Discussion
Does anyone have experience of Midgets/Sprites, I saw one yesterday for the first time in ages and remembered what a nice looking little car they are.
Looking through the classified some seem to go for peanuts, £1200 for one with T&T. Nice versions look to go from £2500 upwards, obviously a lot less than an MGB.
I know they aren't exactly overpowered but do they have any shortcomings than explain the low prices.
You can also buy all the stuff you need to convert it to a Rover K series engine.
My only experience of them is on that my dad bought for £50, that bowed in the middle and was brush painted in BL snot yellow. Not particularly happy memories.
Looking through the classified some seem to go for peanuts, £1200 for one with T&T. Nice versions look to go from £2500 upwards, obviously a lot less than an MGB.
I know they aren't exactly overpowered but do they have any shortcomings than explain the low prices.
You can also buy all the stuff you need to convert it to a Rover K series engine.
My only experience of them is on that my dad bought for £50, that bowed in the middle and was brush painted in BL snot yellow. Not particularly happy memories.
Edited by Baby Huey on Monday 10th November 22:23
We had a 1500 for about 25 years.
Mechanically they are very cheap and easy to fix and parts not hard to find.
The main enemy of the Midget is rust.
Wheel arches, rear wing top seams, bottom of the panel between the front wing and doors, the bottoms of the doors themselves and the floor/chassis sections.
Buy well and you will have a fun car. buy a wrong'un and the cost or restoring will exceed the value of the finished car.
Mechanically they are very cheap and easy to fix and parts not hard to find.
The main enemy of the Midget is rust.
Wheel arches, rear wing top seams, bottom of the panel between the front wing and doors, the bottoms of the doors themselves and the floor/chassis sections.
Buy well and you will have a fun car. buy a wrong'un and the cost or restoring will exceed the value of the finished car.
Edited by odyssey2200 on Monday 10th November 22:24
My brother had one, i very nearly bought it! Great fun to drive, majority of parts available very cheap, partially down to being relatively common and also being powered by the venerable A-series which has been fitted to one or two cars 
If any big money comes my way I will be purchasing a K-series powered Midget and go round irritating Elise owners
If any big money comes my way I will be purchasing a K-series powered Midget and go round irritating Elise owners
minimatt1967 said:
My brother had one, i very nearly bought it! Great fun to drive, majority of parts available very cheap, partially down to being relatively common and also being powered by the venerable A-series which has been fitted to one or two cars
If any big money comes my way I will be purchasing a K-series powered Midget and go round irritating Elise owners
Any idea how much the K series conversion would cost?If any big money comes my way I will be purchasing a K-series powered Midget and go round irritating Elise owners
i had a 1500 for 9 years, only sold it to fund a classic bike as one i got my bike licence cars seemed boring. still took nearly a year to decide to sell it even though i wasnt using it.
downsides? rust as said & gearing. they dont like sitting on motorways as they rev their nuts off. i know there is an OD conversion for the 1500 with the spitfire box, not sure on the others. but there is a 5pseed conversion using the ford type-9 box for them all & the mk1 celica box fits if you can find one.
when you look around one check inside the sides (its a 3-piece sill) its about the most expensive bit to get sorted.
downsides? rust as said & gearing. they dont like sitting on motorways as they rev their nuts off. i know there is an OD conversion for the 1500 with the spitfire box, not sure on the others. but there is a 5pseed conversion using the ford type-9 box for them all & the mk1 celica box fits if you can find one.
when you look around one check inside the sides (its a 3-piece sill) its about the most expensive bit to get sorted.
Baby Huey said:
minimatt1967 said:
My brother had one, i very nearly bought it! Great fun to drive, majority of parts available very cheap, partially down to being relatively common and also being powered by the venerable A-series which has been fitted to one or two cars If any big money comes my way I will be purchasing a K-series powered Midget and go round irritating Elise owners
Any idea how much the K series conversion would cost? If any big money comes my way I will be purchasing a K-series powered Midget and go round irritating Elise owners Edited by minimatt1967 on Monday 10th November 23:04
I had a number of Midgets and Sprites in the 60's and 70's when they were (nearly) new. I was out most weekends with the local motor club doing every thing, sprints, hill climbs, auto tests track days..., the car took it all. Avoid the 1500 it is quite a fragile engine. I think the best one is the Mk3 Sprite/Mk2 Midget. Wind up windows, better hood, semi elliptic rear springs, better gearbox and a great 1098cc engine that was uniquie to this car, it had the 2" main bearing and would rev far better than the later 1275. Go for one of these if you can get one with an original engine, they could become the most sought after.
I had a '69I for my first car.
I was given it as a Christmas present from my parents as a basket case.
Every single panel was either rusted through or was stuffed full of filler.
The clutch plate had welded itself to the flywheel & you could put your feet through the floor pan.
Luckily, parts are very, very cheap & I managed to finish the resto for about 3k (10 years ago)
The biggest problems facing the rebuild, were the inner & outer sills, & the rear spring hangers.
Good fun to drive- go-kart like, but it will bite you if you go too far- It did with me, I span it a few times, whilst pushing on & once it lets go, you have to be quick to get it back under control.
Sold it to my College lecturer whilst studying for my Apprenticeship for Vauxhall.
Wish I never let it go to be honest.
I was given it as a Christmas present from my parents as a basket case.
Every single panel was either rusted through or was stuffed full of filler.
The clutch plate had welded itself to the flywheel & you could put your feet through the floor pan.
