100 YEARS OF MG
When we left off in chapter 2 of this feature, we'd reached the end of the 1950s and Abingdon was heaving with sports cars. The lines were churning out MGA 1600s, Austin-Healey 100-6s and the Austin-Healey (Frogeye) Sprite, while elsewhere in the BMC empire MG Magnette badges were being applied to a version of the Farina-styled 1.5-litre saloons. BMC were also revolutionising the small car market with their new Mini, and the engineers at Abingdon took a serious look at developing a sports car from this FWD package.
Those plans came to nought, but there was to be a new MG, and a revival of the Midget name to boot. This came about after BMC decided that the Frogeye Sprite needed updating. Strange as it may seem, they allegedly tasked Healey in Warwick with redesigning the front end and MG in Abingdon with redesigning the tail. That seems like a recipe for disaster, but fortunately the respective designers had more common sense than the management and conferred with one another, so the resulting Austin-Healey Sprite Mk2 of May 1961 was a pretty and cohesive little thing, with more conventional styling than the Frogeye and an opening boot lid to access the luggage compartment.
A month later, in June 1961, an MG Midget version was unveiled. This had better (and more) trim and soft furnishings than the Sprite, and sold at a modest premium. The Sprite and Midget would develop in lock-step for the rest of the 1960s, the Sprite always one Mark designation ahead of the Midget. That development started with the arrival of front disc brakes and a capacity hike from 948cc to 1098cc in October 1962, this last change boosting power from 46.5bhp to 55bhp.
The MGA was seeing its final updates around nowfrom the now defunct MGA Twin Cam like the all-round disc brakes, Dunlop wheels and other running gear.
