(first posted 8/4/2012) The world was once a very different place. Automotive scale has changed dramatically, more in terms of height than length. Sure, American cars were long in the sixties, but they weren’t three times as tall as an MG Midget. Stature is everything now; just ask the young guys yearning for some in their jacked-up F350s with giant exhaust stacks. Did men have more self confidence in themselves and their bodies fifty years ago? Can you even imagine a car company using the word “Midget” nowadays?
Thanks to taxes, narrow roads and lower incomes, midgets were a way of life in Great Britain. And the Midget name was a proud tradition at MG, used continuously for almost thirty years by their sports cars (like this M-Type), except for the larger or more exotic ones like the Magnette. Strictly speaking, the TD and TF were still Midgets, in MG-speak. But with the arrival of the new MGA, the Midget name went into hiatus, albeit briefly.
That rightful inheritor would have been the 1958 Austin Healey Sprite, known as “Frogeye” in the UK and “Bugeye” in the US. A brilliant update on the idea of the minimalistic sport car, the Sprite’s production in Abingdon, MG’s home plant, and its success almost assured that MG would shoehorn in on the action.
My brother had one of these, and driving one or riding in one is about as close to wearing a car as it gets, especially if you’re over six feet. It felt like your feet were up against the back of the grille. I really wish I had one in my closet.
In 1961, the Sprite was restyled, now called the Mk II. And sure enough, it now had to share its new body with the reincarnated MG Midget. Somehow, it didn’t ever work so well for me as a Bugeye replacement. It looked like it was a bit depressed compared to its perpetually perky predecessor.
The Midget wore the new duds better. It cost a bit more than the Sprite, which mostly went for a proper chrome grille and a chrome molding down the side, making it look decidedly less austere. The earliest versions still had the 948 cc version of the A-Series four, making 46 hp. A 948 cc Midget clicked off the sprint to sixty in 18.3 seconds, as tested by The Motor. For 1963, an 1100cc version was installed, with a noticeable bump in performance thanks to its 56 hp. These early versions still were true roadsters, with attachable side “curtains” (no roll-up windows).
Our featured Midget is a Mark III, which first appeared in 1966, now with roll-up windows and the 1275 cc A-Series engine with 65 hp. But what they didn’t get was the 75 hp Mini-Cooper engine, which had a better-breathing head. That would have made the “Spridgets” faster than the MGB, a no-no.
This particular one appears to be a 1972 model, or possibly a 1973, as the rear wheel arches became rounded from the former squared-ff ones with the ’72 MY. Why? Hm, maybe the money might have been better spent elsewhere? It doesn’t have the nicer classic chrome grille either, and is starting to sport the various attempts by BL to make it look more seventies’ contemporary.
The black sills were one such measure, as well as the mostly-black grille. The earlier ones did look a bit slab-sided. Wire wheels were optional, and not all-that common on these cars originally. Undoubtedly, many of them have been retro-fitted.
The cockpit: yes, this may explain why so many of today’s big guys are driving F350s. It is a cozy affair. There was a reason why the older MG roadsters all the way through the MGA had low-cut doors: it allowed one’s shoulders and arms to hang right over them. Not with these, so a midget diet or the right genes are called for.
But with the right body size and a healthy dose of self-confidence, these make for a very good time. And they’re getting restored more and more, by the enthusiastic following they’ve acquired. Any part imaginable is readily available by an industry dedicated to supplying vintage Brit sports cars.
Did British cars suffer the worst in the seventies? The combination of emission, safety and bumper regulations were a cruel triple-blow to all of them, but probably none more than the Midget and MGB. Big plastic bumpers ruined their cute faces and butts, and under-hood, things got really scary.
