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The Midget is my favourite of the classic British sports cars - every summer I get slightly closer to talking myself into buying one. I've only driven the later Midget 1500s with the Triumph engine and the 'rubber' bumpers - they're meant to be rubbish compared to the 'proper' A-Series powered ones and they're still a riot to drive. Close behind the Midget in my book is the Triumph TR6:  Utterly different approach to the Midget. That's all about lower power, low weight, absolutely direct and mechanical controls, high grip levels and not much else. The TR6 is a square-cut hairy-chested 'man's sports car' with 2.5-litre straight six. In the US it only came in with twin carbs but on the home market British Leyland gave us the TR6 with Lucas Petrol Injection (yes, so Lucas equipment controls both the electrical system and the fuel system!). It was developed for racing at Le Mans and it shows - at part throttle or low speeds it fumbles, misfires and stutters but at full chat it basically just pumps vast amounts of neat fuel into the bores and the TR6 is one of the few British sports cars that is actually quick, rather than just feeling like it is. Like an Austin-Healey 3000 but for the 70s. And it's got independent suspension on the back (proper IRS, not the half-arsed transverse spring Triumph put on the Spitfire/GT6/Vitesse). Plus they come in naff/cool 70s colours and gorgeous steel perforated wheels rather than the obligatory (and ugly) wire spokes. All hail the TR6.
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Jan 17, 2015 23:38
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:05 |
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GentlemanofLeisure posted:Awesome car, Pham. Saw you posting and posting in the Craigslist thread, glad you seem to have found a nice one. I'm 6'2 and have never been uncomfortable in the ones I've driven (Midget, MGB, TR6, TR4, Austin-Healey 3000, Stag, Morgan). Getting in and out can be less than dignified (especially the Midget/Sprite; you don't so much get into it as strap it on) but the driving position is always 'snug' but comfortable. Of course if you're doing it properly  you'll never have the roof up anyway, even in the pouring rain/snow, so headroom is unlimited.
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Jan 18, 2015 11:00
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The Healey is amazing! Almost worth the over-used term 'barn find'. You rarely see them in racing green, too, but it really suits it. Pham Nuwen posted:So to replace my turn signal stalk, I have to remove the plastic cowling around the Midget's steering column. To remove this cowling, you have to... drop the steering column? Goddamn. I didn't know that, but it really doesn't surprise me.
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Feb 2, 2015 19:51
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Well, it's finally happened. As I said earlier in the thread, every spring I get a little bit closer to buying an Old British Sports Car, usually an MG Midget, and this year it reached the stage where I now own this:  It's a 1975 Midget 1500, restored about 10 years ago and lightly used since. As a '75 should it (obviously) has the Federal-spec 'rubber' bumpers and the raised ride height, plus a Triumph 1500 engine rather than the good ol' BMC A-Series. At least in the UK we kept the 'full fat' Triumph unit with twin SUs and 64 horsepower, so despite the added weight of the bumpers the Midget 1500 is actually the fastest of all the Midgets. But the engine isn't great - it's undersquare (so it doesn't rev anything like as freely as an A-Series) and the bottom end isn't as strong as it could be.   But even if they're not as good as a 'proper' chrome-bumper Midget, 1500s are still huge fun to drive and, more importantly, they're about half the price of a MkIII and they're the only Midget I could hope to afford in decent condition.  This one is absolutely stock apart from a smaller-diameter steering wheel, which would have been the first thing I'd have put on anyway because the huge standard one is just ridiculous in such a small car. It had a high-rev misfire when I test-drove it, which was good for haggling. It popped, banged and stuttered its way 60 miles back home. This evening I put a new condenser and rotor arm on it and now it runs beautifully. I think the failed condenser has also fried the battery because it needs to be left on a trickle charger overnight to have a hope of starting in the morning. But apart from that, and a bit of a rattle from the gearbox in 1st gear, which I think is just a worn reverse idler - virtually standard-issue on these Triumph 'boxes - it drives like a dream.  
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Mar 11, 2015 22:48
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88h88 posted:I love the pegs on the choke(?). The pegs (colour coded!) are actually on the heater control in the pic, but they're for the choke. Like most 70s British cars the choke lock has broken, so a cold morning needs a 'two peg' start, and now the weather is getting mild I can get away with one. A new choke cable (with lock) is on the to-do list!
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Mar 11, 2015 23:22
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Nice 'B - I always think that the rubber bumpers sort of work with very 70s colours like the light blue. Overdrive is a must-have on modern roads in any classic MG - my Midget is turning over at 4500rpm at 70mph and it could easily pull another gear or two. Of course the Triumph Spitfire 1500 came with an O/D which British Leyland insisted wouldn't fit on the Midget. And of course, it does. It was just a silly attempt to keep Triumph a rung up the corporate brand ladder from MG. Is your 'B an actual special edition? In the UK they did a '50th Jubilee' edition of the 'B GT (green with gold stripes and gold wheels and the anniversary placard) but there were no special editions of the roadster.
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Mar 11, 2015 23:55
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:05 |
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Pham Nuwen posted:The marque of the beast: For a company that spent most of its existence circling (and then going down) the drain, the choice of a logo that looks like a plughole was very appropriate.
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Mar 29, 2015 19:09
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