The MG Midget is one of the most famous and oldest in the British sports car pantheon. First introduced in 1929 as the M-Type, the Midget was one of the earliest ways to get a cheap sports car, as MG undercut the traditional formula with a low power, low weight car with a relatively tiny footprint.
MG discontinued the Midget in 1955, when the larger MGA arrived, leaving a gap in the market which sister brand Austin filled with the Austin-Healey Sprite in 1958. The first Sprite – the “Frogeye” - sported its famous inboard headlights, but for the second generation model in 1961 it reverted to a more standard arrangement. BMC opted to create a new, badge-engineered MG Midget using this Sprite as a basis.
Over the next decade, the car evolved through two further generations until the Austin was itself discontinued, leaving the Midget to succeed the car that had succeeded the original! The final generation, as you see here, was the Midget 1500, which boasted the same engine as the Triumph Spitfire.
This Midget dates back to 1977, hitting the roads in August that year. As with all Midgets now, that means it's officially an historic vehicle, with zero-rate VED and MOT exemption.
Prior to 2010, we didn't know that much about the car. At some point in its life the Midget seems to have rapidly passed through the hands of several owners, as the current custodian is its 20th in total, but in the last decade it's become a restoration project.
Over the past 11 years, the whole car has been tidied and fettled, with a handful of owners in Yorkshire, to create a competition-spec car in as close to original condition and appearance as possible. The most recent owner picked the car up in November 2020, and continued in that spirit, but with a second, earlier Midget to restore, this first project is now surplus to requirements.
Like the Midget's history, the paperwork is very much split into two eras. The volume of information is pretty wide-ranging, but only from 2010 onwards.
You will find receipts and invoices for everything from the moment the car became a project. No matter how big or small the job was, there's documentation for it in there; quickly totting up the totals reveals over £8,000 in parts and specialist work on both body and mechanical components.
As the name might suggest, the cabin of the Midget is pretty compact, and with both the lightweight aim of the original car and the more recent competition focus of the project, there's little by way of toys. If it's not absolutely necessary for the car to function, it's not there – and that even includes a radio!
There's only two seats, and they're adequate for now. Although the passenger seat is in pretty good condition, the driver's seat is a little more worn and sports some basic repairs. The current owner suggests he'd replace them with seats from an MR2 – a fairly common upgrade – if he weren't selling.
Elsewhere, the cabin is in generally good condition. The carpets are clean on both sides, and the coverings on the centre stack and door cards are unmarked – the door cards in particular appear brand new.
There's an aftermarket steering wheel in the classic British sports car style, and the interior is rounded off with a large roll bar in a contrasting grey colour.
Over the course of the project phase of the Midget's life, a lot has been spent on making sure the exterior is just right. That includes replacement body panels and a full respray, and we can't find a mark on the paintwork.
To add to the sporting image, the Midget boasts a set of Minilite wheels, although one original - and classic Midget wheel – is retained as a spare. A very obvious exterior change is the lack of the rubber bumpers of these later cars, and this car also has a pair of spotlights which can be used on the main beam for that full tarmac rally look.
The roof is brand new too, so the plastic rear window is in perfect condition without folds, creases, or cracks. It operates smoothly enough, though there is an area where it might contact the roll bar on its way past if you're not careful.
Underneath, the Midget seems solid enough, and while it has seen some road miles there's no particular evidence of anything amiss.
This is probably this car's party piece, with almost everything that can move replaced and upgraded. It's fair to say that the bulk of what's been spent on the car comes in making it go, turn, and stop better than the original, and with around 110hp from the 1.5-litre engine it's significantly up on the original.
The engine has been stripped down, acid flushed, mildly rebored and gas flushed. There's a racing camshaft, new valves, springs, rods, pistons and a reground crank, and a long-branch exhaust manifold, in addition to upgraded and balanced carbs. The list of upgrades keeps going – new oil and water pumps, an oil intercooler, Kenlowe electric fan, electronic ignition, duplex cam chain kit, K&N filters, and braided hoses throughout.
This all gives the Midget a pretty fruity sound, although it takes a little while to warm up and settle into idle; that's down to the race cam. As it also somewhat boosts the torque, there's a refurbished gearbox with a 3.7 differential – replacing the stock 4.2 – and slightly larger wheels and tyres to keep everything together.
The suspension and brakes are all new too, with upgraded front springs and 11/16-inch sway bar, lowered rear suspension with adjustable Spax gas dampers, and a Peter May Panhard rod. All in, it's very much a competition-ready car and, though we've not had a chance to drive it, the owner reports it's an excellent thing out on the open roads and a good match for some more expensive cars.
The owner has fitted a new genuine alternator with a new pulley wheel.
Also both front brake callipers replaced, both rear slave cylinders and to Finnish of a new master brake cylinder.
