I was out riding my Harley today and decided to stop at my friend's
house where I bought the Bugeye back in 1993. This guy has always got
some interesting cars passing through his place and today I was not
disappointed. When I opened the back gate I was greeted by a 1954
Corvette in original condition with a factory hardtop. The car needs a
paint job and not much else. looking around the yard I spotted a yellow
Bugeye with the bonnet removed. This was strange as I thought that he
said he got out the Bugeye part of the business. Turns out he has after
the guy that owned this car to sell it. It is car number 550, the
oldest known Bugeye in the U.S.! Donald Healey sat in this car and
signed it on the radiator top tank. The D.P.O. painted over Donald's
name because he said he did not get along with Donald and did not want
to talk about it. The car was completely restored in the 70's but has
sat outside for much of it's life since. It is still in pretty good
shape and the restoration should not be too difficult. All of the car
is there. The previous owner wanted $15,000 for this historic car, but
my friend wore him down over the years and picked it up for $5,000. It
will be going to auction. Right next to it was a 1955 Simca 8
convertible. In and of itself the car is nothing special, except for
the fact that this car belonged to Mrs. Simpson, the Duchess of York.
The man who would not be King was her husband and sat in the passenger
seat as she never allowed him to drive it. It was a gift from the
French ambassador in New York to Mrs. Simpson in 1955.
Moving around the yard are two big Healeys. They also are very rare two
seat tri-carbs with center shifters and are under complete restoration.
A MGA is almost complete right next to them. My friend then took me to
the garage at the front of the property to show me the Italian
section. He has two Morettis. One is a Moretti bodied Fiat 500 and the
other looks like a little Dino Ferrari with a Fiat 850 engine in it.
Cool cars. Next to them is a double bubble Zagato and an Inoccenti Mini
Cooper of early 70's vintage. There are more cars, but these are some
of the rarest. I told him, if I can, I will be back in the morning to
take some pics. I will try to post these to the internet.
Mike MacLean-60 Sprite
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