Luckily, parts are very, very cheap & I managed to finish the resto for about 3k (10 years ago)
The biggest problems facing the rebuild, were the inner & outer sills, & the rear spring hangers.
Good fun to drive- go-kart like, but it will bite you if you go too far- It did with me, I span it a few times, whilst pushing on & once it lets go, you have to be quick to get it back under control.
Sold it to my College lecturer whilst studying for my Apprenticeship for Vauxhall.
Wish I never let it go to be honest.
I had one as my first car, in fact I passed my test in it! It was a 74 round wheel arch model, one of the last of the chrome bumper ones. I stripped the engine when I bought it ( I was 16 at the time) and played around with (my memory is very poor so can't remember everything) stage 3 head, high lift cam, upgraded SU's, had some webbers on for a while but got fed up of tuning them! etc etc. The power was quite scary on skinny tires for a new driver but it taught my very quickly how to hold a slide 
Sometimes in the wet or icy conditions I would put a bag of sand in the boot to stop it being so tail happy! Arrr those were the days!
Rust, as others have said is the problem. It was like painting the Severn bridge. I would get part of the floor welded for the MOT and work my way through each year/MOT till the first lot of welding needed doing again. Great fun though, I used it daily for four years.
Sometimes in the wet or icy conditions I would put a bag of sand in the boot to stop it being so tail happy! Arrr those were the days!Rust, as others have said is the problem. It was like painting the Severn bridge. I would get part of the floor welded for the MOT and work my way through each year/MOT till the first lot of welding needed doing again. Great fun though, I used it daily for four years.
Healey 73, I see you have a BJ8 ,I also have one with a few mods. Where abouts in East Anglia are you?
Healey73 said:
I had one as my first car, in fact I passed my test in it! It was a 74 round wheel arch model, one of the last of the chrome bumper ones. I stripped the engine when I bought it ( I was 16 at the time) and played around with (my memory is very poor so can't remember everything) stage 3 head, high lift cam, upgraded SU's, had some webbers on for a while but got fed up of tuning them! etc etc. The power was quite scary on skinny tires for a new driver but it taught my very quickly how to hold a slide Sometimes in the wet or icy conditions I would put a bag of sand in the boot to stop it being so tail happy! Arrr those were the days!
Rust, as others have said is the problem. It was like painting the Severn bridge. I would get part of the floor welded for the MOT and work my way through each year/MOT till the first lot of welding needed doing again. Great fun though, I used it daily for four years.
Sometimes in the wet or icy conditions I would put a bag of sand in the boot to stop it being so tail happy! Arrr those were the days!Rust, as others have said is the problem. It was like painting the Severn bridge. I would get part of the floor welded for the MOT and work my way through each year/MOT till the first lot of welding needed doing again. Great fun though, I used it daily for four years.
AJAX50 said:
Healey 73, I see you have a BJ8 ,I also have one with a few mods. Where abouts in East Anglia are you?
Hi AJAX, I'm currently renting in Norwich till the housing market calms down and I can buy another place with a workshop so the Healey project is on hold at the moment which is a shame so I just make do with Healey racing clips on youtube Healey73 said:
I had one as my first car, in fact I passed my test in it! It was a 74 round wheel arch model, one of the last of the chrome bumper ones. I stripped the engine when I bought it ( I was 16 at the time) and played around with (my memory is very poor so can't remember everything) stage 3 head, high lift cam, upgraded SU's, had some webbers on for a while but got fed up of tuning them! etc etc. The power was quite scary on skinny tires for a new driver but it taught my very quickly how to hold a slide Sometimes in the wet or icy conditions I would put a bag of sand in the boot to stop it being so tail happy! Arrr those were the days!
Rust, as others have said is the problem. It was like painting the Severn bridge. I would get part of the floor welded for the MOT and work my way through each year/MOT till the first lot of welding needed doing again. Great fun though, I used it daily for four years.
Sometimes in the wet or icy conditions I would put a bag of sand in the boot to stop it being so tail happy! Arrr those were the days!Rust, as others have said is the problem. It was like painting the Severn bridge. I would get part of the floor welded for the MOT and work my way through each year/MOT till the first lot of welding needed doing again. Great fun though, I used it daily for four years.
AJAX50 said:
Avoid the 1500 it is quite a fragile engine.
thats what i always heard, i never treated mine that gentley over the 9 years i had it & probably did about 60k+ in that time. never a problem with the bottom end (which is the weak part). blew a diff apart powersliding it but never the engine...Hooli said:
AJAX50 said:
Avoid the 1500 it is quite a fragile engine.
thats what i always heard, i never treated mine that gentley over the 9 years i had it & probably did about 60k+ in that time. never a problem with the bottom end (which is the weak part). blew a diff apart powersliding it but never the engine...TBH I had not checked the antifreeze and GF took it to work an a VERY cold morning.
An hour later I get a call at work from GF
" Hello"
GF " Hi, I'm at work but there's a problem with the car"
"Whats wrong with it?"
GF " I don't know but there is a noise from the engine like thee is something trying to get out and there are two needles on the Oil pressure gauge"
On the midget the top half of the gauge it the temp gauge and goes clockwise and the lower half is oil pressure and goes anti clockwise
(of vise verse)
The car had boiled so bad that the temp gauge had gone right off the end and was touching the oil pressure needle
one recon engine, new clutch, new gearbox (old one was a bit doggy) and we were back on the road with a quite expensive lesson learned
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