It's a small world

[Gundy]

Saturday my fellow BE friend and I spent the day putting the tonneau on my BE. His has been in storage since 1976.
He's now going 1380cc and all that jazz. He's ordered a ton of
performance stuff from merry ol England (good exchange rate right now). Titan rockers and the whole shebang.
Now, he and I both haven't seen another BE around here for decades.
He takes a short cut to Home Depot to buy some lumber on the way home.
He passes a great looking BE in BRG that looked mint.
His trained ear recognizes it as a 948cc as it whizzes by.
Even had the stock skinny tires and moon hub caps.
He wife sees it too as she goes to Home Depot via a different route.( she has a 70 something Midget).
Now what are the odds on THAT happening?

Ohm...spridget,spridget,spridget...Ohm

 

[GeeBee1]

Nice find, track him down.

Pat

 

[Gundy]

Nice find, track him down.

Pat

I have another friend who is good at that type of
thing. I think I'll ask him to search the state for BEs.
He did this for our Land Cruisers club and even had a county
by county break down.
Hehe...this ought to be a snap. I'm betting there are FAR fewer BEs than LCs.

 

[Bayless]

I have a young friend who owns a bugeye that his father bought new.

 

[smaceng]

Just a little off the subject, from whom is your friend buying parts in merry old England? I may have to follow suit. The prices seem too low to resist! How is the service and how long does it take to get parts?
Cheers,
Scott

 

[toysrrus]

Howdy Gundy,

I have a friend (Now a Friend). When I had my `69 Alfa-Romeo Duetto, I also saw someone cruising around in a similar car!

Rare indeed to see a "Duetto" period!

I chased him for "Miles" till he finally stopped (Ironically in a Home Depot parking lot)& the rest is History. Right now I`m helping him restore (Nut & Bolt) a `69 Duetto among the other "6" Duettos he has.

What I don`t understand is; Why did`nt your friend "Chase" the Bugeye to make His / Her acquaintance?

Soon there will be another Bugeye in the "Pumpkintown" area cruising the back hills! "Guess Who"?

Regards, Russ

 

[BuggerAll]

Re: English parts vendors. I've been buying engine bits from MiniSparesCentre and Minisport. You pay a flat 35 pound UPS fee for most shipments but that's alright. The blush is fading from the rose a little bit, since the pound has risen to $1.45 over the last days - my most recent purchase was invoiced at $1.38 to the pound. Minisport had their 1.5:1 roller rockers on sale for 125 pounds, and as an export sale you don't pay VAT. They're not Titans but they look and function very nicely, included proper pillars and spacers. Had them fit to my Pierce head within a half hout - so now I'll probably be listing my Keith Dodd forged 1.5:1 rockers that I bought from Minimania for rather more than I paid for the roller arms - or take them to Carlisle and peddle them along with the flamethrower distributor I no longer need since I wen distributorless.

 

[RickB]

I'm sure I won't get the currency exchange for the day I ordered my parts from AHspares. Now nearly a week later they haven't been able to finalize the order for me. I guess if they wait too long I'll simply cancel.

Too bad, but I'm sure I can get good parts elsewhere if they want to play a waiting game.

 

[Gundy]

Just a little off the subject, from whom is your friend buying parts in merry old England? I may have to follow suit. The prices seem too low to resist! How is the service and how long does it take to get parts?
Cheers,
Scott

He bought a bunch of stuff when the rate was 1.35. :wink:
minispares.com
jonspeed4minis.co.uk
Remember you have to pay a duty tax and shipping so
buyer beware.

 

[Gundy]

Howdy Gundy,

I have a friend (Now a Friend). When I had my `69 Alfa-Romeo Duetto, I also saw someone cruising around in a similar car!

Rare indeed to see a "Duetto" period!

I chased him for "Miles" till he finally stopped (Ironically in a Home Depot parking lot)& the rest is History. Right now I`m helping him restore (Nut & Bolt) a `69 Duetto among the other "6" Duettos he has.

What I don`t understand is; Why did`nt your friend "Chase" the Bugeye to make His / Her acquaintance?

Soon there will be another Bugeye in the "Pumpkintown" area cruising the back hills! "Guess Who"?

Regards, Russ

Get yer butt on down here Russ!
I need another BE nut and drinking/sushi buddy
bad.

My long time friend(40 years+) had a load of lumber or he would have run 'em down.
Especially since he owns Import Specialties in Greenville.
New customer ya know. :wink:
He's been invaluable to me over the years. All I drive
is old import junk. :wink:

 

[RickB]

I got my reply, 49.50 GBP to ship.
The exchange rate has worsened for us since my last post.
Now at a bit over $1.47 per GBP.

So the whole shipment will cost me shy of $19 more than it would have last week.
As long as they don't wait until next week to ship I should be OK.

 

[BuggerAll]

I haven't paid duty on any of my orders.

 

[toysrrus]

Hi There Gundy,

"IMPORT SPECIALTIES"????

What does he sell there? BE parts by any chance? Let us know here cause he just may get a bunch of "NEW" customers!!

Regards,

Russ

 

[dklawson]

I have also used Mini Spares and MiniSport. However, I typically wait until I have a sizable order so the shipping (when averaged out) is less painful.

There are a number of parts that have been SO (relatively) inexpensive that even with shipping it's worth buying from the U.K. My most recent purchase was a lightened flywheel. I bought when it was about $1.52/GBP and it was STILL about half price (including shipping) buying from Mini Spares than buying the parts in the U.S.

Another question above was about delivery time. I NEVER order directly online. I conduct my purchases via email to make sure the items I want are really in stock. This avoids partial or delayed shipments. When I order parts from Mini Mania, it's typically 9 day delivery from California to the east coast. When I order from Mini Spares, delivery is typically 5 days. So, it's typically faster and cheaper for me to purchase from the U.K.

 

[Gundy]

Hi There Gundy,

"IMPORT SPECIALTIES"????

What does he sell there? BE parts by any chance? Let us know here cause he just may get a bunch of "NEW" customers!!

Regards,

Russ

Alan Gilbert is my friend/owner. He's been a BE owner since
the 60s.
Very knowledgeable. Good guy. Will ship.
Greenville S.C.
864-233-5431.

 

[Gundy]

My intake for the HIF6 came from Minispares.com.
It's embossed right there on the top of the aluminum
intake.

 

[ncbugeye]

I think you may find that the reason why you see so few of them on the road is that many LBC owners have a work-in-progress in the garage, which for all the usual reasons has not seen the light of day for many years. I was fortunate a couple of years ago to buy a runner, not a concours car by any means, but almost no rust anywhere. I get out in it only in April-May or September-October. Other months it is either way too hot or way too cold here in North Carolina.

I know a guy locally who has 4 well-rusted Bugeyes in a row stacked on top of some racks of Britcar parts, all awaiting restoration.

 

[Gundy]

I have to agree. BE's aren't the normal daily drivers.
My BE only sees nice dry sunny days. That translates
into about 250 miles since December and I drive it EVERY chance I get since it's "new" to me and such a rush to drive.
I don't think I could park it in public and leave it alone for a minute. It's a driver, not a museum piece but the body
is all original and it'd kill me to have it smashed in a parking
lot accident. Heck I will not park it in MY office parking lot.
Funny thing. The week I bought the BE my wife went to the beach
and passed a red racing BE on a trailer with the #3 on the side
going down the highway.
She hadn't seen one in decades either.

 

[dklawson]

I know a guy locally who has 4 well-rusted Bugeyes in a row stacked on top of some racks of Britcar parts, all awaiting restoration.

That sounds like Bill Hargrove.

 

[ncbugeye]

Absolutely correct.