Anyone Know These Guys? Or Remember Sprite-Midget Owners' Group?

[johntennyson]

At the Blackhawk British Meet in Danville, CA this past October, was this Sprite:

Which I found really interesting. Nice car, but it was the plate that I really wanted to talk to the owner about. See, (ye gads!) forty years ago, we had a Spridget club in the Bay Area, the Sprite-Midget Owners' Group (yeah, "SMOG") and one of the members had the car below, an immaculate silver Bugeye with American Racing Spectres and a special pedal set-up because he was a Vietnam vet who'd given part of a leg for our country:

It's driving me nuts, I can't remember his name, but he was a great guy, one of a number of great characters we had back then.

Here's a better picture of his license plate

I can't believe the plate got re-issued to another Bugeye without the two guys knowing each other... or is that what happened?

I mean, I can understand that it probably wouldn't be requested by a Camry owner, but it is odd that it wound up on two different Bugeyes...

 

[rezqu44]

I wish my dad were still around. He was a member of SMOG and remembered everyone he ever met with a Spridget!

 

[JPSmit]

Can't help you with the people - but doesn't the dog in the first pic look like he just got busted for peeing on a wheel?

 

[RickF]

I don't believe personalized plates were available when California was using the black/yellow plates. Do they allow you to make them up that way today? Also, when that Bugeye was new the plate would have been yellow/black, so it's not a YOM plate. ???

 

[Scargo]

My money's on the fact that it's the same car.

 

[RickF]

My money's on the fact that it's the same car.

Blue/yellow plate on the old photo and black/yellow on the new photo. I still have the black/yellow plates that were on my Bugeye when I bought it in Fullerton, CA. Tomorrow is the 54th anniversary of that purchase and the car is out in my garage.

 

[Pat MM]

Hi John,

Pat M here. Long time no see… Breckinridge was a great meet & SMOG events were a blast for several years!
Anyway; That car belonged to Bob & Sheila, XLNT FUN. It is not the same car as the red Bugeye with the same plate because my brother Joe has what is left of Bob's Bugeye. The front end of the car was run over by a station wagon when one of Bob’s kids was driving it many years ago. Fortunately his son was OK, but I can’t stay as much for the car.
For several years Bob used that license plate on a VW bus, as he kept the plate when he sold the rear of the car to Joe.

Joe is still looking for a front end to rebuild the car, preferably from a car that has a wasted back half... If anyone knows of a tub with a mangled rear half, let me know…

 

[smaceng]

Pat MM, there are three BEs on SF craigslist right now, and have been there for at least a month. Real beat up and grossly overpriced, I think, might be a good choice for a parts car.
Scott in CA

 

[Pat MM]

Thanks Scott. I’ve seen those on cl and as you say nicely, “grossly overpriced!”
When you really don’t want to sell that pile of parts, but would if someone could be suckered into a wild price...
We’ll keep looking for something more realistic, price wise.

 

[Nevada Beige BE]

I was a member of SMOG in the late 70's when I rebuilt my first BE. I bought the club's Shirt and when it wore out it became part of a baseball cap

 

[johntennyson]

Holy smoke! Pat! Joe! I just read this thread for the first time in months! I still tell folks about the time Joe his the deer with his Bugeye and how it bounced off the hood and over his head! I hope he never fixed that bonnet! I've still got mine and it's, wait for it, on floor stands while I figure out how to get disc brakes on the back.

Nevada Beige: Are you in any of these pictures? Your car (in green) sure looks familiar.

The first SMOG drive, September '80, as I recall

 

[johntennyson]

From Pete's Harbor, early '82?, north over the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

[johntennyson]

Feb., '81, meeting at the shopping center on Alamaden.

 

[johntennyson]

Pat-- here's thought: y'know how you have a long list of grrrreat ideas for project cars? Joe might want to think about doing one of mine, so I don't have to.

For years I've wanted to do a Bugeye by grafting the Bugeye quarter panels onto a early '70s Midget and get a Bugeye with a trunk, wind-up windows and an actual convertible top. Fiberglass bonnet and you're there!

 

[equiprx]

Holy smoke! Pat! Joe! I just read this thread for the first time in months! I still tell folks about the time Joe his the deer with his Bugeye and how it bounced off the hood and over his head! I hope he never fixed that bonnet! I've still got mine and it's, wait for it, on floor stands while I figure out how to get disc brakes on the back.

Nevada Beige: Are you in any of these pictures? Your car (in green) sure looks familiar.
View attachment 81922
The first SMOG drive, September '80, as I recall

That looks like either Big Sur or Devil's Slide.

 

[johntennyson]

That first one is at San Gregorio State Beach. It's between Devil's Slide and Big Sur, at the west end of Hwy 84 in San Mateo County-- a perfect Sprite road!

 

[johntennyson]

I just looked at your signature--I'm in Pacifica, too! Land of Fog and Rust!

 

[Editor_Reid]

I wish my dad were still around. He was a member of SMOG and remembered everyone he ever met with a Spridget!

I remember SMOG well. Dick Santana was a prominent member, maybe the founder?

 

[Nevada Beige BE]

No, not in any of the pictures. I sold that BE in February of '81. Dick Santana and Rick Moses were prominent. I attended Sprite Rush ' 98 in Carlyle PA where this picture was taken:

The camera that took the picture was very old and was a spring loaded panoramic. we had to stay very still while the camera panned the scene

Where are all those lovely Bug Eyes now?

 

[Pat MM]

John and all,
I still have my Bugeye, all white (instead of school bus yellow with grey primer spots), sideways in the garage behind the Morris Traveller with the engine out, at the moment.
Thanks for all the pictures, some great times. Nice reuse of the T-shirt!
Joe did the club newsletter for years and I got volunteered to take some photos and write a few articles for it too. I think besides all the people and fun drives, I miss the swap meets…they were great.
I just found this commuter cup the other day.