• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Long wheel base bugeye

Share this page

I'm wider than most of you guys and I'm somewhat less than 5' 10".
I don't have a rollbar in my Midget and I do have nice Miata seats, but I also have less than full mobility in my legs and somehow I manage to get into and out of my Midget at least twice every day.
I've had more than one onlooker laugh at seeing me get in or out, fortunately I haven't had my sense of humor surgically removed yet.
Over the past 6 months I have managed to lose around 50 pounds, and I know I'll be more comfortable after I lose another 50.
Also my car will handle better with another 50 pounds gone!
The Bugeye and MK2 Sprite felt roomier I think mainly because of the open inner door - no roll up windows so lots more room to the sides.
 
Rick,

Congrats on the weight loss. You aren't even close though to the largest Sprite Driver category. Charles Christ held that honor for many years at 6.2 maybe 6.5 and over 300 lbs. After bariatric surgery he was down to something like 200 lbs. or less.
 
Congrats Rick, healthy weight is important. In December i started going to a weight loss doctor. I'm 5'9" - down to 246 from 275 so far. A good doctor can really help in determining what is good for YOU. It turned out that I am insulin resistant, so I have to live a low-carb lifestyle. They can also prescribe medicine to curb cravings and get your body's chemistry moving in the right direction. I was addicted to carbs, yet my body doesn't like them.

I found it easier to accept my new "lifestyle" based on medical findings vs. being on a "diet".

Good luck on your next 50. I think it is important to share goals and progress. The more people you tell, the more motivated you are to keep going.
 
That and a wife who is committed to helping me lose weight. Of course her finally organizing 20 years of recipes that she's saved isn't helping this winter, but I am "eating well" as she's working through trying out her favorites.

David,
I went through most of your pics and blog this morning. I enjoyed seeing your progress. When you are ready to paint...Bugsy my '68 Sprite was done via the Rustoleum $50 paint job method. Happy to provide tips and advice. He looks pretty good from 5 feet and he never even got buffed out. Happy with the way Rustoleum process turned out and touchups that I need to do as I'm getting ready to sell him and bring home a '59 from way up North will be a snap. It takes time but after 4 coats of thinned 50/50 Rustoleum you get pretty good coverage. Trick is 4" high density roller apply and come back 20 minutes later with an almost dry roller to roll out any remaining bubbles.
 
Thanks for the encouragement.
My system doesn't tolerate gluten, which of course means pizza and beer night is gone for good.
I have found that a great deal of joint pain simply vanishes when I cut out sources of gluten.
I can eat like a horse and not gain weight, as long as I don't have gluten.
It will soon be time to stop eating like a horse for a while so I can drop the remaining extra weight then work on developing a healthy eating style that works for me.

Meanwhile finishing my bathroom rebuild and getting to work on that RWA Midget out in the shed will keep me busy and active.

With all this talk of welding different parts of cars together I am starting to think maybe the back of the '73 could mate up with the front of my '78 to form a RWA car with a Bugeye front and a Datsun engine and transmission.
I'll have to see how much of the back of that car is solid and not rusty!
Then of course the rust free 73 tub we have will receive all the mechanical bits from the rusty car and it will be good to go.
 
RickB said:
Thanks for the encouragement.
My system doesn't tolerate gluten, which of course means pizza and beer night is gone for good.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily... my wife has Celiac disease, so no gluten for her either. I make a killer gluten free pizza, just about every Friday. I've become quite adept at gluten-free cooking, as I'm the cook in the house. I've tried a few of the gluten-free beers as well, and they're not bad at all.

There's nothing so car guy as swapping recipes, but I'd be happy to share.

And a big thumbs up for your weight loss. It's a tough job, but well worth the efforts.
 
David_Doan said:
isn't rice beer gluten free?
Click to expand...
Can be, but it does depend. I've tried Redbridge and Bard's Tale (both gluten-free beers), and they were perfectly drinkable brews. My wife doesn't like beer anyways, so it wasn't a loss for her.
 