The 1275 cc engine was getting strangled by reduced compression and incremental de-smogging, so beginning with the 1975 model, the Midget was given the Triumph Spitfire’s bigger 1500 cc motor. And curiously, the square rear-wheel cut-outs were back again, since the round cut out reduced structural integrity. But EGR and catalytic converters took any spit and fire out of the Triumph mill, leaving it with a midget 50 hp. The last full model year was 1979, by which time it was another rolling relic. Or had been for quite awhile. This one’s gleaming twin exhausts suggest that it’s anything but stock. Maybe even an engine swap, or two.
Unadulterated driving pleasure in its most distilled form, that’s what keeps the Midget’s appeal alive. One just has to watch out for all those big vehicles threatening it on all sides: trucks, trains, and even bicycles.
I wish I had gotten one, but I had (and also wanted, then) a big-ass 1977 Monte Carlo in the late seventies. Man, them swivel seats.
Love the stature comments, and boy have you hit the nail on the head. When I’m out in my Porsche 924S, I assume that the CUV along side of me at the traffic light is tall enough that the driver’s butt (assuming the door was open, of course) is at my eye level. And in more than a few cases, I’ve gotten used to the floor pan of a pickup being at my eye level. When the Givens Transportation semi roll is at work before we open and blocks the parking lot waiting to unload, I get into my usual parking space by sticking the Porsche’s nose under the trailer’s floor until I’m almost tapping my windshield in the frame rails.
Of course, that Porsche is my idea of a proper sized car. Obviously, I’m out of touch with the times. Equally obviously, I’m certain comfortable with my stature, masculinity, or something along those lines.
Always assumed a jacked-up pickup or SUV was nothing more than over-compensation for a certain body part not working properly (or at all).
How fitting with the Midget parked next to the bike racks. Other than the steering wheel side and license plates, the scene could have been faked for jolly ‘ol England.
And the bumpers aren’t what killed that car (and the B). Having to jack the suspension up 2″ (I think that was the measurement, maybe it was a bit more) is what really killed the handling. Fortunately, you could always substitute the previous year’s suspension bits if you wanted to bother. Most people didn’t – and just didn’t consider the car a viable alternative anymore.
I looked at 74 and 75 MGBs when I ended up with a 75 Celica GT. The dealer’s attitude that the MG was at the peak of it’s existence didn’t sit well, so I walked. The dealer didn’t survive much longer, itself.
I spent a lot of time in the Austin Sprite that was your feature car except for the chrome and black stripes under the doors. It would have been the same color but time had worked it’s fading act. I don’t want to go back nor do I lust for my 64 MGB. They are good memories though and it’s your fault they just kicked into high gear.
OTOH, I still have a spare motor that would make an excellent EV in one of these. I know, heresy.
Lots of Midgets and Sprites have been electrified. Here’s one from the EV Album. Rescued from the junkyard it’s back on the road. With lithium batteries it’s actually lighter than stock!
Early one fall when I was maybe 15, my cousin Butch showed up at our house in a yellow 1969 MG Midget. He had been living out of state and stopped to visit on his way to his destination. He stayed for a few days, long enough to get a couple of things fixed in a city where he could get some parts.
I am not sure how I managed this, but I somehow talked both Butch and my mother into being allowed to drive the car in my neighborhood. With no drivers license. All in the name of driver education, I suppose, as my mother had taken me out on neighborhood practice herself. I could have driven that MG all night, but there were other things to do. It was a total blast. So much more fun than in a 74 Luxury LeMans.
I also accompanied Butch on as many errands as I could. It was perfect weather, maybe 70 degree highs in beautiful sunny autumn weather. My younger sister was at a weekend camp and I rode with Butch to pick her up in the Midget. I am not sure how we got three of us and luggage into the car, but we did. She was maybe 13, and how cool must it have been to be picked up by your older brother and much older cousin in an MG convertible with the top down.
I don’t think he kept the Midget all that much longer, and I am sure that I never saw it again. But on the strength of those few days, I would jump at the chance to buy a chrome-bumper Midget if I came across the right one.
“Did men have more self confidence in themselves and their bodies fifty years ago?”
No, but I was a lot skinnier then than I am now.
