Once in a while, when I’m scanning our assignment lists here at Barn Finds, a car is so compellingly cheap, I try to put it in front of you as soon as possible. Here’s an example – no, it’s not perfect, but this 1965 MG Midget runs and drives, the seller “wants it gone”, and the price is only $1300 or best offer. It’s listed here on Facebook Marketplace, and you can pick it up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. There is no title. You won’t meet a much simpler car than the MG Midget. I mean that in the widest sense – mechanically, parts availability, and access to support. About 350,000 Midgets and their badge-engineered sibling the Austin Sprite were made. Many parts are also shared with the Bugeye Sprite. Midgets are practically falling out of trees, but some are better than others. This example is a Mk II, which means all-chrome bumpers but wind-up windows and external door handles. That veneer of civility in a still-vintage package makes the Mk II my favorite of the Midgets.
The ’65 Midget came equipped with BMC’s A-series 1098 cc four-cylinder, good for almost 60 hp. The torque was decent, and the car only weighed 1,620 lbs, so the performance is adequate. What the car lacks in grunt, it makes up for in pliable handling, and if you’re really impatient with the low output, you do have choices. The 1098 is particularly amenable to supercharging (I like Judson, but I’m old-school), or you can transplant a 1275 cc engine under the hood without breaking a sweat. I would never switch to a Weber, but larger SUs are a possibility as well. The gearbox is a four-speed with no synchro on first. (Remember: pretend the gear knob is an egg. Or, just double clutch.) I like what I am seeing in here, which is originality everywhere. The plug wires are tagged, so someone did something, at some time….
The interior shows signs of restoration work. That carpet is too nice to be original. (Just a note on fit: if you’re tall, or wide, maybe don’t fall in love with a Midget. The door is narrow, and most folks will find ingress a hair challenging.) The seats are tolerable, and someone has upgraded the steering wheel to a wood-rimmed, three-spoke Motolita. The car also comes with a smattering of parts, literature and automobilia.
We haven’t discussed the body, and since the ad says almost nothing, it’s best to take a gander in person. One photo is so pixelated I can’t see the sill or gaps, but the paint looks like it was applied with a brush. This rear shot shows hints of a minor tap. Thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for sending in this possibly worth a look Midget. Have any of you driven or owned a Midget? What did you think of it?
Stop it, stop it, stop it, I’m very vulnerable right now. Oshkosh, B’gosh, I think everyone has heard of Oshkosh. Overalls, EAA Fly-in, home of the mosquito, and such. The author is a breath of fresh air, no Webers! That is like a punch in the gut for any British car enthusiast. If the British thought it was a good choice, they would have used them. SUs are so simple, and I put hundreds of thousands of miles on SUs. Oh sure, a bit temperamental below freezing, ( hot air tubes under the manifold solved that) they pale in comparison to the hijinks a Weber involves, and for no real performance gain. Not sure exactly what the “Little Bastxxd” is supposed to imply, and no synchro 1st,,oh no!! Hey, real truck drivers have no problem with that, but 2nd gear roll stops( if no cops) are what most do. Sprigets are great cars, these are my favorite too, still has the “dynamo”, I see, but adequate for 60+ years, and disc wheels a plus too, however,,,(cue dramatic music), $1300? Lack of interest is strong here, and a shame. These generally don’t have a lot of miles, and while the pictures don’t show how small they really are, well, let’s say, it’s downright dangerous with todays traffic. For a leisurely stroll down Gumdrop Lane, top down, kind of a 4 wheel motorcycle, as the Brits intended, it’s a great find, and good thing it’s not in my area, it would be mine.
li was told that the mosquito is our state bird up here in Minnesota. I did like living in Port Washington. Cute car, must be fun to drive.
Had an early Midget, detachable slider plastic windows, drum brakes all around, simple enough that when the accelerator cable broke I took a rawhide tie off my leather vest and tied it to the cable-left hand controlled the throttle, got home no problem! Sold it to buy a ‘66 Mustang and strangely enough found the Midget again 15 years later in a friends backyard. He had fixed up and later took it with him when he moved.
Simple, easy to work on, feel like you’re doing 80MPH around tight canyon corners at actually 25 because your tukas is just inches from the pavement below.
Yes-personally speaking insofar as any Brit car owned the best Weber we used when has a grill in it.
Our ”67. Loved it. Lots of fun. Nice one here.
