Took the Bugeye out to the east side cars and coffee (though, no coffee present). As seems to be the case, the car got a lot of attention. Lots of questions, ranging from "what is it?" to "I had a Bugeye back in the day, but nothing like this!" Also got some attention on the drive home, with lots of thumbs ups from other drivers, a couple of kids who wanted to tangle in their souped up G35 (they didn't stand a chance), to some guy in a custom caddy who took lots of film of me on a long stretch of road. Even had an old homeless guy downtown give me the thumbs up and trucker's salute. I didn't build the car particularly to get attention, but it is nice when it happens. Some pics from the car show:
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Saturday, June 7, 2025
New Gears! New Seats! Same Old Great Car!
With its brand new seats and fresh 3.6:1 gears, I took the Bugeye out for its first significant drive this morning. Specifically, I took the car across town to the Tucson British Car Register (TBCR) so-called "Phantom" car show. To get there, I took our city's cross-town "parkway," which is like an unknown secret in Tucson. Hardly anyone uses this 2-3 lane, 65mph throughway, especially on weekends. I basically had the road to myself for-4-5 miles... and boy, it was fun!
The new gearing has really transformed the car. First gear is now fully usable, and I can keep it in 2nd, 3rd, and fourth gears much, much longer than before. I hardly got into fifth at all today, in fact. She pulls just as hard as ever, but for longer. Taller gears were the secret to opening performance up. Love it!
I also really like the new seats. Yes, they're tighter than the old (tattered) seats on this driver's big butt, but ultimately they will stretch with time. And they look great in the car. The only downside now is the rest of the interior (not to mention the whole exterior) seems lacking in comparison. In any case, the car got lots of attention at the show today. All in all, it was a good day.






