It may not reach the frenzied heights of America’s Ford v. Chevy battle, but I’ve always felt that there was a Midget v. Spitfire undercurrent in the British Sports Car world. Maybe I’m just imagining it, but either way, I fall squarely in the middle on both counts: I’ll drive just about anything and have a good time. Speaking of a good time, this early Midget looks like a lot of fun, and I’ll narrow the kerfuffle down even further: side-curtains v. roll-up windows. (I’ll take the side curtains every time.)
The Marketplace advertisement for this Midget is short on details, aside from the fact that the owner passed away and his son is selling it for his mother. He does say that everything on the car works and it can be driven and enjoyed right now, or it can be a project for someone who wants a little extra. It sounds like a perfect driver to me. If the engine is original, it should be the 1,098 cc version of BMC A-Series four cylinder, which produced 56 horsepower. It’s not a lot, but there’s not a lot of car here, either. A contemporary Autocar road test says that the 1,098 cc Midget could get to 60 in 17.2 seconds and reach 90 mph, which is plenty to me in a car this small.
The Midget was in production for almost 20 years, and the later versions got some interior upgrades, but I’ll take one of these spartan early samples. You get a flat dashboard, hollow doors, purposeful instrumentation, a few switches, and that’s it. This is the essence of an early sports car: just you and the machine, your scarf billowing in the damp evening breeze as the sun fades from view. What a cool car.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I also like the color and the steel wheels. It looks as if the top is in good shape (not that it will do much). There are no pictures of the undercarriage in the ad, and being that the car is being sold in Ohio, it may be worth an in-person look if you want to buy this Midget.
The Midget also comes with a tonneau cover, because who wants to put the top up on a side-curtain Midget? There’s a lot of inexpensive sports car fun here: it’s currently for sale on Marketplace with an asking price of $6500. Whether you prefer Midgets or Spitfires, this looks like a hard one to pass up.
Nice car. Looks like the owner kept good care of it but did like black paint. Wheels came painted silver and the engine compartment was body color. They are good long distance cars and will cruise at 65 all day.
BTW, my first new car was a ’62 Midget. Put 14,000 miles on it in a year and a half. Small but great fun.
My first car was also a 62 Midget, but it was 2 years old when I got it. Had my heart set on an MG TD for the 400.00 that I had saved up, but my folks and their mechanic said it was not a good car for a 16 year old. So they allowed me to put my 400.00 down on the used Midget and they co-signed the loan for the balance.
“Mr.Peabody, why did we step back to 1963?”
“To show you,Sherman, that a sports car doesn’t have to have a 10 speed automatic transmission with 500HP to be fun..”
The first sports car in our family and a hit at my HS with the football team new player initiation-“how many of you does it take to pick up his car when he’s not lookin and turn it sideways in the parking stall?”
Out on the road the 948cc motor would be tearing along the long stretch of blacktop at..75MPH, which felt like 150 sitting that close to the ground!
A caveat her, my 1963 was made in the last few months of 1961, sent to the USA where it sat unsold until 1963, hence legally a 1963..
Self cancelling turn signals: someone will eventually flip the center mounted switch off them self.
Power brakes/power steering: the more time you spend at the gym the more power you have, not that you really need it even with the drum brakes on the first models.
A really fun sports car at a decent price and appears to have been appreciated and cared for.
The best to the seller and new owner as well.
Thanks for the time trip, Aaron.
The Boys put my ’67 on top of a stone pile, then went home!
My first car at the ripe old age of 13 was an old ’49 Crosley wagon. Paid $39 for it. Big hitch was the Friday night before we were supposed to pick it up a bunch of kids put the car on top of the local movie house after the football game. Owner rented a fork lift to get it off.
Nice example of an early Midget. one of the best things about the Spridgets is that you are close to the ground and taking off in first gear can seem fast with its toned exhaust… It’s not really fast but it can seem that way! It’s fun to go through the gears and thank God it has the third pedal. Some young people today don’t really know what the third pedal is for!! That’s an observation, not a judgment!!
Like Aaron I’m a side curtain guy all day long. Mk2 Spridgets are the best.
I would not go on the.hyway in this afraid of getting run over by a minivan Many years ago I saw two girls in one being chased by a moron in a tractor-trailer You could see the terror in the young woman’s faces s
I think size does matter with any of these small roadsters. Here in Fort Myers, where the worst drivers in the country vacation, and the mean population age is somewhat higher than some other locations, this, my Miata, and that gorgeous yellow Elan that didn’t sell yesterday all are too low to be seen from gramma’s SUV. Not sure it matters, highway or city, you gotta be proactive.
I drove my last mk2 from Gloucester MA up to Winnipisakee and back. More than capable, but hard on the backside!