NOW SOLD and soon moving to Nantucket! Congratulations Chris and Linda!
This Bugeye is a new favorite. AN5L 23751 is a super solid 1960 Bugeye we purchased from the original owner and his son. Dad bought this Sprite new in 1960 and father and son restored the car together the mid 1980s. We were lucky enough to get pictures of some driveway restoration moments, and as homage for all us sons who learned about cars from our dads, we worked hard to restore this car and preserve the essence of that period in history when sports cars were simple and certainly more pure.
The guys in the picture above finished their rebuild project as shown at left, but then took it apart again to refresh the engine and never finished reassembly, so we bought the pieces to give the project a jump start-we finished and restored everything as needed. We welded in a new battery tray, which had rusted-through. We cleaned, polished preserved and only replaced where needed, so this car could come back to the road once again. We left the period Abarth twin tipped exhaust, for example, a treasured accessory back then, sized for the 948 engine with a nice exhaust note. We kept the Austin Healy Sprite billet shift knob, and unlike modern light weight aluminum billet that is common for many modern bits, I think this shift knob is made from a solid piece of lead! We kept the period AM radio, and also a super cool rally map light in the passenger foot well, which works, and has a red removable lens so the navigator can retain his night vision without eye strain.
We went through every inch of this car, and it’s a very solid one. Floors are excellent. We changed all the rubber and hydraulic parts, put in a new fuel tank, and put on HS2 rebuilt (larger) carburetors on the stock original engine. We painted the rims, scrubbed and replaced the chrome as needed, and restored the unique Corvette spinner AH hubcaps, modified by the brothers who originally owned the car, as a tribute to one brothers’ passion for vettes (and if you prefer stock hubcaps, we have those too, and have added some photos to the gallery that show conventional hubcaps in place).
Thus Bugvette is a fitting name for this one, to honor the relationships and accessories that fueled many a Bugeye build back in the day. We are honored to be able to bring this one back to life for the next father and son team! Check out the issue date on Nov 1960 in the picture of the title to the left, verifying this is a one owner bug!
This low mileage car drives beautifully. Everything works. The original drum brakes all around stop the car beautifully. The rebuilt transmission we installed shifts through the gears easily. There is no top or tonneau yet, as these all failed to survive hibernation, but we can build those for the new owner, in blue, white or black. We’ve restored the top bow, so that is ready to receive the new top if the owner so desires. Original side curtains are included for restoration, or we have new ones for sale if you would rather not take on that project.
This car is good clean fun!