At first I thought, "what's the big deal with a little stretch?" Spridgets are simple enough that cut'n'chops would be fun for a person with the right welding ability and motivation. Then I realized it was an original Bugeye. I'd be more ambivalent if it were a 1500 with a Bug nose, but chopping up Bugeyes is something else entirely. Shame on him.

The photoshop of the four-door Midget is unaccountably cool. I really dig it, for some awful reason. Nial, do you think you could whip up a photoshop of one done up as a dual-cowl phaeton? Just to satisfy a sense of morbid curiousity...
 
Bill:

I didn't do that one. The car actually belongs to a guy who lives near me...he did the PhotoShop deal on it.

His website is: https://www.1978mgmidget.com/
 
OopsClunkThud said:
behind the door the opening would only really need to be extended at the bottom where the legs swing in. Some external hinges could simplify things a bit.
Click to expand...

I agree. Good point Patrick.
 
I modified my gas pedal and picked up 4 inches (for < $100).

However, I am impressed with the build. The guy appears to know his stuff.
 
drooartz said:
Not necessarily... my wife has Celiac disease, so no gluten for her either. I make a killer gluten free pizza, just about every Friday. I've become quite adept at gluten-free cooking, as I'm the cook in the house. I've tried a few of the gluten-free beers as well, and they're not bad at all.

There's nothing so car guy as swapping recipes, but I'd be happy to share.

And a big thumbs up for your weight loss. It's a tough job, but well worth the efforts.
Click to expand...

Drew, I tried Red Mill bread mix and made the pizza dough. It worked really well and the kids even liked it.
Apparently I didn't make enough since it all disappeared much too quickly!

I've made beer since I was about 17 (growing up in farming country you start a lot of things early).
Recently I turned to making hard apple cider, and it seems I have a real knack for it.
SO MUCH easier than making beer!
I also have the CO2 and regulator and beer fridge and tap with two kegs so that part of it really came in handy!
It's also nice to make home made root beer for the family, I use the Zatarans root beer concentrate as it's the one with the best flavor IMHO.
Anyway, I would definitely be interested in hearing more but we could take it to PM or emails so we don't bother all the people here wanting to see photoshopped Midgets (ehem - that could be taken the wrong way I suppose...).
 
Alright, this (and Nial's photoshop post of the 4-door midget) got me thinking of my off-the-cuff comment about a dual-cowl Midget. I'm no photoshop wizard, so I got this classic ad and modified it in Paint:

stretchmidget_zps0b91c2d1.jpg


The weird thing is, I don't see why this wouldn't work fairly easily as a goofball project with two donor 1500s. The proportions make it look insanely long, but really it's no longer than an average sedan. As far as I can determine, the body shells are very strong at the splice point. The rear seat passengers have enough legroom that their knees won't be under their chins. There's not a lot of custom bodywork necessary; just longer propshaft and fluid lines, a little metalwork at the join behind the front door, and maybe some long rails under the bellypan for piece of mind.

You may notice some lack of precision on the twisties and you'll never win a gymkhana in it, but passengers! It'd be a hit at shows and parades, that's for sure.

And yes, I have too much spare time for my own good. :congratulatory:
 
From 2011 OKC VW show. Not photoshopped.
 

Attachments

  • VW Limo.JPG
    VW Limo.JPG
    71.3 KB · Views: 80
aeronca65t said:
If I wanted a skinny, long car, I'd buy an MGA :playful: ( a fine car, by the way).

Honestly, if I really wanted a Spridget that was easier to get in and out of (and I had a huge budget), I'd cut back the area where the door hinges are and just make the door longer at that end (yes...this would require fender mods and all sorts of cowl reinforcement and modification).

Nial, obviously someone agreed with you and thought the extra effort was worth the trouble - the Innocenti Sprites relocated the hinge attachment point to make ingress easier. Check out the front of the door-

innocenti-spyder.jpg
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • innocent_02.jpg
    innocent_02.jpg
    8.5 KB · Views: 85
Back
Top