MID-ENGINES FOR THE MASSES
Grand Prix cars had put the engine behind the driver (but not so far it was behind the rear axle) since Adolf Rosenberger’s experiments in the 1920s; the Porsche co-founder had engineers, including Dr Porsche himself, mount that car’s V16 in the middle. The Cooper Car Company picked up the baton for Formula 1 in 1957 – its T43 marked the beginning of the end for the traditional front-engined racer – and road car makers began to take note.
Four years before the Lamborghini Miura, the René Bonnet Djet made its debut, turning the longitudinal power pack of a rear-engined Renault 8 around to put the engine ahead of the rear wheels. Mid-engined cars remained expensive throughout the ’60s and early ’70s; the De Tomaso Vallelunga and Maserati Bora were well out the reach of most enthusiasts.
It was Fiat’s X1/9 that set the record straight in 1972. Inexpensive rather than cheap, its long career created a buoyant secondhand market. Volume production made mid-engined cars accessible, but it took until the ’80s for other makers to try their hand. Porsche’s 914 came and went, but the Toyota MR2 lasted for three generations, ending up lighter and simpler than the car which originally bore its name. Ditto the Pontiac Fiero – the best-selling ‘middie’ of all, its success was confined to the United States. The MGF/TF flew the flag for the UK, reviving the MG name and preserving mid-engined motoring for the many, rather than the few.
