Looking for some guidance and parts for a Little Red Bug!

[ted johnson]

Bug changed their standard equipment as often as men change their skivvies. If they got a good buy on a different part, they bought that new part and used it until they ran out. The first Little Red Bugs DID have the Hands 4" wheels. I had one on the showroom floor for several weeks. I know they offered the Spider magnesium wheels as an option on all Bug karts. You could always get the Airheart brake on all live axle Bug products for extra cost, beginning, I believe in '62. The Bendix became a more popular option as it worked more smoothly than the Trophy mechanical disc. The early Trophy caliper was mounted to the bearing hanger by a cast aluminum bracket. Later, they welded a small "L" shaped steel bracket on, as the aluminum brackets often broke. My personal '61 Wasp had a steel bracket I fabricated. It was the same dimensions as the cast bracket. It lasted until I sold the kart late in the season. I have a Pro/Engineer CAD designed steel or billet aluminum bracket on my computer. I designed it for a Bug guy who broke his cast bracket and couldn't find another. It looks factory, but being machined, it'll last a long time. I'm certain that the later LRB karts came standard with 5" wheels. However, I sold a few with the 4" wheels all around. I guess Bug renamed the kart Red Bug, but the early ones were called Little Red Bug. These karts can not be pinned down to say: "They came thus and so". They came however Bug happened to make that production run, and might change next week. It isn't like they sold thousands of this model. It wasn't very popular. Most buyers wanted the Wasp, Flyweight, Lightning Bug or Scorpion. They were heavier, but the frames were less likely to break as they had the wrap-around rear bumper. We even sold more Lightning Bugs with the V-11 Saetta engine than we did LRB's. You are just not going to find definitive proof of exactly how the kart was produced from week to week. They aren't Fords nor Chevvies. I had stacks of Bug brochures, but tossed them when we closed the shop in '64. Every printing had several minor changes to the kart. Go Kart did the same thing. If you had ever visited Bug back then, you'd understand. They had frames stacked against one another many deep, and many stacks wide.
BTW, look at that second brochure. That's a later kart. It has the 5/8" steering shaft, the 5" Spiders, the Airheart brake, the swing mount sitting horizontal and the Faye's pedals. I imagine that's from late '62 or '63. They obviously had changed the name as well as the bolt-on parts. Your kart is an earlier model. It's still the same kart. TJ