This from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
“The average weight for men aged 20-74 years rose dramatically from 166.3 pounds in 1960 to 191 pounds in 2002”
Also picked up 1.5 inches in height. Doesn’t sound like much but that Midget interior is like a well fitted suit – put on 30 pounds and it wont work at all.
These cars highlight the graduale increase in size and weight of cars through the years. I drive a 1971 Saab 96, and it is tiny relative to small cars today. I had a 1969 Saab 96 in the 70’s, and although I knew it was a small car, it never felt as small as the 71 feels today.
That’s almost identical to my 73. Much less rust though..
When I bought it I never checked the convertible top (Impulse purchase, $450). One October evening it got cold enough to need it and I found little more than a few vinyl strips on a rusty skeleton. I wound up buttoning the Tonneau cover and turning the “heater” up for the 45 minute drive home freezing my tail off. I don’t think I would have fit under the top anyway, at 6’3′ I tended to look over the windscreen than through it.
I loved that little thing. It was like a street legal Go-Cart.
As cute these things were, they were much too small and much too low. I likened them to a self-service guillotine.
Cute, cute, cute – and – well, cute.
I was doing some window shopping a while back and came across some rubber-bumper models that had been repainted to match the body. It’s not too bad looking and somewhat modern looking.
I like how in the rear shot you have both an Estes Mack and Amtrack Genesis loco with motion blur. It really brings the street scene to life.
Yes I noticed that too, brilliant timing.
Pretty funny that today’s subject has Vredersten tires on it. That was what the first shop I worked at sold and it was the place in town to take your non-Jag British car to. So we put more than a couple out the door with them.
There were a number of Midgets and Sprites that we worked on there. One thing they all had in common was a serious list to the driver’s side. Presumably due to the fact that they spent much of their time on the road with only a driver.
Now that you mention it, my B did that too, for the same reason. Didn’t see that list in the TR3A, but it wasn’t the daily driver that the B was.
I briefly owned a Midget in my clueless twenties. Wonderful in theory, and I knew I could fix it up. I barely got it home, the engine wouldn’t run right at all and it kept popping out of second gear. The next weekend I discovered the body parts that showed were half bondo, the ones that didn’t, well this was Boston in the ’70s. Then I tried to tune up those SU carbs. Their air pistons were rusted in place. End of project. Let’s just say it was a learning experience.
Reminds me of a car of a customer of the shop I mentioned above. Apparently they had seen some of the British cars going through our shop and their son decided to get a Midget. He purchased it from a local used car lot that was infamous around town for having really pretty cars, that were junk. He decided to bring it to us for a post purchase inspection. It was not pretty once you got close. The bondo was screaming out from under the flashy new metalic purple paint pretty much all over the car. The underside had a lot of rust and the engine was not exactly healthy. We managed to make it run OK but that metallic purple paint quickly faded to blue suede and the bondo started cracking and rust started creeping back through too.
I had a 1970 model, started out some sort of primrose yellow color, I got it painted a 1973 Ford bright red color, looked decent, but it was a real turd. I sold it for what I had in it, about 1984, to a guy who was going to tow it behind a motor home and use it for a runabout at campgrounds…wish I knew where that little beastie wound up
Part of the problem of those hideous Federalized bumpers, was that the ride height had to be tinkered with…the car jacked, more to the front than the rear.
I don’t know how much; but there were a few new ones about and a pre-standards one in a friend’s family…yeah, they were much different.
That was a problem of the era but the MGs showed it in the extreme. They just couldn’t be practically modified to the standards; and as it happened, they had nothing else and no money for new models.
Never had a Midget but I would love one at some point. I had a Triumph Spitfire and my little Honda S600 is a similar size.
MG actually considered the Mini platform as the future of the Midget. Styling was a bit more upright. Styling by Pininfarina. Never made it to production.
