Welcome to a celebration of the Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite. You'll see Sprites of all kinds here. Scroll down for lots of photos, videos and fun! 

Since 1979, I've been passionate about these wonderful little cars. Now, I specialize in the restoration and sales of great British cars. Let us locate, restore and/or prepare your dream car just for you!

Which one is for you?

Bugeye Oral Hygiene

BUGEYES BOUGHT AND SOLD! 

Cars can be shipped anywhere in the world... 

Call or email if you would like to sell your Bugeye... I can also locate a car for you or evaluate one you are thinking of purchasing (from photos or in-person).

Current cars for sale as of 3-1-10:

1958 Bugeye

Amazing Bugeye restoration!

 The car was completely stripped and repainted over and under on a rotisserie and then repainted with the original leaf green factory color. Scroll down to check out the floor pans... you could eat off the underside of this car!

Every nut and bolt is brand new-thousands were spend on parts and upgrades. Most notable improvements are disk brakes, wire wheels, lower rear end ratio (for improved highway cruising), new chrome knock offs, new wire wheels, new front shocks, new brass sleeved master cylinder, luggage rack, larger SU carburetors, chrome air cleaners, new top, stainless steel exhaust system, and more! The original 948 engine is like new with less than 500 miles since an extensive engine rebuild. Original smooth-case 4- speed transmission in excellent condition. A large folder of receipts document this extensive restoration.

Wonderful in every way!

Call for more details! 203 561 6929, during business hours please...

Scroll down for videos/click the photo below to see more pix in a slideshow

Underside tour video!

Good Fun!

5-Speed 1960 Bugeye for sale!

Here's a very original looking Bugeye that has been upgraded with a 1275 engine mated to a Datsun 5 Speed transmission. If you are unfamiliar, this is a popular conversation that has been offered for Sprites for quite some time. The fifth gear is great for Highway cruising. An additional advantage is a full synchromesh on all gears, unlike most sprite transmissions which have no first gear synchos. Thus the Datsun 5 speed is a bit easier to drive, particularly at low speeds where first gear can be engaged easily while still rolling forward. 

This car has undergone a major restoration and we should be finished shortly. So far, we have installed a complete new interior including new seat pans, new seat foam, new seat covers and carpets. As you can see, the interior is stunning. We've also put in a new exhaust, new gas tank, new brake and clutch master cylinder and more. The driver's floor pan has also been replaced with a new factory panel. The underside is solid and the car is mechanically excellent. The paint is older and shows some chips but the car still looks great and makes a wonderful driver.

Call if you would like to own this great car! 203 561 6929. 

More pictures to come!

Also for sale-1961 MGA!

$8,495

Call for details! 203 561 6929

Customer Testimonials-Meet some of the people who have purchased the cars below:

Recent Sales:

(click photo to watch videos about these)

     1960 AH 3000 mark 1         1961 AH 3000 mark 2         Bugeye parts car               1960 MGA                                1961 MGA

1958 MGA                            1972 MGBGT                 1959 Bugeye Barn Find          1965 TR4                               1958 MGA                

1952 MGTD                     1959 Bugeye             1967 MGBGT w/OD      1960 Bugeye            1961 Bugeye Project 

1969 Sprite                        1959 Bugeye               1958 TR3                  1958 Bugeye               1956 MGA

1953 MGTD                      1959 Bugeye              1959 Bugeye             1960 Bugeye

Photo of the month

Here is the foundation of a stock bugeye. These photos are useful so you can see what is often hidden by years of oil and dirt and sometimes missing due to rust! In the second photo, you can see how the quarter eliptical springs plug into the body. Thanks to the seller of this car for posting these restoration photos! 

Sprites are carbonated! ("A" pillars frequently bubble)

Send me your fun pictures and I will post them here!

Watercolor and animation by Marshall Peck, mpeck3@comcast.net. Thanks Marshall!

Bugeye with trunk lid? 

Below is a car that was recently listed on ebay with a trunk lid cut into the back deck. The story goes that it was too costly to build a trunk lid into the car so all original Bugeyes have their boot accessed only behind the seats. No lid cut-out also made the car stronger. Apparently, a few factory prototypes were made with a lid, although the owner of this particular car said this was not likely to be a factory modified car. I found this car quite unusual and wanted to share it. Thanks to Fred Jordan for the Nor Cal advert above-this looks to be a surviving Nor Cal product! (BTW, where is the guy in the ad going to put the other three suitcases?)

In the second photo, you can see what happens when you have a boot lid... dirt, water and crud gets into your trunk! If you've ever had the pleasure of climbing into a stock Bugeye boot, you know that it is pretty rare for one to get this nasty-they're usually pretty clean. But with a boot lid, anything can get in there! (Although I bet wiring the tail lights is a lot easier!) 

