It seems like forever ago, and when I count the years they are nearly 30 in
number. I had just turned 16 and bought my first LBC, a 64 Austin Mini.
Mechanically, I was useless so had to pay someone else the then huge sum of
$60 to fix the brakes (time has erased the nature of the problem). I also
carried a wrench, hammer, and big screwdriver for those times when the
starter pinion locked up with the flywheel ... I'd loosen the starter off,
hold the big screwdriver against it, and smack it good with the hammer,
tighten the starter, and try again. My little white car also had a
electrical drain I could never find, so I would just disconnect the battery
every time I parked it. The prince of darkness at work. But I had a lot of
fun with that car, and especially I remember the time myself and 4 other
members of my hockey team, along with all our gear (and one of them was a
goalie!) travelled to a nearby town for a game. We would have been faster
pushing it up those hills! I sold that car and bought a bicycle while I was
at university.
Several years later I bought a 71 Midget. I remember it was only a little
more than a year old. A trend had developed, no North American stuff for me!
The Midget was great fun, I used to go out of my way to find the bendiest
roads and the most corners I possible could in my travels. I recall it only
once stalled out on me, it was on the highway and it turned out to be a
displaced rotor (how could it have just popped off?).
I traded the Midget in after a year or so on a brand new, out of the
showroom (hey, I was making the big bucks then...) MGB. Oops! Big Mistake.
Although not so bad as not having an LBC. Sorry to those of you who loved
them, but by 1973 the B was a piece of s**t, a gutless wonder. BL just
couldn't figure it out, could they? Air pump sucking power, I'm sure that
loaded 18 wheelers passed me going up the long hills. It also felt like such
a big clumsy beast compared to the spry and nimble Midget.
Shortly after that I got involved, then married, and the B went in favor of
more practical but less interesting cars, first a Mustang, then some
Volkswagens, and then Japanese stuff, including station wagons for the kids
that came along. I thought my days of LBCs were gone forever, I even got to
the place where I would say to anyone who would listen that I really hated
cars, and thought the world, and myself in particular, would be much better
off without them. Hmmmm.
Life goes on, the kids grow up, marriage ends, new marriage happens (not as
quickly as you read that), and lo and behold, I was at last at the place
again where I allowed selfish pursuits, and had a partner who encouraged them!
Gee, wouldn't it be great to have a little British sports car again? Last
fall, I started scouring the local classifieds, I looked at a few mid to
late 60s Midgets and then saw a tiny little ad for a 58 Sprite. I thought to
myself, that's a Bugeye, it has to be way more $$$ than I was planning,
don't even call that guy. I did cut out the ad a kept it for a few weeks
before succumbing to the old "how can it hurt to just look at it" line. Long
story short, the car was about 2/3 through a ground up restoration and the
owner's life had changed to the degree that he couldn't finish it. The rain
was falling, winter was coming, his desperation and my desire worked out a deal.
The car was loaded on a flatdeck the first dry day, the boxes of parts went
into my van, and all was deposited in my garage. With great trepidation and
uncertainty, I started going through the boxes and figuring out what went
where. The PO's assurance that everything I needed was there was not exactly
true. Thanks to my web surfing, I found this list, and lots of the other
great resources on the net, I bought books, parts, and gradually put the car
back together.
About a month ago, it was complete enough to drive, and back on the road I
was. (I don't think I'll ever claim completion, too many things I can see to
improve, but they can happen over time.) Wow, the years just slipped away,
and it was just like I remember from long ago. What a great car, quick and
nimble, accelerating through the curves, feeling the wind and sun.... Eyes
turning, "hey, nice Bugeye" and little kids "cool car!"
Last Sunday the car and I attended the 14th annual Father's Day British Car
Picnic with about 200 others from almost any British marque you can think
of. All these cars just seem to come out of the woodwork. Does anyone know
what an HRG is? There was a absolutely beautiful example there. At least a
dozen Morgans, a couple of XK140s, some unbelievable Healey 100s and 3000s,
a to drool over black E type roadster, and believe it or not, the famous
yellow Rolls that John Lennon (yes, that John Lennon) had painted
psychedelic during the Sergeant Pepper days. It lives here in my town in the
back of a British car shop, is insured for a over $1 million, and comes out
a few times a year for special events.
I hope the summer lasts forever, I don't ever want to put the hood up, I
don't care that the heater does only a little good on cold nights, and I
won't care that my little car will probably break down sometime when I am
far from home or help, I'll just love it anyway.
Ain't life grand.
Doug Ingram
Victoria BC
1958 Bugeye
AN5L/636
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