This car comes with an abundance of new and new spares including a diff, half shaft, fuel pumps, spare sealed beam headlights, full set of new poly bushes for all rear springs and sox shocks A lovely replacement alloy rocker cover, spare exhaust manifold and downpipe all together with loads of spare gasket sets.
This cars last owner was a professional Mini Cooper S rally driver but he couldn't complete the project.
The Midget is already a much-loved car, and perfect for countryside drives with summer coming up. This particular one has had a lot of attention poured into it over the last decade that you could benefit from too, and is ready to hit both the highways and the hillclimbs for its new owner.
Notice to bidders
Although every care is taken to ensure this listing is as factual and transparent as possible, all details within the listing are subject to the information provided to us by the seller. Car & Classic does not take responsibility for any information missing from the listing. Please ensure you are satisfied with the vehicle description and all information provided before placing a bid.
As is normal for most auctions, this vehicle is sold as seen, and therefore the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does not apply. All bids are legally binding once placed. Any winning bidder who withdraws from a sale, is subject to our bidders fee charge. Please see our FAQs and T&C's for further information. Viewings of vehicles are encouraged, but entirely at the sellers discretion.
Please see our FAQ's here and our Terms & Conditions here
Consulta le nostre FAQ
qui
e i nostri Termini e condizioni
qui
Il modo più sicuro per acquistare un'auto d'epoca online
Il sistema di pagamento sicuro di Car & Classic protegge acquirenti e venditori. Al termine dell'asta, l'offerente vincente trasferisce il pagamento su un conto vincolato di terzi. Una volta completato il trasferimento del veicolo, entrambe le parti confermano di essere soddisfatte della vendita e il denaro viene rilasciato al venditore.
Maggiori informazioni su come acquistare con noi
RESERVE LOWERED - 1977 MG Midget 1500
Come funzionano le offerte massime
Il processo di offerta massima ti permette di fare offerte senza preoccupazioni.
Inserisci la tua offerta massima e il sistema farà offerte automaticamente per assicurarsi che tu sia il miglior offerente - fino all'ammontare da te stabilito come tetto massimo.
Anti-sniping
Car & Classic contrasta il fenomeno dello “sniping”, ovvero il fenomeno dei rilanci all'ultimo secondo per vincere l'asta.
Se viene fatta un'offerta nei 3 minuti prima della chiusura dell'asta, la scadenza di questa viene automaticamente estesa di 2 minuti per permettere agli altri offerenti di reagire e, se lo desiderano, di rilanciare.
Incrementi di offerta automatica
Se la sua offerta massima è uguale o inferiore al prezzo di riserva, la sua offerta massima sarà applicata per intero se lei è il miglior offerente.
Se siete il miglior offerente e fate un'offerta massima superiore a quella di riserva, la riserva verrà automaticamente inserita come prima offerta.
Una volta raggiunta la riserva, Car & Classic si assicurerà che tu sia il miglior offerente utilizzando solo gli incrementi di offerta indicati di seguito.
Vi terremo in testa fino alla vostra offerta massima O all'incremento più vicino alla vostra offerta massima, a condizione che la vostra offerta massima sia sufficiente a coprire il valore dell'incremento.
Ammontare dell'offerta
Incremento
Da £0 a £9,999
£100.00
Da £10,000 a £49,999
£250.00
Da £50,000 a £99,999
£500.00
£100,000 +
£1,000.00
Superamento immediato dell'offerta
Quando piazzi un'offerta massima e questa viene immediatamente superata, questo significa che un altro offerente ha impostato una soglia di offerta massima superiore alla tua.
Puoi fare nuovamente un'offerta o impostare una soglia più alta di offerta massima e il nostro sistema rilancerà fino alla nuova soglia, cercando di portarti a essere il miglior offerente.
Offerte massime di pari ammontare
Quando ci sono due offerte massime di pari ammontare, quella impostata per prima è quella che viene considerata “migliore offerta”.
Pre-autorizzazione
Potremmo trattenere un piccolo importo di pre-autorizzazione sulla tua carta fino alla fine dell'asta, quando quest'ultimo verrà poi stornato. Se vinci, verrà prelevata una caparra che verrà detratta dal pagamento del prezzo di vendita per il veicolo e non comporta costi aggiuntivi per te.
Cosa sono le Offerte pre-asta?
Offerte pre-asta significa che avete la possibilità di fare offerte prima dell'inizio ufficiale dell'asta.
Verrà comunicato se si è il miglior offerente o meno all'inizio dell'asta.
Problema con l'offerta
Le offerte sono contrattualmente vincolanti. Per tutelare l'utente, sono previste alcune regole nel caso in cui si ritenga che sia stato digitato in modo errato. Si prega di controllare e modificare quanto inserito.