Diary of a repaint... This car is sold to a new owner in Texas but here's the story of how it was reborn: 

This car has a period correct Amco rear bumper bar. Kinda cool! And it will protect the lovely new paint! Scroll down for pictures of the restoration!

 The first phase of this restoration was to repair any visible rust. This is a Texas car that spent its life in dry climate and is thus surprisingly solid. So there was only one area that needed obvious repair in the common Bugeye problem area behind the rear wheel. So prior to the complete stripping of old paint off of this car, we fabricated and welded a patch to the bottom of the rear fender. In the video below, you can see how we removed the rust and replaced it with new metal. Stuart is a master at this kind of metal fabrication and as always, we insist on fixing these cars right.

Next, we completely removed all the trim on the car and sent the car to a media blaster who completely removed all the old paint. Below you can see the car after media blasting. The car was stripped to bare metal. We started with a solid mostly original Texas car with low miles and without the common rust issues so common on cars in Northern climates. Blasting allows us to reveal the foundation of the body of the car and gets rid of any old body repairs and putty. Only a small rust area was revealed in the bottom of the rocker panel just behind the right front wheel. The rest of the car was surprisingly solid after 50 years!

The rocker panel was welded and the car was completely prepped for paint. Below are contour stripes painted on to help see how fair all the curves are. I had a great team of body shop guys working hard to make absolutely certain all the curves were right and smooth. Bugeye back decks are particularly challenging-over the years people put packages and pocket books on the rear deck and all Bugeyes pick -up small dings and ripples. People sometimes sit on them! So in pre-paint, all those imperfections are removed to return to the body that left the factory. Mike sprays on these stripes to read the quality of the foundation.

Here's the masking (and eyebrows) going on, she's almost ready to be re-sprayed. Smile!

Lots of sanding and smoothing to make sure that primer is perfect and any old dings or nicks are long gone... it takes time and patience to make sure the foundation is perfectly prepped for the next 50 years.

And below is the finished paint... finally, the little Sprite is liberated from the body shop... now for the careful reassembly and lots of brand new rubber trim gaskets! Simple cars with few pieces but to carefully assemble a freshly painted car takes a lot of time! 

Coming together! She's almost done! This car has had hundreds of hours invested to make her ready for her new home! 

Drive it!

Take a walk around tour!

Racing Time Warp! 

This is a 42k mile car which I purchased from the second owner, who owned the car since 1962! 

As you probably know, Bugeyes were and are popular weekend racers. Here's a series of photos from the 60s of the lovely restored car pictured above, #17, which the former owner raced on weekends at Vineland, Bridgehampton, Lime Rock and the like. He'd trailer the car behind his car and join the H production excitement with this mostly stock Bugeye!

He shot this photo below of a track mishap (not of his car) circa 1962

Here's the car today, restored by the same owner and repainted red after just 43k original miles. He sold it to me after 47 years of ownership! This is a two-owner Bugeye still on the road! Notice he has the slotted wheels on the car from a later sprite-he told me the original round hole rims were weak and he put these on while he was racing it because they are stronger! 

The interior has been restored... Dashboard still has original vinyl-notice the same dash in the old "before" pictures above!

Flip-forward nose makes engine access exceptional!

Take a fun drive below!

My Favorite Barn Find!

This seller told me that the MGA featured below was completely restored. "When," I asked? "In 1972," he said, "and it's still perfect..." watch below and see if you agree! (BTW, I didn't buy this one)

Bugeye of the future?

Shift tower is now a cup holder!

According to the owner:

The car is very simple to drive and makes no noise. Many people have driven this car with ease, one did not even know it was electric. Basically you put the key in and turn on, then press the button for the main contactor to engage. After that you flip the switch to forward or reverse and you are off. It is direct drive so there is no changing of gears or anything, basically it is like an automatic car. The weight of the car is about 200lbs more than the factory car.

And in case you prefer the other extreme 

(with minimum miles per gallon and maximum environmental impact) check out this racer! There's a Bugeye for every taste...

 Thanks to Kevin Berry for sharing his awesome car!

Mazda 13b rotary engine-250 HP 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My 1959 Austin Healey "Bugeye" Sprite. 

It might even fit in your pocket

Thinking of Buying a Bugeye? New DVD shows you how! (Click for more info)

Here's my story about an (almost) 30-year relationship with one particular Sprite.

I bought this car in 1979 while I was a senior in High School. Back then, it barely ran and was finished in gray primer. Since then, I have replaced just about every part on the car (some have now been replaced a second time). I’ve taken the engine out three times, most recently installing a rebuilt 1275 engine from another car. The stock engine was just 948 cc. That’s tiny.

