MGs APART

The name Midget is appropriate, given that it’s about 90 per cent the size of the MGB – a car that already looks dainty today. It’s also very light, at under 700kg. While the spirit of small MGs is very strong here, the Midget introduced in 1961 actually had more technically in common with an Austin-Healey, being the sister to the Sprite. The MG was the one that survived though, carrying on the model’s timeline for a second decade.

It started out with a 948cc A-series with just 48bhp, but this was replaced with a 56bhp 1098cc within just a year, and although the numbers were still small so was the car. It’s lively enough, and on the quarter-elliptic rear leaf springs of early cars there’s plenty to manage on a spirited drive. In 1964 we got the final fully-chromed iteration, with a