I have to admit, when I read the words "long wheelbase Bugeye Sprite" in the email from David Silberkleit, a Bugeye specialist in Connecticut, I had my doubts. Was this some kind of a Top Gear-style joke, a mockery of what Donald Healey and his team had created? If I had known David as I do now, I would never have worried. The car that he was writing to me about was an example of 1960 that had gotten a lot five-inch in the abdomen so that the owner could climb in and out. David loves authenticity, but he also likes to see people drive their cars.
His suggestion was that I come down from the "stretch" to try Bugeye, and compare it with two other customers Bugeyes than in the store: a yellow car 1958 in factory condition, and another 1960, this is a mild custom with a larger engine, front disc brakes, an aggressive white racing stripe on blue paint and some well done bodywork. These three, he thought, would give me a taste of three distinctive flavors of Bugeye. I thought it was a great idea. I have to his shop in Branford Connecticut, on a late April-day, when the forecasters were calling for sunny skies and a high of 60 degrees.
Long before the Sun starts to go down, that I want to identify the place where I go to get my photos – there is nothing worse than racing against the darkness to find a suitable location. David suggested a picturesque pier on Long Island Sound, which was a 15-minute drive from his shop, and was probably all us an April evening weekday. I was sold on his description and not decided a scouting station was needed-there was a lot of work to be done in the time we had, photographing details and the cars run.
Finally it was time for our Beauty shots. David enlisted with three Bugeyes are brought to the location of the photo are ace welder and body man, Bob Matcheski, to help. I rode the stock car, leave the Hemmings Ford Flex in David's much, while he and Bob did the other two cars. There was enough space for my camera bag and tripod in the yellow Bugeye foot room.
When we got to the pier, I realized what I had failed to take into account: the position of the Sun. I had rather naively assumed that a Connecticut pier more or less to the South, but would not run. This pier faced due west, directly into the setting sun. It made no difference how far I moved to the left or to the right – the Sun was in the frame.
On the other hand I found the place. The pier well framed the cars, and the Bugeyes were small enough to fit. And there was no traffic. We can make this work.
We positioned the cars-I put in the back, the blue car figuring that it could hold its own in the background and waited for the Earth to rotate. I learned something about the coast of Connecticut in April: cold and windy. And there is nothing open, no place for a cup of coffee and get out of the wind. We have not even the Hemmings Flex duck in, remember. David and Bob were great sports about it, but still-that was a chilly hours we waited.
Finally baptized the sun behind the trees. I needed a little height to capture all three cars, but the ladder was ... in the Flex. Law. So I climbed up on the banister, stabilized myself and took my pictures. I was using my 18-70 mm lens on the widest setting, but only a tool to all three in the frame. I parentheses the daylights out of exposure, given the background lighting, the brilliance of the water and the subtle yellow of the car of 1958. And I took many, many shots, so with luck, I'd have one where I was not shivering. (The tripod was not up on the banister.)
With the light fading, I suggested that David enable the parking lamps for a series of photos, but when the switch was put on the blue car, there was a "pfft," then no lights. Uh-oh-blown fuse. This created a no-start situation, which David TV set by swapping out fuses. But there would be no headlamps for the drive back to the store. Still, we are determined to leave no Bugeye.
As darkness fell, Bob led the way into the piece, with David in the middle in the blue car, while I brought up the rear in the yellow car. Let's say we have a solid pace, without anything crazy to do so, and made it back without incident.
It took David no time for sorting out the short the next morning – it appears that the Bugeye simplicity extends to the wiring harness. No harm done.
What wound up on the cover is pretty much what I saw through the viewfinder-although a small sailboat and a buoy were deemed distractions and made to disappear by the magic of Photoshop. I will not forget how cold the day was, but that picture always gives me a warm feeling.
The issue of September 2013 of Hemmings sports exotic car is on newsstands and in subscribers & hands now.
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