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Bugeye Enigma

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Trevor Jessie

Trevor Jessie

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I ran across a bugeye today while hanging out at the dyno-tuning shop. It is a 1961 with 6,000 miles and a shorrock supercharger and healey wire wheel disk brake conversion. It still has the ribbed floor mat in great shape. However, it had been wrecked at one point and now has a fiberglass bonnet ... and I think the rear deck has been modified more like a MkII.

Anyway it was interesting to look at and I would have been interested in buying it but the last two issues turned me off.

Oh well, can't win them all.
 
What color was the interior. Would love to find a viable set of red ribbed floor mats.
 
Red.
At first I thought he might not know what he had, but he has the complete history of the car. It has been sitting for a couple of years, but he says he starts it up and drives it around the block every couple of months. He wants to sell it, but I'm guessing he would want at least 12,000 for it.
 
I was in CT this week on business. Today while driving back home on I90 between Springfield, MA and the NY state line, I passed a race prepped bugeye on a trailer. Cool! A few more miles up the interstate I saw another vintage racer, this time a very early Lotus... an Elite I think. Again, very cool. I'll have to look at the watkins glen website to see if they are hosting vintage races. I do believe the Indy cars are there this weekend.
 
I did not get any pictures. The top was on the car, but in essence the rear deck was cut back (I guess to allow easier access to the boot) behind the seats.
 
Sounds like it could have had a hardtop or sebring conversion at some point if the rear deck was cut out. The wire wheels/disk brakes and supercharger would fit the bill. It would be interesting to know if this was one a Speedwell car or something, although it seems unlikely that it would keep the floor mat if used for racing.
 
The story (that he says is documented) is that the car was ordered by a US man that was going to use it to tour Europe. He ordered the car, and modifications and flew over and did his tour. Apparently, during the tour he trashed the original transmission and had to have another installed along the way. Supposedly, the supercharger voided his warranty. After he finished his tour he had the car shipped back to the US, but drove it very little. It has always been stored indoors.
 
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