I’ve never seen a Midget newer than 1970, so not sure if we got them. Had no idea the ’72/3 model gained the round rear arches, but what a transformation – they make the car really, really pretty. In the earlier CC on the MGB, I was one of about three readers who actually like the rubber-bumper MGB (and prefer it to the chrome bumper version), but the rubber bumpers don’t suit the Midget quite as much, but are still tolerable!
Yep the later models were here with the Spitfire engine rubber bumpers etc though I do not see many survivors.
The squared off rear fenders came back shortly. It turned out that the lost body rigidity due to cutting the fenders was significant.
I reckon they’d need all the body rigidity they could get to pass US bumper laws back then!
One of the new features for the MkII Sprite was a trunk lid, that had been left of the original along with the intended pop-up headlights to save costs. I have read that the round rear wheel arches made the body weaker.
I’d love to have one of these just like one I’ve seen at a couple of hillclimbs, flared wheel arches and a bulge indicating a bit more motor under the hood. A 4AGE would be a good place to start.
Am I the ONLY young American guy who yearns for cars like a bone-stock Saab 900 SPG or Saab 9-3 Viggen in similar condition!?
Thank you, Paul, for some more awesome “Eugene Porn” (As i think of it.)
Your photos are like a wet-dream of my progressive, urbanist fantasies: I mean, you got it all here: classic cars, good-looking people on bicycles, a bicycle SHELTER for chrissakes!, a factory where honest Americans still make an honest product, and a passenger TRAIN!
And almost forgot the Prius!
Thanks, but one minor detail: the Eugene Planing Mill shut down a couple of decades ago, and is now an indoor climbing gym. Oh well. It’s part of a multi-block re-use of that once large facility that includes an REI store and some other businesses. But we do have at least one old-school “planing” mill, that works up anything you might need.
When I was a young child my aunt drove a ’71 Midget. I remember one day I was with my grandmother and her car broke down (a big Delta 88 if I remember correctly) We walked to a pay phone and the only person who could come to our rescue was my aunt, in the MG. I remember sitting on my grandmother’s lap in the passanger seat and my head was pushing up against the closed top. I remember it being very cold outside hence the top being up. Even as a 4 or 5 year old child, I remember thinking how small that car was.
My second car, and the first one that I purchased, was an 1972 MG Mk. III Midget. British Racing Green, Autumn Leaf interior, black convertible top. My first car was a ’65 MG 1100 Sports Sedan. I bought it the spring of my freshman year in college – 1974 – and I parked it in my grandmother’s garage in August 1978, and never drove it again. Did I mention that the brake master cylinder went out for the second time on the way to grandma’s house? At seven years of age it was also losing a battle with the tin worm.
I finally sold the car in 2000 or 2001 – the fella who bought it also got a raft of new parts which would be needed to bring it back to running condition. I finally decided that I had neither the time, money, nor patience to bring it back to life. I kept the owner’s manual.
The round arches were a design touch that improved the look greatly but it turned out that the square arch Midgets had significantly more strength in the hind-quarters because of the squared wheel arches – that’s why they went back into production.
Mine was the earliest production round-arch Midget in the MG Registry and was an early production 1972 model (built late in 1971) so it had larger carbs and had the most powerful (if one could call it that) engine ever to be had under the hood a modern Midget.
I had to have the transmission totally rebuilt. I rebuilt the clutch slave cylinder maybe twice. When my brake master went out the first time the dealership had them on back order and when they came in and I went to pick mine up, I was the third guy in line to buy one.
I drove it one weekend with a buddy of mine from Columbus to Ann Arbor where his brother went to school. We made ham and cheese sandwiches and stowed them being the drivers seat next to the rear wheels. When it came time to eat, we had hot ham and cheese! On the highway, when one would look to the left at say, a passing semi-truck, the wheel hubs of the semi were right about at eye height. And even though small, it never felt cramped – the seats were super comfortable and were great for an occasional nap between classes.
All that being said, I loved that little car. Here’s an interesting tidbit – it’s my understanding that two separate design studios each designed the front and rear of the car and neither knew of the others design until it was actually put together.
MG – Safety Fast!