Weather protection is a relative term.

Although I often drive the Bugeye on the highway at 60 MPH, comfortable top speed is about 45 MPH, ideal for motoring down back roads, with little between you and the adventures lurking on the roadside. As such, you actually stop in front of a house with an unusual array of lawn ornaments, to compliment the owner. You pull into an apple orchard to taste the fresh cider. You stop at a roadside rest and actually take a rest, so you can perhaps notice the particular way the trees are in bloom... or shedding their leaves. Stopping seems easier the Bugeye than in the seductive cocoon of a modern car, in which the urge to stop for an adventure can be all too easily dismissed in favor of proceeding to the destination.

The Bugeye is not my only car but I try to use it as much as I can. I have driven the car about 5,000 miles in the past year, which is more than I drove it in the last ten. In the summer of 2001, I replaced the engine, top, and side curtains, to make the car useable year round, unless it’s raining or there’s snow on the ground.

That summer I also repaired the one speed heater blower. Peter Egan, one of my favorite automotive writers, once said that the heater on his Lotus produced the heat of a hamster blowing through a straw. Now, with my one speed fan on “ON,” I have heat that would rival a panting raccoon.

It’s so cute and so non-threatening that people of all ages are drawn to inquire, “what is that?” It’s almost impossible to park it without having a conversation with people nearby. It encourages people to share passionate stories about their past. It makes people smile. It seems to open up the possibility of people actually relating to one another in front of parking meters, in bank drive-thrus and in shopping center parking lots. This car facilitates relationship adventures. That’s why I love the Bugeye.

It wasn’t always this way. I’ve owned this car since 1979. It never used to be such a novelty. But in the last ten years in particular, we seem to have become insulated in big cars that all look somewhat the same. Along comes the Bugeye with its smiling face and something wonderful happens. People seem to open up and become human once again.

A simple visit to the gas station (to fill up the 7.2-gallon tank) continually draws baby boomers off the main drag, to pay a visit and tell of childhood memories in Dad's first sports car in the 50s or 60s. On the highway, most overtaking drivers slow down and peer over their right shoulders with a smile and a “thumbs up” for the little Bugeye and the possibility that a mundane drive to town could be such an adventure. Children universally acknowledge the Bugeye with a giggle.

Vital Stats:

This car is # 14,908 of about 50,000 Bugeyes manufactured in England between 1958-1961. In 1962, it was replaced by the Sprite Mark 2, which was nearly the same car but lacked the distinctive frog headlights and as such was not nearly as popular. Austin Healey went out of business in 1967. Sprite Mark IVs were still imported into the US until 1969 and I am told there were also Sprite Mark IVs available in England until 1971.

This particular car has a 1275 cc 65 horse power engine, 2 seats, a marginal top that barely keeps out the rain, one speed non parking windshield wipers and plastic side curtains. I've also upgraded the front brakes to disks and added an anti roll bar in the front, both from a later MG Midget. 

The Bugeye was marketed as the poor man's sports car and cost just $1795 in 1958. Roll up windows and a radio would have pushed the price of the car out of reach of the target market, although an AM radio was optional. The cute little headlights were originally designed to be of the "pop up" variety, but because they couldn't afford the tooling, Austin Healey was forced to simply stick the headlights on the front of the car, and this is how the Bugeye was born.

British sports cars are really easy to maintain. With a good manual and set of tools, anyone can learn to fix them, although I wouldn’t recommend an old British car unless you like to get your hands dirty. A lot.

Gas mileage is about 32 MPG (better with the original 948 cc engine). Range is about 200 miles. Parts are readily available and relatively inexpensive. A water pump, for example, is only $26. A brake disk, $28. The Bugeye shares many parts with later Sprites and the MG Midget. There are several good catalog companies who stock almost every piece of these cars. Other parts are available used, from wrecks.

Top speed is about 85 miles per hour, but 45 is a more practical top speed, ideal for seeing the world and stumbling into A New Adventure Every Day (click here to see the book I wrote about living every day with "Bugeye Spirit"). 

A novel way to carry spare parts (if only...)

Bugeye Photo Gallery (submissions welcome!)

Send me your funny Bugeye pictures-I'll post them here!!

BREAKING NEWS!!!

Endangered Bugeye Noses are being successfully bred in captivity

Researchers experiment with different brands, but discover that Heineken, in sufficient quantities, keeps noses spritely!

(hard to see but those bags are filled with lots & lots of beer bottles) 

Sprite Mark IV set up for Southern Hemisphere Racing!

Taken from an online classified... (if you are unfamiliar, the SU carbs are upside down!) 

