1960 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite Mark 1

Convertible

948

Manual

AN5L 36845

Clear

Here's a Bugeye project that has been sitting since 1981! I purchased it from the second owner who bought the car in 1966. He bought it in 1966 for $50 from a kid who needed the money to put tires on his motorcycle! He (the second owner) used it very little before parking it in 1981 in his garage, where it has sat until recently. The odometer shows under 10k miles. It's hard to know the actual mileage on any old British car but the prior owner (who I bought the car from) said he drove it very little, so most if not all mileage was put on this car prior to 1966. Kinda cool. Now the car needs total restoration, or it could be a parts car, although it would be a shame not to bring it back to life, particularly since the car has the original matching engine that came with the car. I have not tried to turn over the engine, but you should assume it is stuck from sitting for 30 plus years, and will need to be rebuilt. The car appears to be complete, less some obvious items like the ignition switch (which is available new for about $65) and hood emblem (about $30). The car needs floor pans, rocker panels, fender bottom and spring box repair. We have repaired similar Bugeyes -- floor pans are available as are rocker panels and pretty much all parts for the car. We have all the sheet metal parts needed in stock and can ship them to you in/with the car. Bugeyes are built with a simple unibody box construction (remember, they were trying to save money in manufacturing so they could make an inexpensive sports car) so removing the rockers and floor pans is not complicated, and this can be a very rewarding project for anyone looking for fun small car with inexpensive parts. The nose is quite good on this car, with no evidence of prior repairs or crashes. The nose is not all lumpy and stretched, which can had a lot of time to one of these projects. Nice to have a good nose! We're restoring a Bugeye now in our shop for a new owner in California that looked similar to this car when we started and I have included a few pictures of that car now with its new rockers and floor pans to demonstrate what can be done. You'll see the light green car before restoration began parked in front of our shop (next to this dark green Bugeye), and the last two photos are of it's new floor pan on the driver side as well as its A pillar repair. That car had no lower door hinge mount, and equally perforated rockers and now its all been repaired with new metal in place and that Bugeye will soon be ready for the next 50 years on the road. These are common repairs for these unrestored Bugeyes that have sat for 30 plus years. We have about 200 videos on you tube (which have now been watched more than 800k times!!!) and many of these videos show sheet metal restoration on Bugeyes, so I encourage everyone to dive in! Years ago this would have been a parts car, but now that Bugeye prices are climbing, and their cult following continues to grow, a car like this is a restoration candidate. There can only be so many of these left, and there is nothing else like a Bugeye. So please give this car a new home, and another chance to delight both driver and spectator with many more Bugeye miles! You can see a slideshow with more pictures by clicking here!