Is the MG Midget....

[nebogipfel]

Midget looks numptyish too. Spitfires are cooler

Forget hideous rubber bumper models but an early Spridget is far prettier and nicer to drive than a rattly old Spit'

If the Midget is "agricultural" the Spit' is positively Bronze Age!

The Midget was a nice cheap little fun sportscar for the man/girl with not much money .....does it compare to an Elan? .....not even remotely

[types26/36]

Midget looks numptyish too. Spitfires are cooler

Nah!....I cant agree with you there Rich, the Spitfire is a girly car, when I was a youth growing up in Hull if I had had a Spitfire I would have been chased by a gang of dockers...

[richgilb]

Perhaps...thankfully Lotus came to the rescue and my interest in all things BL quickly withered. I used to dream of owning a Stag! And thinking of something rattly, I had a Herald for a short while and that was the most badly put together car I ever owned.

[gherlt]

Hi,
my first classic was a Mk III Midget. And I have to say that it was fun.
But not because of the driving, more kind of astonishment that that small thing drives !
I am 1.75m, and hardly could fit into the car. But it was very easy, simple and cheap to use, to mantain and to restore. Every drive an adventure, you steered through roundabouts like a boat, and it moved like a boat. The faster you drive more adventure you have.
I did 1000 miles in one day without a (tecnical) problem, it drove in hot weather Spain, in cold weather Switzerland (up and down different passes) and fast on germany's autobahn. The engine was brilliand (1275 cc). Top down it does not matter how it behaves, it was fun.
Although everytime you were aware you drive a really old car.
Then the rust started, and this then was beyond my capabilites.
I started looking for something more sophisticated, more interesting, more dynamic.
And after reading Gordon Murray (kind of a automobilistic guru for me) about the Lotus Elan I wanted one.
And the difference in size is minimal, but inside it is much bigger, more spacious.
But it behaves very well, is fast, it brakes, it flows through roundabouts, you know.....

[garyeanderson]

They both fit in the back of my pickup...

[frearther]

Hi There

If anyone really wants somthing to compair against the Elan, or more likley the Plus 2, how about the Toyota 2000GT.

Take a look at chassis pics on http://www.2000gt.net and ask where you've seen somthing like that before.

Andy

I seem to recall an article in Road & Track some years ago that mentioned the same thing.

[twincamman]

well Art you have to realize all Brit cars were built for the average Brit [5 foot 2 with bad teeth ]---- --ed

[stugilmour]

Fun thread.

Had a Midget Mk I "back in the day" as my first car that I bought from the local Lotus mechanic. Always thought it was kind of interesting that the guy who could fix the Elan owned a Midget because it was easy to fix! I think the car was $300 to buy, but first year of insurance was $427; paid cash to buy it but needed a loan to drive it.

Anyway part of the similarity of the cars is the basic purity of the designs and the creature comfort improvements made over the production run.

Mine was the 998 cc model with plastic side windows, no door handles required, enough boot space to accommodate enough luggage to get to California with camping gear as long as you left the spare tire and windows at home. Heck, it didn't have a turn signal stock, using a giant switch on the dash. Tried to fit in a Midget last year picking up my Plus 2 and have no idea how I used it for five years as a daily driver.

The June Classic & Sports Car article about the Elan compared it to the MGB, Alfa Duetto, Triumph TR4/4A, and Fiat 124 Spider. The only one of that lot that comes close to the Elan for me is the Alfa, and they were ~40% more expensive and remain more expensive as a classic. As mentioned above, the only reasonable points of comparison of a Midget to the Elan are the size, and I remember thinking my Midget looked huge compared to the Elan but with way less interior space. Looking at numbers below from Classic & Sports Car Legends article, appears it was the height giving this impression

Here are some numbers... Elan followed by Midget

............................Elan Sprint ................Midget Mk I
Length................12? 1?........................11? 4?
Width...................4? 8?.........................4? 5 ? ?
Height..................3? 9 ??......................4? 1 ? ?
Wheelbase...........7 ?............................
Track....................3? 11?.......................
Weight.................1540 lb....................1554 lb
Power...................126 hp......................42 hp
Torque....................113 lb ft..................53 lb ft
0 ? 60....................6.6 sec....................20.2 sec
Max Speed............121 mph....................85 mph
Mpg.......................22...........................33.4
Price new..............2471.......................690 GBP

Brought back some memories

[kcrossle]

The very first car I owned was a 1959 Bugeye (aka Frogeye) Sprite. Bought it from Walt Hansgen the week before he was killed at Le Mans. I have many vivid memories of that car - wondering if anyone could ever go faster round 'that' turn; wondering if that little old lady knew she was racing me from the stop light; carrying a christmas tree home in the snow with the top down; getting chased by a cop on back roads and he didn't give me a ticket because he couldn't catch me (till I innocently came to a Stop sign); going over a railroad crossing on a rally and having the bonnet flip all the way up; having a front hub break while braking for a one-lane tunnel (!); my brother and I sleeping in it in the cold (was it snowing) at the Glen 1966 (and getting a motel the next day); but celebrating the only Lotus victory that year on that day.

I also remember my first drive in an Elan on some of the same New Jersey roads I drove the Sprite. It was a revelation. So smooth. So fast. So effortless.

I didn't buy that one (couldn't) but finally did get the "car of my dreams"... which included a couple of nightmares. I'd like to have a Sprite again too. Wouldn't mind another TR4A too - the car I probably put the most miles on - the world's fastest tractor. My brother ended up with a GT6 - faster than my TR4.

But none of them are anywhere near the Lotus.


Keith

[types26/36]

One final bit of food for thought and maybe the racers might want to comment here. I've seen full race preped Midgets compeat in historic racing and, when well driven, they're a match for almost anything else on the circuits.Andy

Yes, properly prepared and in the right hands they can go very well, here is a pic of my Seven being chased by a Sprite.
Lets not be to hard on the BMC "A" series engine after all Colin fitted it in the "Seven America" so it does have Lotus connections it also powered Paddy Hopkirk's Cooper S to win the Monte-Carlo Rally among others........not bad for a Morris Minor engine with twin carbs

[nebogipfel]

well Art you have to realize all Brit cars were built for the average Brit [5 foot 2 with bad teeth ]---- --ed

Actually I'm 5' 7" ........... you're right about the teeth

[tdafforn]

Started my classic owning career with a spitfire 1500...
Have to say at the time I really liked its looks over the midget (and dare I say it the Elan)..
then spent 2 years de rusting it, drove it for 5 years, got a bit tired of the rattles and bits falling off..
Saw a +2 (in brown) down the road and fell in love!
Drove my first one and couldn't believe how smooth it felt.
Bought it, did it up, then went looking for something else..
Oddly the spit now looks naff to me, midget looked good!
We'll see however, lots of rust to cut out!
Tim

[bcmc33]

Had this sent to me today - thought you may be interested.

Looks pretty cool to me - except the price!!!!!!

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/cla ... arno/64324

[garyeanderson]

Had this sent to me today - thought you may be interested.

Looks pretty cool to me - except the price!!!!!!

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/cla ... arno/64324

more photos of the painstaking rebuild of this Sebring Sprite here, 327 images in this album on 41 pages sould keep you busy for a bit.

http://www.spritespot.com/gallery/view_ ... ringsprite

also take a look at

http://www.sebringsprite.com/index.htm

and

http://www.sebringsprite.com/price_list.htm

kinda gets me thinking in a bad way about that orange pumpkin bugeye I dragged home...

Homoligated weight of the Sebring Sprite was 570kg or1257 lbs

[frearther]

Great stories, guys! That's one of the reasons I love this group.