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would you pay $7500 for this bugeye?

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I recently purchased mine for 10.5K (traded a motorcycle valued at 10.5K) and it is not as complete as what I see in the pictures on ebay. I absolutely love having a Sprite! They are a blast to drive an easy to work on. Parts are very easy to come by as well. In Texas, there are very few around so it may be a long time until you can buy another one in your own backyard. Test drive and look for rust. This site and the guys here are well informed and can help you with just about anything. Let us know if you pull the trigger.

Mike
 
I wouldn't because my budget topped out 5K when I was shopping. That seems like a pretty good price if the car is pretty straight. Have you seen it in person? From what I've gathered hanging around here it's hard to touch a decent BE (BugEye) for much less than that. Maybe find a BE guy to go look at it with you. It's all about condition of course. Pictures look good but those don't mean squiddley. Must look at the underside and examine in person to determine value IMHO.
 
Check it over carefully -- rust/body filler is the big issue here. If you're not confident looking it over, bring someone along who is. Body condition is everything on these cars. If there are no rust issues and it runs well, then $7500 is not a bad price in my opinion.
 
That one has been on ebay a few times. It looks good and a solid BE would be worth $7500, but I would want to make sure it is what it seems. As the others have said, check for filler and shotty body repair work.
 
The seller says the fender beading has been removed and the seams smoothed. To me, this equals body filler, unless the work was leaded, which I doubt. Personally, I don't care for the look of a bugeye without the seams. Usually a bright white paint job is done for a reason, to cover up marginal body work.
 
Bonnet fitment isn't too great either. If it's close to you go see it. I decided after buying 1 old classic off ebay, site unseen, that I wouldn't do it again unless the deal was awesome. There's no substitute for first hand inspection, in the daylight. Even if it's a tad over priced remember it may be a while before you get to see another, to me, being able to inspect, know what you're getting and haggle is worth paying a bit more for. Last one I bought I went to see and drive and some days I think I got a good deal, sometimes not so sure, meaning I probably paid what it was worth. :crazy:
 
A few red flags here: The white paint, and filled seams, as someone already mentioned; all photos are distance shots - very little detail can be seen; and a seller with no history.

However, as also has been said, go take a look. You never know...

Mickey
 
highly unlikely you could restore a BE for $7500 - particularly if you have to farm out the body/ paint. - for me, with an easy car, that was 2/3 that amount.
 
FWIW - I just looked at my ebay account and I had been watching it the last time it was listed. It got bid up to ~$6900 and didn't hit the reserve.
 
I'm confused with what is a market price for a good condition BugEye. The ones that "look" good on ebay seemed to always sell for much more than what I seem to hear what they are worth on the forum. I think I over paid for mine but if I hadn't I wouldn't have a BugEye. There just doesn't seem to be a great number of these cars on the market at one time. The ones that I have seen (very few) on ebay, other auctions or private parties that are "great condition" seem to go well over 15K. There has been a red one on Ebay that has not seem to hit the reserve twice out of Portland that my buddy went to the classic dealer and the lot price was 18K. Maybe these cars are going up.

Mike
 
they are going up - and market price will vary considerably by region and other factors. For instance Cars in Canada seem to be owned by folk who think they are gold plated. I'm amazed at what people want. At the same time, as I watch Kijiji on a daily basis, I'm amazed at the deals that do appear. I read an article a few years ago that said that Ebay was a far better place to sell on than to buy on. I tend to agree, partly because you can't usually inspect and partly because the auction room is bigger than usual. (and of course Barrett Jackson spoils it for everybody)

The most expensive Bugeye that we are aware of went for 23k. this on https://www.teamsprite.com/ and other than being a fabulous car, it also had a fabulous story. It showed up on ebay 6 months later and didn't make reserve as I recall.

My car was free and I will be spending more to restore it (without even counting my labour) than I could have bought a pristine one - but, that isn't the point. Likewise if you see one you love and then need to ship cross country, the economy is lost.

Bottom line - if you are happy with your car and you (as you mentioned) have your Bugeye, then you paid the right price.

BTW - there is some very interesting research that strongly suggests that too many choices actually make us unhappier. Look here https://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM
 
I got Bugeye fever about four years ago, so I started looking on Ebay and Cars.com. One came up for sale in Knoxville that was in good shape, but I was outbid as it finished at about $7500. A few days later one came up with a Buy It Now price of $6500. I spoke with the owner on the phone, who assured me it was rust free, straight, running, but not stopping. I bought it without looking at it.

It turned out to be a very, very sound car. Since purchase I had it re-painted (which confirmed the no rust diagnosis), new upholstery, new brakes/MC, some new gauges, a rebuilt trans, and several other things. I did almost all of this myself, and the paint job was done by a friend (for no charge but I swapped him some FF miles/hotel points so his employee could take a Hawaiian vacation). So my big cost has been materials, which are all surprisingly affordable on a car very easy to work on. Still, out-of-pocket ran about $3K over 2-3 years, plus an entire 18 months the car didn't go anywhere.

I think there is a pretty straight trade off between up front price and later out-of-pocket costs. For $6500 plus about $500 (tires/MC rebuild/trans/brakes) I could have easily been on the road. I just went a little further to get it "my way." I'm still working on it (1275/sway bar/3:9 diff), but that's all discretionary.

Bottom line: I don't think you can get into a BE workable BE (not eaten up by rust) for under $4k, but for about $10K you could have a very, very good vehicle.

Mike Pennell
 
JPSmit said:
Bottom line - if you are happy with your car and you (as you mentioned) have your Bugeye, then you paid the right price.
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JP nailed it, I think. If you're happy with your car, then you paid the right price to get it. We've all probably got more in our cars than they are worth on the open market, but that's okay -- we knew going into this that we weren't making money on our little cars, just smiles.
grin.gif
 
Drew:

While we might not make any money on our BEs, they certainly have held their values while everything else around seems to be dropping.

I'd love to get back the $23K I dropped on my wife's new Pontiac six years ago.

MXP
 
Very true, MXP... and we won't even get into my 401k values... :smile:
 
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