MG Midget MkIII

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The MG Midget, spiritual successor to a whole generation of small sports cars from the famous Abingdon marque, came about because of the absorption of the Austin-Healey Motor Company into the BMC Empire.

MG needed a stop gap to bolster sales before the MGB could be bought into production and so the recently launched Austin-Healey Sprite MkII was re-badged as an MG. Sold alongside the Sprite, the new Midget was a better equipped deluxe version of the little Healey, priced some £40 more.

A great success from the outset, the Midget was gradually improved over the years, the MkIII version of 1966 gaining a proper folding hood and a larger 1,275cc engine which produced 65bhp and was based on a detuned Cooper S engine, the rumour being that a full power 1,275 engine would have made it outperform the MGB!

Bought new in March 1970, this Midget MkIII has remained in single-family-ownership ever since, our vendor inheriting it from his aunt some time ago. Stored in a dry barn from 1983 to 2011, it was then restored as necessary and put back on the road in October 2012 at which point it had 58,189 miles on the clock, as shown on one of the 12 old MOTs on file. Very little used in the last seven years, it still shows only 58,391 miles which is believed to be correct, the last MOT having expired in October 2018 with no advisories recorded.