Since letting go of the ambitious Lotus project, always browsing around for something else. Losing the garage made the Lotus a no-go, since it was far from being road worthy & not having anywhere for the major work it needed.

Found a 75 Midget locally, but don't know a ton about them. Needs some work & paint but claims runs/drives.
How's the Midget for a fun date-night type car, maybe occasional autocross type driving?

Looks like Moss Motors has tons of parts available for these, which is a plus.

Can the big bumper cars be converted to the earlier small bumper look?

The front fenders are different.
The Stromberg carbs have to be maintained constantly.

I worked at a sports car shop in the 80s to work through school.
I worked on hundreds of these things.

Most were Triumph running gear.

Lucas wiring. On board fire extinguisher is a must!

^^^ LOL. Never owned one but always saw references to them being wiring nightmares.

Always liked the look and wanted one but they don't fit me.

OP how tall are you?

I'm 6'0" 165-170lbs & about a 34" inseam

Drove a Spitfire briefly in college 2006-ish, a 76 maybe. Fit fine in there, from what I recall.

My experience is actually with an MG B I wore for a summer. Great fun, very little practical use. Just not suitable at highway speed, it was wound pretty tight, this was during the 55mph era.

Inside suburban areas might be cool. Providing you’re a smaller guy.

This may not be of much help to the OP but in the late 60’s my dad bought one because it would fit in the limited space of our second garage space.
On Sundays, when the weather was nice, he would drop the top and all six (yes 6) of us would fit in that little car; my youngest sister on my Mother’s lap and my 2 other sisters behind the front seats with me in the middle back with my legs going between the front seats…

Ah the days before seatbelts and nanny’s…

I helped a buddy restore a rubber bumper Midget. We swapped in the OD from a spitfire and what a fun car that turned into.

Realistically not very fast, but crazy how 45 felt like 70 in that thing. Seemed like it went forever between fill-ups as well.

We bumped into a guy that did a 4.3 vortec swap into one. Talk about a screamer!

English sports cars are great to look at, fun to drive when they work but reliability is not part of the program. My first car was an Austin Healy 100 and was the car that taught me when a car does't work it's a piece of outdoor furniture.

It was a car made in England.

Need I say more?

But, but my second father built an MG with a souped up Volvo engine and a Corvette transmission. It had, IIRC, a 4:1 weight to HP ratio. The first time we drove it, the seats weren’t attached and the gas came from a five-gallon can on the floor in front of the passenger. Good times. Damn I miss him.

It was one of two cars that scared the crap out of me.

The other was a mutual friend’s Volvette, a Volvo with a Corvette drive train. That car was able to spin the tires at 50 mph. I learned that in a mall parking lot.

Thanks gents. The CFO has green-lit it (still have some profit squirreled away from selling the Lotus), just doing as much due diligence before contacting the seller which is about an hour away.
According to the ad, it runs well, new brake master, rear brake cylinders, axle seals, clutch master/slave/lines, electrical has been gone through.

Needs a paint job, a couple minor dents fixed & has a small tear in one of the top windows.

I recently sold my MGB-GT which I owned for over 40 years. If you are not capable of doing much of your own work these cars can be very expensive to repair and unless you find a friendly mechanic - many shops don't like to work on them. The front suspension needs to be evaluated very carefully. A kingpin/swivel axle repair is expensive and hard to do and most cars will need it unless they had frequent lubrication.

The motors are simple, brake components are relatively cheap, and despite the continual jokes about Lucas electrics most of the problems are caused by poor connections and not failing components. Parts are readily available from Moss. Personally I like the B's over the midgets. They are a great weekend car - drive it one weekend and work on it the next weekend.

Look up "John Twist" and read all his tech tips.

Safety Fast !

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
Most were Triumph running gear.

I thought the Midget's were basically a Healy Sprite,

did Healy (healey?) run triumph bits?


always wanted a bugeye, but never cared for the midget, ( or spridget as some call it) sat in one years ago , but did not test drive it, even at a then 5'7" and 140 lbs, it was a PITA to get in and out of

The big bumpers also have a higher ride height and are the early attempts at lower emissions ( also meaning they don’t run as well).
I won’t give you all the jokes, like Lucas, the Prince of Darkness or how these will keep your garage floor from rusting.

Not opposed to some DIY maintenance, and who doesn't want a ln excuse for new tools.

May try to go take a look at it this weekend, weather & time permitting, see if I even fit in it.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Not opposed to some DIY maintenance, and who doesn't want a ln excuse for new tools.

May try to go take a look at it this weekend, weather & time permitting, see if I even fit in it.

They are called a Midget for a reason.

Very basic cars... I would go for a 1971 era ... much better looking.

Also go for an MGB not a Midget..

Easy to work on.

Downside ... They rust out.

Fuel pump, water pump, clutch. Rinse, repeat ad nauseam.

The truth is, unless you are a diehard MG or old English car fan, a Miata is a much better choice.