Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/24/this-austin-healy-bugeye-sprit.html
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Paint it green and you can call it a Frogeye Sprite
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A Bugeye Sprite was my first in a long line of British sport cars. Bought mine for $400, had if for a couple of years before the engine broke. Sold it for $200.
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My first car. I overpaid $800 for mine in 83, and I still have it.
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My dad had one back in the day. Every now and then I feel a small compulsion to try an acquire one, but the fact that I have no place to garage it generally makes it impractical.
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Apropos of nothing:
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So 70s! Much wow!!!
I love it!
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In the 60s and 70s many popular cars had smiley faces.
In the 2000s and beyond they have switched to mean faces, angry faces, or snarling faces.
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Well, you learn something new every day. Never knew our colonial cousins called it a Bugeye Sprite. It was always Frogeye in UK.
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(Off topic a little, but) I noticed similar about LEGO figurines…While working at a toy warehouse recently I noticed how many now have mean faces, angry faces, or snarling faces.
Also: Love that powder blue 
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Be warned that just under that saintly, naively happy smiley face lies the dreaded Lucas, Prince of the Underworld.
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It’s really beautiful color on a beautiful car. So much more attractive than modern options like the Audi R8 I put below it
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I read an article years ago that it’s American cars which are “angry” and imports which are “cute.”
Closest thing I found was this from Jalopnik in 2008: https://jalopnik.com/science-shows-people-prefer-angry-aggressive-cars-5060127
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I dunno - my two examples were both imports (Volvo P1800 and modern Audi R8). One is extremely smiley , the other has an almost anime-looking snarl to it.
Looking at just American cars, the 1960s Mustang looks a little frowny relative to the Volvo P1800 but it’s still not angry:
https://cdn.dealeraccelerate.com/cam/34/1878/78332/1920x1440/1965-ford-mustang-coupe
whereas the modern Mustang is angry, maybe not quite as angry as the Audi R8 though:
Just my opinions on these. Anyway it’s clear cars were happier in the 70s than they are today. Even the Tesla, which doesn’t even have a grille (or radiator) manages a dark frown:
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The Frogeye was available in baby blue too, probably the best colour for it.
They were horribly cold and draughty for most of the year but made up for it on the one sunny weekend.
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