The latter point about the styling is sort of true. When the first Spridget was designed, the Healeys came up with their own version, which was basically a new front clip and the rear section of the existing Bugeye Sprite. Denis Williams did the MG version independently — according to David Knowles, Alec Issigonis insisted that the two versions be done in parallel, not in collaboration. When the Healeys saw the Williams design, they liked it a lot and asked if they could have Williams’ tail with their redesigned nose.
Mainly, the Healeys were keen to get rid of the Bugeye’s sealed boot. It was originally adopted for cost reasons and to stiffen the tail, but in practice it was a bear and made wiring and trim much more difficult: a workman had to crawl into the boot over the seats, and there was nowhere for toxic adhesive fumes to escape.
I have a Midget as my daily driver. Driven it for ~6 years now. Rock-solid reliable, starts every time, and simple as a riding lawnmower to work on. Not that it never breaks, but when something goes awry, there’s nothing –nothing– that can’t be fixed in a weekend. Everyone seems to have a story about “the one they used to have,” and it gets a lot of attention wherever it goes. You can throw it into curves like a go-kart. It gets winded on the Interstate, and won’t win any drag races, but it’s more fun at 30mph than most cars are at 70mph.
That’s the secret to Brit sports cars: so low to the ground, they seem faster than they are, like a go-cart. Perhaps that’s what “Safety Fast” (MG’s old motto) really meant. No need to break speed laws to enjoy them on public roads.
My 1st car was a high-compression ’67 MGB. Low-tech, sure, but it didn’t have to be sophisticated to be fun. Even the shop manual was entertaining, with its British jargon.
Beautiful car. Those things always turned my head. I forgot about the three wiper blades. Cool stuff.
What you seemed to be saying about the sheer joy of cruising in the open air, rather than racing, sums up my sentiments exactly.
“,,,it’s more fun at 30mph than most cars are at 70mph”
That’s because at 30mph you could swear you were doing 80mph.
I notice this one has the square-ish rear wheel wells. Others on here have announced their preference for the round years, but I think these fit the rest of the body very well. I’m surprised, though, that the square ones were found to be better for rigidity, as I believe it’s the opposite in airplanes. I’m no expert but I recall hearing that some of the earliest attempts at high-speed, high-altitude flight self-destructed in flight because designers didn’t yet know that a fuselage was fatally weakened by square windows. It wasn’t until the craft’s windows were changed to the porthole-style of today that the whole thing was strong enough stay up in the air. And yet with the Midget, it seems to be the other way around? Or am I missing something?
It isn’t the shape of the wheel arches that makes the squared off ones stronger. It is that the rounded arch ones were made by simply removing material.
Nice to see a fresh thread about Midgets. I have a 1972 rust free Midget and a 1979 with VERY little rust. I bought it real cheap for to use as a parts car – ( I wanted the hood for my 72). It was a good plan until I cleaned it up. Turned out to be a low mileage, unmolested and almost rust free car. It needs a top and all new tires and some work to undo 10 years of storage. I loved driving the 72 so I guess I will have to make do with the sprung hood ( one of previous owners did not heed the no brake boost warning). My son has shown some interest in the 79 so maybe I will keep it.
We have a gathering of antique, classic and hot rods here -800 cars this fall- lots of MGs, Healeys, etc but I have seen only one Midget. Better get the 72 back on the road so I can represent !
Bought a ’64 Midget while in the Army in D.C. in ’68. Had it less than a year before shipping to Germany. Had a blast! Many INTERESTING times! Got stuck in 12″ of snow…had 3 MP’s (that’s Military Police) in full uniform in the car at once with me driving…travelled Va, D.C., MD and points east as far as I could go over a weekend!
Wonderful memories…wish I had shipped it back home and kept it. Those were the days!
Just a small correction: the 1500cc Triumph Spitfire motor didn’t appear in the MG Midget until 1975 (along with rubber baby buggy bumpers and a Catalytic Convertor). My first Midget was a ’74 with a proper if weak, 1275CC MG motor and chrome bumpers.
