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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