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59 bugeye price

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PhatBastard

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hey guy's need alittle help here making my mind up on this. A friend of mine has a 59 bugeye, tons of good parts,extra wheels,gauges,seats tons of parts. engine is 948 that has short block rebuilt, new head that is rebuilt but not installed yet, smooth case trans in good shape. body is nice little to no rust , even the bonnet looks good. The guy is asking 3000. for the project, is that too much? let me know thanks Joel
 
Sounds like a decent price to me, but I'm not very in touch with B/eye prices.

You'd be better served, by people more close to the pulse of the market, if you posted this in the Spridget forum.
 
Bugeye's bring pretty good prices here in the South, friend of the family bought one last fall for $11000. Decent running little car, shiney paint. Wasn't perfect but solid. From what you listed I would buy it if it was local.

Marv
 
You only mentioned the mechanical stuff. That's the easy stuff to replace. The critical thing here is the tub. If the tub is straight and sound and has no rust, then I think the price may be fair. Be very careful. The tub on a Sprite is somewhat delicate (if it's been hit) - compared to a Big Healey - and it is much more difficult, and expensive, to straighten. Do a very thorough examination of the tub and frame rails.
 
BoyRacer said:
You only mentioned the mechanical stuff. That's the easy stuff to replace. The critical thing here is the tub. If the tub is straight and sound and has no rust, then I think the price may be fair. Be very careful. The tub on a Sprite is somewhat delicate (if it's been hit) - compared to a Big Healey - and it is much more difficult, and expensive, to straighten. Do a very thorough examination of the tub and frame rails.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Bugeyes are all about rust. They most commonly rust in the rocker panels, inner sills, floor boards, lower edge of the area in front of the scuttle before the door, bottom rear of the front fenders, rear spring supports, and lower edges of the rear fenders, In other words, the lower 12 inches of the whole car. The bonnet is susceptible to crash damage and the rear deck is susceptible to oil canning. If the one you are looking at is solid in all those areas, $3k is a bargain. If not, you'd be better off looking for a well done restoration. The cheap part of a bugeye resto is the mechanicals, the bodywork is expensive. Nevertheless. a bugeye is about the most fun you'll ever have on four wheels. It was my first car in high school and I've owned my second one for almost 35 ears. Get a good one and it will be a friend for life. Donald Healey would regularly tell us it was the favorite of the cars he built.
 
I've owned five or six and sold my last one in 2002. The rust is very easy to see in most areas with the exception of the rear spring boxes. If they rust out, the repair is not going to be cheap. If I were you, I'd watch e-bay. The cars that have high reserves never seem to sell. The cars that sell seem to go between 6 and 9 K.
 
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