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Help me evaluate a Bugeye

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drooartz

drooartz

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So here's a car that I'm *maybe* interested in:

1958 Sprite:
https://www.affordablewebs.co.uk/mikerolls/sales.htm

A few year's history from the current owner, via his blog (he's a journalist and writer)
https://www.jwarthog.com/sprite-1.html

A note from the selling dealer (Mike Rolls MG)

"We have known the car for approx 3 years and there has been no fresh body work done in that time, there are no signs of rust either on the underside or top side, it has a steel bonnet which is not a perfect fit but still acceptable.
The car has a good history file, the heritage certificate shows it is an original right hand drive car for the home market which was originally primrose yellow with a black interior.

We personally rebuilt the engine with a rebore and reground crank, fully balanced with new pistons and shells etc and it performs very well."

I don't know if I'm really interested enough to pursue, but am interested enough that I'm looking into shipping costs and what that all entails.

Thoughts?
 
Holy Cow! That is a bunch of money for a bug...err...frogeye. If has obviously been repainted at least once. Without an inspection of the body I'd be VERY hesitant.

Maybe I could make a profit on a bugeye
1. convert to right hand drive
2. do a quick restoration with cheap materials
3. market to UK buyers.
 
Drew,
X2 Trevor...
I think you need to take a couple of aspirin to help the fever go away and continue to look on this continent. They are out there and it will take a little while to find one, but you will. That's close to $15k plus shipping!
Rut
 
I think it's a $5-6,000 car if it was sold in the U.S. UK cars as a whole tend to be a lot rustier than dry climate US cars so you would really want to know what body work has been done on it previously. Seems to me you'd be paying an awful big premium just for the "uniqueness" of having an RHD car. If I HAD to have an RHD car, I think I'd find the best LHD car I could in the US and source an RHD rack and dashboard from the UK.
 
I'll address the cost issue first. I'm fully aware of the extra costs involved with what I am looking for. Completely, utterly aware that I could wind up paying 2x the cost of a comparable LHD car (or much more), even if I do find one in the USA -- which is my preference and probably what will happen. I'm absolutely aware and reminded constantly that most people, even car folks, think that what I'm willing to pay is ridiculous. Got it. Duly noted. I'm never satisfied when I compromise on my passions, so I've learned that in some areas I cannot. Lordy knows I'd be richer if I could. :D

I phrased it this way when explaining it to a good friend: maybe it's because I'm a musician and artist, but the tools I use (musical instruments, cars) for the things I'm passionate about really matter to me. They're never just tools to me; they're partners with a powerful emotional connection and I'm very particular about the ones I bring into my life. Maniacally so.

So *for me* a converted LHD car won't work, even though it would be mechanically identical to an original RHD. It would always feel inauthentic -- even though swapping in a later 1275 and disc brakes would be just fine. This is my personal scale, and I assign value accordingly.

So I'll continue to show these cars to y'all as I value your experience, expertise, and ability to catch things I might miss, but I'm never interested or indeed asking for a discussion of price or value. I know that my value scale is different, and I'm okay with that.

So that said, on with the show. What do you see in this car that is a potential red flag? What stands out? I did notice that this early car does have a later windscreen -- should have the multi-stud one and not the sewn in bar one.
 
Thanks for the link, Rut. I have seen that one -- probably too much to do to convert it back to a road car from a full race car.
 
Green interior, yuck! Factor in the cost to convert to Red. What's that hood ornament? Bonnet on DS does not fit properly.
 
Not all '58 frogeyes had the 9-stud windscreen. I think the ones made after october had the new style. Is there a VIN#?
 
Several added gauges ...
 
If it is an early '58 then it has the wrong door handles.
 
No VIN in hand at this point, but the registration was noted as somewhere in my research as August '58. I've asked for the VIN, and if the body number matches the heritage certificate.

Definitely extra gauges, which is a bit of a put-off for me (but ultimately not that difficult to clean up). I actually like the green interior with the white paint, though that's obviously not original.
 
If I were you, I'd ask for video. Video of the a car running, driving, a video tour of the car up on a lift etc. I would also request a video of a compression test across all four cylinders AND video of the engine running with a vacuum gauge hooked up. Lessons I learned last time I bought a car I didn't inspect personally...:angel:
 
AN5Sprite said:
If I were you, I'd ask for video. Video of the a car running, driving, a video tour of the car up on a lift etc. I would also request a video of a compression test across all four cylinders AND video of the engine running with a vacuum gauge hooked up. Lessons I learned last time I bought a car I didn't inspect personally...:angel:
Click to expand...

Good ideas. Can't imagine where you learned that lesson. :grin:
 
The more I look the less interested in this particular car I get. Were it only a drive away I might be willing to look it over, but given the distance it's not really the right one. I am still investigating the process of shipping from the UK to here. Gerard gave me some good references to start from, so I'm following up to get an estimate of what that will cost and what will be involved. WIll be good to have an accurate number in the back of my mind while I look at various options.

Given my particular need set I expect this quest will take a while. Should be fun, though. Hope y'all will put up with my continued questions and cars to look at.
 
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