-By Rich Stadther-
On January 25th I went to Saturday morning InterMarque group breakfast as was the practice before the great virus imprisonment. Frank Gigler asked many people if anyone was interested in a 1961 Bugeye Sprite that belonged to a coworker friend and had been sitting for many years. Steve Rixen told him I am always interested in projects. The next Saturday, February 1, a bunch of breakfast regulars went to see the Sprite.
The car looked sad. Last licensed in 1986 it had no radiator, front crank pulley, generator, front bumper, had soft top damaged, a hardtop sitting loose – may not fit, had flat tires and a stuck engine so I agreed to buy it. I was going on vacation so the owner and I agreed to wait until February 15 to pick up the car. On Sunday I gave the owner the money and took a closer inventory of the car. The odometer showed 24,834 miles, had a hard top, had very little rust and appeared to be all original. I squirted WD40 in plug holes, poured in ¾ quart oil in valve cover filler to lube cam and aired the flat tires. Three of the tires and the spare took air. They appear to be new with one having the manufacture sticker on the tread.
On Saturday, February 15th I went to pick up the Sprite with Tim Engle, Joe Jacobson, and Bill Connell. We rolled the car onto the trailer with no problems and unloaded it with Bill and Steve Gray into the heated garage. While pushing, we put it in gear and engine turned over. We hooked up a battery and it cranked over, love that WD 40. While Bill and Steve were present, we removed the hood and hardtop and placed them in storage.
From February 15 thru early May I worked on the car a little almost every day. At the end of February I only lasted about a half-hour a day because I had what the Doctor thought was a bad cold (this was before we knew about Covid 19). Friends came over and we re-installed the hood at the end of April and I drove to the InterMarque gathering at Silverwood Park in St. Anthony. The car has been a great way to beat the RONA blues.
In the second week of May I put up a picture on the Bugeye page on Facebook and asked if anyone was interested in the car. I was swamped with responses (I think 130 likes). The car sold to a fellow in Oklahoma.
Thanks to all that helped. Frank Gigler who told a number of breakfast people about the car, the group that looked at the car on February 1, Tim Engle, Joe Jacobson, and Bill Connell who helped me push the car out of its 34 year parking spot, Steve Gray, Paul Gau, Mark Brandow, and Randy Byboth for generous help with parts, Steve Gray and Bill Connell for help removing the hood, Steve Gray and Bruce Allen for help lifting the hood back on and all the advice from on line friends.