Nice Bob, that’s how they should look! I believe the Little B painted on the deck lid is a reference to James Dean’s Spyder. https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/the-haunting-story-of-james-deans-little-bastard/
Hmmm. Did they say no title? Getting it registered in most jurisdictions could be a challenge. Cute car otherwise.
New York uses transferable registrations for anything before 1973; I’ve gotten two bikes back in the system using bills of sale. I think this is cute as hell, but I sacrificed the sports car region of my brain to motorcycles a long time ago.
The doppelganger to this car lives between me and our local beer store, under a carport. Been there for at least 25 years, gets used a bit each summer. Old guy owns it, I have resisted (so far) approaching him about it but I feel weakness….
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This is definitely “Priced to Sell! It is Model T simple to work on and in interesting driving experience. In my youth I had one as a daily driver and put many thousands of miles on it. The keyword was youth. And a 55mph speed limit.
I had the Austin Healey Sprite version. Fun car to drive and easy to repair. Ended up replacing headlights all the time because the car and bumpers sit low and people backed up into them. All the instrument panel wire harness shorted out and fried and I replaced it.
It was 1964 and I was a junior in High school. My folks promised me I could buy a car when I was 16 if I could pay the payments and insurance. I had 400.00 saved from selling my go kart, bicycle, slot cars and from mowing lawns. I had my eye on a 1953 MG TD- yellow with green leather interior that was on sale for 400.00. They consulted a local shop that did work for them and the mechanic cautioned them about the fragility of the TD in the hands of a teenager. With some discussion we decided on a used ’62 MG Midget for 1200.00. I put down my 400.00 and financed the rest and got a job in a drive in working from 4 PM to midnight to make my payments. (1.25 per hour) . Joined the local sports car club and weekends were spent “touring” with the other members. Finally managed to total the car on one of those “tours”. The insurance company paid off the balance of my loan and the adjuster said I could have the salvage for 100.00. The car still ran fine, but the passenger door was stoved in by the tree, so I paid the 100.00 and drove my wrecked MG to school strutting around telling the story of my wreck. Then began a lifelong journey of scrounging wrecking yards for parts, learning cutting, welding and painting. Eventually swapped the repaired MG straight across for an XK 120 FHC. Whenever one of these Midgets pops up here or on FB Marketplace I am compelled to look at the ad even though at 78 I could never get in and out of one.
Had a ’68 BRG Midget when I was 18 in the early ’70s. Wire wheels, roll up windows, 4 speed – what more do you need? Glad this car is located on the wrong coast – no garage space.
Drove a ’64 Midget from Bellingham Washington to St Louis MO in February 1966. Cannot say that it was one of my favorite cross country drives! Definitely not a long distance cruiser car!
It’s sold. Hope the new owner lavishes bit of TLC on Little Bast**d. I don’t see how you could possibly go wrong here considering the initial investment. I’ve driven the Sprite version and got more smiles per mile than just about anything else I ever drove.
Sold, thankfully I saw it too late, because it’s practically in my back yard, and I would not have had a choice but to go rescue it.
Had a `67 Sprite. In `68 I drove it from Hartford, CT down to Long Boat Key in FL for spring break. Got stopped for speeding in western GA (cost me $35) and lost my clutch somewhere around the FL border. Got it to Sarasota without a clutch and brought it to a shop down there, they replaced the clutch cylinder and all was well until about a week later the clutch failed again half way up the NJ Turnpike on the way home. Driving through NJ and NY traffic (and, over the GW Bridge) without a clutch was interesting! When I got it home, I put another cylinder in it and traded it in on a Rover 2000TC – whole different world, but it had it’s “quirks” too.
One of the things I love about Spridgets, is that like here, everybody has a story about the one they had in high school, or the girl down the street had one, or Uncle Bob raced one or ,,, If you are a man of a particular age, and got out of the house at all, you have a Spridget or MGB story, from a fond place in your memory. I’ve got plenty from racing HP to flipping them back in the 70’s to driving a B in my 70’s. Great cars, and pricing it at $1300 was apparently “ripping off the band-aid” on sending an old friend away.
I wonder what the catch was. I seldom say this. But seems way too cheap
Sadly Christopher, just a lack of interest. This proves it.
Well shame for me it wasn’t near Tennessee , this was actually in my pitiful price range and interests. Don’t have a midget sprite story. But learned to drive in a TR3. Had a disassembled MGA in our garage Dad never got together at the same time.
I’ve had them all started with midget, then got a mga and then a b. All of them were Red and fun cars.