Lot details Registration No: SMR500H Chassis No: 12CEDAH11664 Mot Expiry: June 2010
By the '60s, the MG Car Company had long since been absorbed into the giant British Motor Corporation (BMC). In an effort to fully capitalise on the many respected names in its care, the company embarked upon a programme of 'badge engineering', and the new MG Midget was essentially a MKII Austin Healey Sprite in a slightly different suit of clothes. In christening its new small sports car 'Midget', BMC revived a name made famous by a range of pre-war MGs. Certainly the Midgets, old and new, shared the same basic concept - ie they were two-seaters clothed in a simple, relatively light body and equipped with front-mounted engines driving the rear wheels. Moreover, they had suspension and brake components etc common to other cars, making them easy to replace or repair and cheap to service. The new Midget started life powered by a 948cc A-Series engine fed by a pair of SU carburettors. The doors were without external handles or locks and the side windows comprised sliding perspex screens. Braking was by drums all round. Matters had greatly improved by the time the MKIII version appeared in 1966, not least in the engine compartment where the motor's capacity had been increased via 1,098cc to 1,275cc. Semi-elliptic rear springs had replaced the original quarter elliptic ones inherited from the Frog Eye Sprite and front drum brakes had been replaced with discs. Wind-up windows had been fitted, together with a superior hood. A minor facelift in 1969 saw a move to black sills and a black recessed grille. A total of 226,001 Midgets are understood to have been built between 1961 and 1979, some 100,246 of which were MKIII models.
The RHD 1970 MKIII Midget being auctioned features red bodywork complemented by black vinyl upholstery and a black hood. It rides on the optional painted wire wheels that are apparently shod with new tyres. The car is MOT'd into June and taxed until the end of the same month. The vendor describes the Midget as having "really nice straight bodywork", "very good" paintwork, engine and trim and "good" transmission. In terms of fun per pound, the Midget is as hard to beat as ever.
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