I have a jingle implant in my head now: “Good going MG Midget, you sure make the going fine” Amazing how those can come back to you.
That popped into my head when I saw this, too!
I had one of these when I was in college, a 1973 MkIII in “Aconite”, which was a weird kind of purple color. Later, my dad had my uncle, who managed a body shop, respray ini a jewel-like Lincoln-Mercury green color. I drove it for several years. put lots of miles on it driving from Virginia down to school in North Carolina for a while. If I had been more of a moorhead with more mechanical aptitude I probably would have kept it and done a full restoration at some point, but I sold it a some point and bought a second-hand Saab 900S. I worked in Yorktown, VA, for a summer job doing living history work, and would drive from my apartment in Williamsburg in the morning on the Colonial Parkway. With the top down, that wonderful burble of the exhaust, driving up that lovely highway with the York River passing by on the left, it was the best commute that I ever had.
A friend had one of these back in high school days. I remember it felt more like you put it on than got in it. It was entertaining for sure.
On top of everything else, Eugene has in indoor climbing gym too!
This was my Midget; a 1962 MkI. It’s the first complete restoration I did, and was the perfect car to learn on. It was about as simple a car as you could find. It didn’t even have a starter solenoid- a cable was pulled to close the starter contacts. Side curtains, hollow doors, no outside door handles. Great fun!
CC-effect, I’ve seen a 1970 Midget recently, on the freeway heading into the city (or beyond) at around 6:40am.
When I was a kid, my aunt drove a ’71 Midget. Not long ago I was talking on facebook about it when a friend said something about wanting an MG. I said “My aunt had a Midget when I was a kid.” To which another friend jokingly replied “Adam! That’s no way to talk about your cousin!”
Seriously though, one memory I have of that car was when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I was with my grandmother and her car broke down. I think it was the white Dodge Diplomat she had. Anyway, we walked to a pay phone and the only person home was my aunt and she drove the Midget. I remember sitting on my grandmother’s lap with my head pushing up against the convertible top (it was winter thus top up)
I’ve always liked the early square wheel arch Spridgets .
I occasionally think about buying one and stuffing s ‘B’ series 1800 into it…..
FWIW , the 1275 C.C. ‘A’ series Austin/MG engine is a fairly high revver vs other BMC products .
I have a ’71 Midget 1275 and rib case tranny in my 1961 Morris Minor .
-Nate
I really dig the early ’70s blackout treatment! The squared openings do look better, but this is pretty close to perfect, IMO. I definitely prefer this grille over the chromey piece.
I’ve never seen the Midget with the rounded rear arches. Looks a lot better to my eye,
reminds me of a scaled down TR6 a little.
Thanks for the pics & story.
I owned a Spitfire back in the 70s, about the same vintage as this Midget. That Spitfire often felt like a go cart with a (very) thin metal skin.
While the safety and emissions regulations really went a long ways towards killing these cars, the British auto workers and British Leyland’s response (doing THE absolute minimum possible) to the safety and emissions regs went a long way to killing these cars. Not that the company could make up it’s mind on updates.
Be aware Howard that any Roadster is a death trap .
I recently found a 1973 Midget in Pick-A-Part that had hit a bollard or lamp post at serious speed , the passenger compartment remained 100 % intact .
I needed the ribcase transmission out of it and it took us a few hours to rip the front end of the car off to facilitate removing the engine and tranny because the tranny cross member isn’t removable , this ads serious structural rigidity to a roller skate that’s not really fast but was designed to be seriously tossed through the corners .
A side note : R.I.P. Damien Sisely who was going over 100 MPH in his Toyota MR2 Convertible when it crashed and he was ejected and killed recently , you are sorely missed by all of us and your always satisfied Customers too .
Too much death in my life of late .
