1959 Frogeye Sprite

[whitebuffalo]

I have wanted a Frogeye Sprite well before I could drive so finally made the decision to get one.
One of my Mini club members happened to have one and decided he wasn't going to have the time it took to work on it. Money changed hands and now I am the owner of this smiling little car.

It came with tons of spares, four sets of doors, two windscreens and two motors and transmissions.

Plan is to restore it to my liking. Paint ideas are either Porsche Blood Orange or Iris Blue with the hard top being white or body color.

Interior in a nice rust brown leather. The engine will be either a tweeked 948 that came with the car or find myself a 1098 and build that. I will get a straight cut , close ratio transmission for those spirited drives.
Disc brakes up front and all of the trick suspension that I can find.

One thing about this car is it is small inside! After driving Minis for so long I have gotten use to a cavernous interior. The Sprite is tight inside and getting in and out of it with the hard top on will be a bit of an event.

[Larry Kluss]

Congrats. It looks like a lot of work, but a potentially worthwhile project.

[Steve Simmons]

Nice! That will be a fun driver!

[whitebuffalo]

Yes, it will be a long road to recovery for this happy little fellow, but with focus and dedication I will eventually get it done and back on the road.

I can't wait to drive it! Perhaps I will set an unrealistic schedule of getting to drive it on next Memorial Day run

Now is a question to pick the brains of this forum.

1. One thought for the car is to utilize that custom grill insert as the headlights and delete the "frogeye" part of the bonnet.

2. The other concept is to use the grill insert as the spotlights and keep the frogeye lights as the mains.

3. The third idea so to just make the car like the factory set up with a factory grill and factory frogeye lights.

So what one sounds good to you all?

[Martin Keller]

Question 1 would be out of the question as you would loose a lot of value by doing that in the long run.

Question two and 3 are both good as you could switch between grills as you feel with out loosing any of the looks or value that the Bug Eye's are not starting to really gain as they are becoming harder to find especially if your looking for one that has not been crashed or had a tree growing up through the floor boards but that is just my belief.

I personally like the custom grill as it would make the little fellow stand out even more plus it would provide you with more light for the times your driving at night. You could always put one amber light in the grill and one clear and have them switched so you could use either or both like a lot of the early rally cars did.
Again just my preference and belief as it is ultimately up to you as it is your vehicle.

Someday I will own another one just for the fun of it.

Takecare of that hardtop as they are very hard to find for a Bug Eye.

[Steve Simmons]

A big part of what makes a Bugeye a Bugeye are the Bugeyes! Don't cut them out!

[whitebuffalo]

The bonnet pictured in the post has been modified with the turn signals deleted and the mounts for the factory style grill shaved as well.

If I tried to make it to where I can change from one to the other I would need to figure out how to make a quick change mount for the factory grill and incorporate turn signals to mount behind that grill.

I can make it work so I could do the change from one grill to the other when the muse is upon my.

I do like the idea of the rally inspired lighting. It would set the car off in a car show.

As for the hard top, it will be the primary top that I will keep on the car and use a tonneau for when the weather is nice.

I do have a second bonnet that is in factory configuration, just needs dents worked out. I had the thought to have one as the modified version and the other to keep as factory, but would be though to have an extra bonnet sitting around painted up and having to switch back and forth would be less practical.

I do like the idea of changing the grills in and out as desired to keep the look fresh. Will have to sell the second bonnet to focus on this one.

[Fifty Six MGA]

I gotta put in a vote for keeping the bug-eyes.

[Jimmy]

It's 2 or 3, without a doubt.

[whitebuffalo]

I found a picture of what I was thinking of with the grill and deleting the frogeye headlight bins.


Would like to emulate that Sebring Sprite pictured above, but like the frogeye look as well. Perhaps I need to buy another Sprite to have it as a stock example

[tannyo]

I like option 2 as I don't think having the only headlights low in the grill would not be legal. There is a minimum height requirement for headlights.

[whitebuffalo]

Ok, have made my decision based off the responses here. I will keep it looking stock so I am selling off the modified bonnet. I am still debating if I let the custom grill go or just keep it as a shelf decoration.