Yellow Beauty Goes Upscale!
Yelllow Beauty , my 1959 Bugeye Sprite, was shown in the 17th annual
Antique and Classic car show on the lawn of the Detroit Yacht Club on
June 17th. She joined many other classic cars, 1976 and 1973 Cadillac
Eldorado convertibles, a fly yellow Ferrari Testarossa, a couple of
Corvettes, a brace of convertibles - 1934 Pierce Arrow , 1936 Cadillac ,
and a1940 V12 Lincoln and two MGs a 1978 and a 1980. There were many
other cars- too numerous to mention.
Yellow Beauty made the drive up to the Yacht Club without incident and
snuggled up to the Blounts MG for company.
During the show, it was evident that almost everyone either had a
Bugeye, had a friend that had one, or wanted one and did not have their
parents permission to get one. Remember, that was the 60s and we were
in Detroit, the home of the American automobile!
While almost all the cars were excellent restorations with shiny paint,
chrome, and upholstery, my car has original upholstery with new paint
and 1275 cc engine. So I allowed kids to sit in it and belted them into
my racing seat belts. That made Yellow Beauty very popular!
Thanks to the Detroit Yacht Club and Peter and Diane Lehr for having the
show.
Yellow Beauty and her younger brother, Ironhead (1960 Gray with white
stripes) were both supposed to show. I worked for a week, night and day
to put Ironhead back together after painting. I put in a new wiring
harness, fit a new bonnet, put all the new trim and parts back and fit
MG front brakes (requiring a trip to the machine shop). The moment was
at hand start it up a drive it to the club. It started right up and
sounded good for a few seconds. Then I looked at the oil pressure-it was
zero! I pulled the oil primer plug to pump in some oil and antifreeze
came out. Damn! Stuff happens! I need to pull the engine to see whats
wrong.
The good thing is I got one Sprite to the show and people liked it. It
was just another day in the life of an LBC owner!
.
Roger Cotting
1959 Bugeye Yellow Beauty
1960 Bugeye Ironhead
1960 Bugeye project car
1974 Midget for sale
1980 TR8
1995 Mitsu3000GT
|