When a Bugeye exceeds 100 MPH...

Austin-Possum Sprite

(POSSitive Ground)

(This guy was living in the Bugeye battery box. You never know what you'll find under the hood!)

4-car garage re-defined

(not my garage, I wish tho!) 

Bugeye dies after Hard Life

"All I really ever wanted was more horsepower, says victim..."

RIP

(actually, this nose will live again, shipped to Alabama, adopted by a new chassis)

I was shooting a video that began with me driving up in a bugeye... here's a blooper, in which I was almost swallowed by a (great?) white Bugeye!

When I turned into the drive, the sliding battery was pulling the starter cable and engaging the starter-but I couldn't imagine this until I opened the hood. New Battery hold- down fixed the problem!

Your Bugeye 

Your car-Your project-Your passion!

I am all for originality, but I also like Bugeyes done in creative and interesting colors and stripes. Love 'em or hate 'em, it's still interesting to me to see what Bugeye owners do when it comes to expressing their own personal style! (PS the cars below are readers' cars-send me a pic of yours!)

Dashboard reference... Above: wrong temp guage/combo gauge, wrong switches next to key, no turn sig switch or washer...

Proper dash layout-heater/blower to right of ignition, wiper to left, washer pump to far right. This car with 5 speed...

Keep 'EM safe Departement

We're all for originality around here but sometimes you need modern safety gear, especially if you plan to wrestle with all those folks sending text messages while driving. Below are Inertia reel shoulder belts and air horns installed by Stuart on Bugeyes here at Brainerds garage. If you use the seat belt installation, make sure to plan for location of the top frame once it is in its holders. Be safe!

Laws for British Sports Cars
May 1994 By Don Hayward

1. LAW OF PECULIAR RANDOM NOMENCLATURE

The name of a British Sports Car shall consist primarily of letters and numbers chosen in random fashion so that the resultant vehicle name is wholly devoid of meaning.

The law explains why British cars always have spectacularly bad names like “XKE” or worse yet, “MGBGT”

2. LAW OF CRYPTIC INSTRUCTIONS

Any book, manual, pamphlet, or text dealing with the maintenance, repair, or restoration of a British Sports Car shall be written so that at least every fourth word will be unknown to the average reader. In the event that any portion of the text is understandable, the information contained therein shall be incorrect.

Most people are familiar with this law. Here is an excerpt from page 132 of the MGA shop manual. Before rebushing the lower grunion banjos, you must remove the bonnet fascia and undo the A-arm nit with a #3 spanner. All attempts to publish an English-language version of this manual have failed.

3. LOVE OF HARDSHIP LAW

The more a British Sports Car malfunctions, breaks, and/or falls apart, the more endearing it becomes of the owner.

You buy a British Sports Car. You have had it’s a year and a half and have replaced every item on the car at least twice. When the engine is started it sounds as if someone has thrown a handful of ball bearings into a blender. But when someone offers to buy it, you are offended because it is like a part of the family and besides, it is so much fun to drive. British Sports Cars owners often stare into space and smile a lot. This is referred to as the “Foolish Person Syndrome.”

4. LAW OF NON-FUNCTIONAL ATTRIBUTES

All British Sports Cars, regardless of condition or age shall always have at least one system or sub-system of components which is entirely non-functional, and cannot be repaired except on a semi-permanent or semi-functional basis.

5. RECENTLY DISCOVERED COMPONENT FAILURE LAW

Any component of a British Sports Car which is entirely unknown to the owner shall function perfectly, until such time that the owner becomes aware of the component’s existence, when it shall instantly fail.

Case in point: I have owned a rather natty MGB for six years. I never knew there was such a thing as a “Gulp Valve” until I saw new ones offered for sale by Moss Motors. The next day while driving my MGB to work, the Gulp Valve fell off the engine and was run over by a truck.

I do not know what the Gulp Valve gulps, nor do I particularly care to know, since it sounds messy and dangerous. But I figured I would buy anew Gulp Valve and install it myself. One look at the shop manual and I decided to have somebody else install it (see LAW OF CRYPTIC INSTRUCTIONS, above).

While I’m driving the car over to the local repair establishment, I notice that the MGB is performing just as well as it ever did, and that the loss of the mysterious Gulp Valve has not and any effect on its behavior. I figure this is due to the NON-FUNCTIONAL ATTRIBUTE LAW, which means that the Gulp Valve probably wasn’t gulping anything anyways, so I decide not to replace it after all.

Three days later the engine had no more oil in it and promptly seized into a solid mass of metal. The tow truck operator, being ignorant of the LOVE HARDSHIP LAW, offered to take the car off my hands for $100.00. I just smiled.

Reprinted from CT MG club news