Jim,
I certainly won't qualify as the longest, but I'll be up near the top of
the list. I bought my first Bugeye in Detroit in March 1968 and sold it (29
years later) in San Francisco in February 1997 in favor of a rust free car.
It was my regular driver for quite a few years and around the same time I
started the second restoration in 78/79 I also got married and purchased a
home in San Francisco. Three kids and 16 years later, I restarted the
project for a final round of body work and paint after it sat in my garage
under a car cover until the summer of '96. I soon discovered that the body
had deteriorated to the point where replacing panels would be more costly
than a clean California car. With great angst and the urging of my
restoration buddy, I stripped the car for parts. Since the car was
mechanically very sound and had a complete new interior I decided to
rebuild it on a rustfree car I found locally. Since as a teenager, I spent
the better part of the summer driving the Bugeye from Detroit to California
and back, (solo) and had many other youthful adventures in that car, this
was a difficult decision. It's one that I'm happy I made once I looked at
it realistically though. I've since aquired another Bugeye (vintage racer)
and a MKIV as penance. The vintage racer is the one I have to drive while
the other two are being restored. The replacement Bugeye will mostly be
assembled from parts from my original car including the the engine and
suspension I took off a wrecked 1 year old Midget in 1970, so it will be
much like my original car... only better. The body shell was sold to a guy
in Oregon who has the skill and tools to reassemble this car, so it will
live again... someday.
I too have a hardtop for the Bugeye in which I installed a glass pop-up
roof (yes I do remember Beck Arnley, they're still around too) back in the
mid 70's. I also have a second completely original hardtop. The sunroof is
a very clean low-profile install and I also had a headliner made for it.
This made the using the top much more enjoyble regarding temperature and
noise level. The vintage racer has the the 1275 from the original car in it
until I get new bearing shells in the race 948 which BTW, has more HP than
the stock 1275. I've never done anything to the 1275 except taking about
.010 off the head/installing a new head gasket, and adding a spin on
filter. It runs so good, even after sitting for 15 years, that I don't want
to touch it. The groaner in my story is the number of parts that were still
in my dad's basement when he died in 1992. They all got thrown out,
including two original steering wheels!
Pictures of my original car can be see at http://www.gerardsgarage.com in
the Sprite section.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it...
Gerard
At 9:48 AM -0700 10/8/99, Jim Algar wrote:
>I've been enjoying the list since joining, especially the
>stories of when and under what circumstances cars were
>bought/acquired. Brought up the thought of a thread (this
>could be fun) on the subject of (drum roll, please) "Longest
>continuous ownership of a single Spridget."
>
>To get the ball rolling, I've owned my 1969 Sprite Mk. IV
>for (trumpet fanfare) 30 years. (I'm waiting now to hear
>from all the Bugeye original owners.) Yep, bought it
>brand-new in '69 from University Imports in Riverside,
>California while I was in the Air Force stationed at March
>AFB. I'm a native Californian, so the car has stayed in
>sunny SoCal most of its life. We've been together through
>marriage, divorce, re-marriage, kids, career, up, downs, the
>gas crisis (remember?) - the whole bit.
>
>"Basil" (second wife named him) still carries his original
>color of Pale Primrose (hey, BMC, what a wuss name!) though
>not the original paint. In 1971 or so, I bought a factory
>hardtop from a dealer in San Francisco which has been on
>pretty much full-time since (original soft top is in the
>garage; I use a tonneau on the few occasions when I pull the
>hardtop.) In 1978 or so, I cut a hole in the top for a
>sunroof - all right, you've got thirty second to scream,
>wail, moan and shake your heads.....o.k., time's up. Yeah, I
>know, looking back now I should never have done it, but I
>was young, and stupid, and who knew, anyway? But at the
>time I was managing a Beck-Arnley foreign car parts store -
>show of hands, who remembers Beck-Arnley? - so I got a good
>price on a truly quality sunroof. The installation, while
>not "factory"-looking (yes, right, no such thing - let's not
>go there, please) is clean and works for me.
>
>Until 1984 Basil was my daily drive, so needless to say we
>racked up some impressive mileage (can't tell you how much,
>odometer has been broken for years). Then I pulled him off
>the road for a rebuild of the engine and tranny, and since
>then he's been the "one weekend a month" car. My wife loves
>him, my daughter hates him ("too loud, Daddy") and my
>11-year-old son is wating patiently for the day when Basil
>becomes "his" car.
>
>I still enjoy driving him. I'm 6'1", and when I was 22 years
>old I could fold myself in and out of him gracefully, like a
>gazelle. Now, 30 years older and a lot of pounds heavier, I
>heave myself in and out more like an arthritic elephant.
>Basil, good friend that he is, never comments.
>
>So that's my story. Aren't Spridgets great?
>
>Jim Algar
G G Gerard Chateauvieux
E A
R R pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com
A A
R G Pixelsmith on Duty
D E
S http://www.gerardsgarage.com
|