-Nate
Nate:
You don’t have to tell me about a small car being a “deathtrap”. I put my Spitfire in my sister’s hands while I took a 5 month “vacation” while in the Navy. Maybe it was because she had wrecked her (soon to be) husband’s nearly new Sport Fury convertible, or her sudden move from rural Pa to urban NJ, I had several nightmares about my sister being killed while driving my Spitfire. My visions ALWAYS involved my car and a very large truck. Leaving my car AND sister looking like a crushed soda can.
I rode in a Midget once in high school and recall it was a tight a fit even fo rmy shorter and considerably slimmer 14 year old self. Ironically the owner was one of the tallest girls in the school so she probably should have had a bigger car.
Personally I would go for a Triumph Spitfire over the Midget since I prefer the swoopier styling and value the larger cockpit.
One of the faculty members at the university where I used to work had a late rubber-bumper midget as her spring/summer/fall daily driver. Caught a ride across campus once; they look tiny from outside, sure, but being inside really reinforces it! Definitely very go-kart-like.
Had 2 Midgets in succession ( with a. 2 year overlap, since if you owned one you needed a spare) a ’74 in “Neon Piss Green” and a white ’75. The ’74 with chrome numbers and the 1275 engine and dual carbs was a far superior machine than the ’75 with the 1500 from the Triumph Spitfire ( a British Leyland cousin). So many great memories in these cars though. Never again will I experience that sense of freedom in an automobile. And at $.89 a gallon for gas in 1987 I filled those tanks for about $8. Not to mention that I’d scurry up a long icey driveway like a mountain goat while my mother’s ’85 XJS would languish at the bottom getting buried in slush and snow. Ah, the gloating.
Living in New Mexico where the high school girls drive F350 4WD trucks these MG
Midgets would be thrilling to tool around in. But I would.
Except for the whole British reliability thing these were great cars. You could drive
into your garage at 50mph and back out at 45mph.
When I become Ruler of the World all cars will have less than 100hp. As that Brit guy
said, “Simplify and add lightness”. Simplify, add lightness and have fun.
My Spitfire, a little bit bigger than a Spridget, but getting tinier every year… You should see it next to a loaded logging truck.
The featured car is a lovely little vehicle. Driving such a small car is best done with the frame of mind of a motorcyclist, avoid contact with other vehicles at all costs. I rode motorcycles as my daily transportation for 35 years. These cars are small enough to zip through tiny openings in traffic to avoid being rear ended. I can imagine that there would be a lot of anxiety about THAT! Unfortunately, old cars of this type don’t have the power to speed their way out of an emergency. Save these for shows and drive a late model Miata.
There were two very large men down the street from us, and they bought one of the black-rubber-bumper Midgets – seeing the two of them stuffed into that was quite something!
The Triumph engine was nowhere nearly as durable as the A-Series, one more reason I’d never have a late one. I’d love a good pre-smog 1275, with DISK wheels, please! As crude as they are mechanically, they’re a hoot to drive, and the much lighter steel wheels help the handling quite a bit.
CC effect.
I have a 1969 Midget in the shop right now. I am reworking the brakes and the rolling bits.
It’s not museum quality but it is a nice looking driver.
Paul, it’s too bad you did not get the chance to meet the owner, Nick, who worked at the Crux climbing gym inside the Planing Mill there where you took the photos. He restored that car, as well as one of those Russian-made Ural motorcycles that came with a sidecar. He’s around 5’9″ or less, as one might expect for a Midget driver, but a man of great strength. He competed very successfully in climbing and bouldering competitions.
The body shells are being remanufactured by British Heritage for around £10k so they don’t die nowadays, but get rebuilt as new or electricified.
When I was a wee hippy, hitch-hiking home from Wales, a chap pulled up in a frog-eye and asked if I could drive as he was exhausted. As I was the proud owner of a six month old driving license I assured him I could. I’ll never forget the sheer exuberance of that car, hurtling through the hedgerowed lanes, I felt like Stirling Moss.
Wallside Classic. A bright end to a Midget. Upon closer inspection it looks like most of the body structure is intact, just bisected.