot below is me with friends at McGuire Air Force Base running an autocross on the runway (Flying Burros Sports Car Club) and the others were taken at an event at New Egypt Speedway. All taken in late 60s / early 70s.

You can see all my old car photos ~HERE~

 

[bug_sixty]

Well, I've always been a British car owner...MGTD first car...Bought it from Ravenna Motors in the early 60's.. Dr.'s car.. Restored it in one summer. Paint, engine etc. of my soph year and sold it a few years after college....then bought a new 240Z first year edition thinking I had gotten the bloody English out of me....The Z was fast....but I soon found myself on the brink of losing my license for tickets...so it was sold and after a few more years I settled on the BE for my love lost.... 1974 and still have it....now, not that it was on the road all that time....When the kids were being raised it wasn't always running and of course two occupants only wasn't handy.... But through it all, the memories for "all" are like the above pic's .... Funny, for years I lived on a busy two lane st. near a ferry landing, and on many a summer day I would be working on the BE, only to be interrupted by someone stopping in the middle of the road !!getting out of their car and striking up a conversation about their fond life experience either owning a BE or riding in one...never did they have a bad word for the BE.. I'm sure when I pass on, the poster board at my gathering will be as much about my beloved British cars as the kids and family! haha Eric

 

[bugedd]

My aunt and her husband own Martin Hveen Automobile Restorations, Martin has owned a bugeye for over 20 years, and he specializes in show winning resto's of British cars. Check out his site on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Martin-Hveem-Automobile-Restorations/130983630311746?fref=ts
Anyhow, I am now 39, and my son who is now 9, sat in Martin's bugeye about 4 years ago at a show and fell in love. I came from a muscle car background, my first car was a 69 Chevelle. I never thought much of LBC's until I sat in that car, then it clicked. And it clicked for my kid as well. I'll see if I can attach the pic. Anyhow, one year later I found one on Craigslist, 500 miles away, and randomly ran into a fellow who was moving up that way and was doing so with multiple loads with his car hauler. Yep, it was meant to be. Now there is a little yellow go-cart of a car in the garage. My son loves helping working on it. He actually pulled all the bolts for the oil pan by himself 2 years ago. Unfortunately it was a victim of a bad hit once in its long life, and the shell is scrap. So I am having another tub blasted in the next month or so and will start bodywork and then a parts swap. I anticipate my kid will be helping. I told him that when its done and he is of age, he can drive it. Maybe I shouldn't have said that!

 

[DanLewis]

Let me begin by mentioning that I'm 66 years old, so the list of cars that I've owned over the years gets really long. I'll spare you the Studebaker (that I put a Chevy V8 in when I was 16), the Corvairs (that I drove in the winter snows of NY instead of driving my Europa), the Dodge Charger or the VWs. My first "sporty" (not quite what I would call a real "sports") car was an Opel GT, but it got me hooked. My British cars began with a Renault powered Lotus Europa, followed by a very rare Unipower GT (kinda stumbled onto it and didn't even realize how rare it was), a Ford powered Lotus Europa, and a Lotus Elite - all of which overheated and leaked oil, and none of which I still own. Then marriage demanded more reliable transportation, so the sports car passion got put on hold for about 15 years. Then two years ago I got a large tax refund, my daughters had graduated from toddler stage, and I got the itch again. I've never forgotten my high school buddy who was given a BE his senior year in high school. I was so envious! So this time I thought - hey, let's try "nostalgic" for a change. I found my Bugeye on eBay, and it was only 20 miles away - 'bought it, and have been tinkering ever since. If you're like me, the tinkering is almost more fun than driving it. I remember telling my wife when I bought it that it was in great condition and the only things that needed to be done were minor and wouldn't cost much. Ha! Since then I've replaced the engine, transmission, and differential, converted to disc brakes, replaced the generator with an alternator, installed an electronic distributor, and a whole lot of other "projects". Right now I'm waiting for a tri-core radiator that I've ordered, and hope to install before it gets really hot this summer. It never ends, and I love it!

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Another one with the "Tinkering"/Problem Solving Gene. At 62, I too am afflicted.

 

[Rut]

I wonder what the average age of Bugeye owners on BCF is? I'm 63 and it looks like I have a lot of company!
Rut

 

[David_Doan]

I wonder what the average age of Bugeye owners on BCF is? I'm 63 and it looks like I have a lot of company!
Rut

I will start a poll on a separate thread.

 

[nomad]

I really enjoyed the "archive", Nial. My motorsport in those days was mainly on two wheels but mainly because we had little pavement and lots of dirt track's! Managed to take in the "June Sprints" at Road America for many years so kept up with sports car racing. BTW, just to tease, my first british car was a MG TC. In those days just a old car that I thrashed severely!

Kurt.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

I got this note from Bill Mayer - one year anniversary of getting another Bugeye on Sunday. I invited him to join our list. Bugeye Owner from S. Cal. This one needed to be included as part of this list.

I never told you the story of why I have Bugeye today. In 1961 I bought a Old English White 59 bugeye that I drove to college everyday. I even drove it to Yosemite and on to San Francisco with the top down all the way. In 1963 I proposed to my wife Joal and then realiized that I needed to buy her an engagement ring. So I sold the Bugeye to buy her a ring. We will have been married for 49 years in June. Off and on during those years I would get a yen to get another Bugeye, but I never acted on it. Then a year ago I saw a guy driving a Bugeye and I had to have one. So the quest started. I even flew to Omaha Nebraska to look at one. Then one morning I saw one for sale in Honey Lake Washington on Bugeye Parts I called the seller and told him my sad tale and he agreed to wait until I could get up there to see it before selling it to anyone else, although he could let other people look, I had first dibs. I flew up and bought it on May 12, 2012 exactly one year ago today. I named the Bugeye "59 Diamond" for obvious reasons. By the way Joal still has the Diamond Ring and I have a Bugeye.The guy that went to Yosemite and San Francisco with me back in 1963 is still my best friend and I am working on persuading him to drive to Mammoth Lakes Calif. which is near Yosemite, where my daughter recently bought a Condo. The trip if we took the freeway is about 500 miles, but I have mapped out a route avoiding the freeway which will be about 750 miles and will take a few days to get there stoping several times along the way to rest our weary bones. So as they say," Now you know the rest of the story".
Bill

 

[aeronca65t]

Great story! Thanks!

 

[bugeyepaul]

My brother got a bugeye when I was about 12. We fixed it and he drove it until he went off to college. In 1978 when I was 14 (he was 18) he was a pedestrian killed by a drunk driver. The family decided I should have it as I had helped the most getting it running. I restored it badly, but not too bad for a youngster, and drove it in high school and for a few years of college. I even drove it across the country once when I was 21 which was a great adventure. Almost wadded it up once so I went to the Jim Russell school to learn how to not do that(I highly recommend driving schools for kids now) Then parked it at my parents house where it sat for many years. I went and became a car designer and learned a lot about metal work and craftsmanship in general. I also went and had a family. So, now I'm restoring it nicely. My daughters are helping me and it should be ready for paint very soon. Hopefully it'll be on the road before my oldest finishes middle school in a couple of years. I have no plans to ever get rid of this one, it's going to be nice.
My oldest daughter wants to build a Midget or MGB for her first car. Ill help.