Green Bugeye on E-Bay

5

59diamond

Jedi Warrior

Offline

• Jul 3, 2015

• #1

This looks like a nice restored Bugeye.

https://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=201381900234&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2565

 

bugedd

Jedi Knight

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• Jul 3, 2015

• #2

Nice car, will be interested to see what it sells for.

 

W

Whitephrog

Luke Skywalker

Offline

• Jul 5, 2015

• #3

$25,100 with five days left. Already $7K more than I thought it would sell for.

 

Jim_Gruber

Yoda

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• Jul 5, 2015

• #4

This BE looks to be very well done. Far higher grade of restoration than the yellow or red one that a dealer has on eBay right now. It's timing on when the market peaks every year. Usually in early Spring.

 

OP

5

59diamond

Jedi Warrior

Offline

• Jul 5, 2015

• #5

I looked up the location of the car and it is in Oakhurst, Ca near Yosemite. Oakhurst has a population of about 2,900 people so it is probably not going to sell locally with that small of an audience.
It does kind of amaze me that BE's like this one are around and yet never seen until it goes on E-Bay. I wonder how many other unseen Gems are out there. well never seen on the BCF for instance.

 

N

nomad

Yoda

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• Jul 5, 2015

• #6

27K Wow!!! Its not original or perfect...just nice.

Kurt.

 

W

Whitephrog

Luke Skywalker

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• Jul 5, 2015

• #7

Something seems a bit fishy about this.

 

OP

5

59diamond

Jedi Warrior

Offline

• Jul 6, 2015

• #8

Basically it is down to two bidders duking it out. It will be interesting to see which one blinks.

 

HealeyRick

Yoda

Silver

Offline

• Jul 6, 2015

• #9

59diamond said:

Basically it is down to two bidders duking it out. It will be interesting to see which one blinks.

Click to expand...

Well, yeah. Now that this guy retracted his bid:

Bidder	Action	Date of Bid and Retraction
	a***v ( 145 )	Retracted: US $178,000.00	Bid: Jul-04-15 13:52:09 PDT Retracted: Jul-04-15 13:55:55 PDT

 

OP

5

59diamond

Jedi Warrior

Offline

• Jul 6, 2015

• #10

I am curious how you caught that.

 

OP

5

59diamond

Jedi Warrior

Offline

• Jul 6, 2015

• #11

On the other hand it could have been a sneaky way to expose all the automatic bids.

 

OP

5

59diamond

Jedi Warrior

Offline

• Jul 7, 2015

• #12

Can anyone verify that this car was in the Jan-Feb 2011 issue of the Austin Healey Magazine

 

W

Whitephrog

Luke Skywalker

Offline

• Jul 8, 2015

• #13

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/showthread.php?91907-New-guy-new-Bugeye-member

 

bugedd

Jedi Knight

Offline

• Jul 10, 2015

• #14

$34,501...wow. Check out the bidding history, guy won it by $1!

 

OP

5

59diamond

Jedi Warrior

Offline

• Jul 10, 2015

• #15

Yeah I saw that. It makes me think that I should put a 24 hour armed guard around 60 FROG!!

 

Jim_Gruber

Yoda

Offline

• Jul 10, 2015

• #16

This one was not as nice as IRis Leo S's BE that sold 2-3 years ago. But I need to show to my wife so she stops combining about 2 rusty BE projects that I own.

 

racingenglishcars

Darth Vader

Offline

• Jul 10, 2015

• #17

It is a stunning looking car. A rust free body is always a good thing, and all the spare original parts with it is helpful. It has later model engine, trans, brakes. Yeah, all the good stuff, even thought the wheels are far from "period" equipment. So not original but mostly finished, and a very nice looking car at that. But that price! I think the price pushes the limits of what I would think reasonable. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that this will make my own car a bit more valuable, but can it really be true that a "resto-rod" is worth more than a pristine original example?
Btw, I personally think the rear springs sit way too high and the interior panels detract from the arm room. But I guess that's just personal taste.

 

Gundy

Luke Skywalker

Offline

• Jul 10, 2015

• #18

Seems resto/mod that is sensitive to the car's origins isn't hurting the price.
What if you took this car to another level?
Street performance setup doesn't have to hinder driveabilty.
You reach that point of no $ return eventually. This sale shows
that point keeps climbing for solid Frogeyes.
Go Frogs!

 

OP

5

59diamond

Jedi Warrior

Offline

• Jul 11, 2015

• #19

I guess if somebody really wants something and they have the moola then price is no object. I think it takes a buyer who really likes good quality work.

 

BlueMax

Jedi Warrior

Offline

• Jul 11, 2015

• #20

You have to consider what it takes to do a mod car compared to original car labor/cost wise.

Original car you just remove and replace back with its replacement part.. No creativity/innovation or enhancements. That’s where the expensive comes to play.

If we were talking about a DB5 Astons or 275 GTB 4, cars with production of less than a 1000, of coarse you would want to keep its originality. Or if you have an original Bugeye that say was the first car or the last car produced kept in the museum for sure it should be kept original.

Lets not forget that Sprites were made cheep for the starter sport car enthusiast..

Look in the original parts catalog. There is a whole chapter of performance parts provided by BMC. You had springs, camshafts, sway-bars, shocks, wheels, exhaust, carburetors, distributors, and may other performance components. Donald knew that racing and performance parts would enhance the Bugeye Sprite owners driving experience. He even showed the world how well the cars would perform when he showed up at Sebring in 59.

Much rather have a resto/mod than a car that will barely stop, has no power, body roll to the hilts. 43 hp with 52lbs of torque, 0-60 20.5 seconds, man that’s eating some asphalt for sure. Usain Bolt could beet it in 100 meters.. “NO” I’ll keep my resto/mod while keeping looks all British.