1961–79 MG Midget

These are truly small cars. Anyone larger than 5’9” driving one looks like a trained circus bear in a parade

by Rob Sass

The early ’60s were the golden age of the British sports car. The British Motor Corporation (BMC) aimed to have a product for every possible driver. MG dealers were clamoring for a car smaller and cheaper than the MGA. A badge-engineered version of the Austin-Healey Sprite Mk II seemed like just the thing. A different grille and a piece of bright trim on the hood and on the sides turned the Sprite into a Midget, a name revived from the 1930s. But the cars are so similar that they are known by the collective appellation “Spridget.”

Both cars shared the basic underpinnings of the Austin A30 and the BMC A-series engine displacing 948 cc, which put out around 45 hp. Mk I Midgets also shared the side curtains of the Sprite Mk II. These were incredibly basic cars with slab sides and few compound curves. The characteristic upswept seam on the side just below and forward of the wind screen was a holdover from the Bugeye Sprite.

Although basic, the...