MG Midget Atlantis
Discussion
Samcat said:
I know of a man called Mark Boldry who has an Atlantis, he is the Yorkshire rep & all-round Midget Techie Bloke for the MG Car Club. He might know the wareabouts of others.
He is often found on here: Linky
mark can sometimes be found on the MG BBS but he's now on the other side of the worldHe is often found on here: Linky
Gary, editor of the Midget and Sprite Club magazine MASCOT has data on lots of Spridgets
Its a long story ! Back in the late 70s i was living in a sleepy derbyshire village,
Well it was sleepy until a chap and his MG Midget Atlantis moved in . PVV832J
At that time i was tinkering around and building Ford Escort Mk 1s mainly for rallying and superstocks so the freak that appeared as an Midget with a crossflow in was fascinating .
Things moved on i met my sweetheart and the need for a bigger house arose ....
40 yrs later and a lot of petrol under the bridge and over it, and I'm still tinkering around under the bonnets of old bangers and still with the same old sweetheart . I was finishing the rebuild of a late model Mg Midget and i needed to replace the windscreen a local character was enquiring about the progress of the car and the subject came up about the windscreen " there's s scrap un downt road behind thowd shed tha can go an ave a look at it if tha wants " so off i went next day with the intention of getting a windscreen.
But what i got wasn't a windscreen but a big surprise there in its sad slumbering state under some canvas sheets was PVV832J ! with its crossflow still in place.
A deal was done for the car complete with the windscreen and it was delivered to my garage on a fork lift .
Since then many enquiries and some help from DVLA and i have managed to trace it back to its original owner who bought it from the garage in Bedford where it was built .
As far as i know this is the only original Atlantis that is alive, there is very little information to be found about these cars and what i have found could be incorrect .
They were all 70 and 71 midget shells.
All were square wheel arch.
All reg nos ended in the prefix V V.
The engine was set back sufficiently by altering the heater box and the transmission tunnel to clear the front cross member.
They were all built customers spec if you wanted a servo you got one same with the bigger fuel tank the panhard rod etc , all the bits were charged extra that made the car expensive .
My car is undergoing full resoration using as much of the original as possible![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/XhVlKVx1.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/R8sfV4lW" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/R8sfV4lW.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/R8sfV4lW" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/R8sfV4lW.jpg)
Well it was sleepy until a chap and his MG Midget Atlantis moved in . PVV832J
At that time i was tinkering around and building Ford Escort Mk 1s mainly for rallying and superstocks so the freak that appeared as an Midget with a crossflow in was fascinating .
Things moved on i met my sweetheart and the need for a bigger house arose ....
40 yrs later and a lot of petrol under the bridge and over it, and I'm still tinkering around under the bonnets of old bangers and still with the same old sweetheart . I was finishing the rebuild of a late model Mg Midget and i needed to replace the windscreen a local character was enquiring about the progress of the car and the subject came up about the windscreen " there's s scrap un downt road behind thowd shed tha can go an ave a look at it if tha wants " so off i went next day with the intention of getting a windscreen.
But what i got wasn't a windscreen but a big surprise there in its sad slumbering state under some canvas sheets was PVV832J ! with its crossflow still in place.
A deal was done for the car complete with the windscreen and it was delivered to my garage on a fork lift .
Since then many enquiries and some help from DVLA and i have managed to trace it back to its original owner who bought it from the garage in Bedford where it was built .
As far as i know this is the only original Atlantis that is alive, there is very little information to be found about these cars and what i have found could be incorrect .
They were all 70 and 71 midget shells.
All were square wheel arch.
All reg nos ended in the prefix V V.
The engine was set back sufficiently by altering the heater box and the transmission tunnel to clear the front cross member.
They were all built customers spec if you wanted a servo you got one same with the bigger fuel tank the panhard rod etc , all the bits were charged extra that made the car expensive .
My car is undergoing full resoration using as much of the original as possible
Beaut story about your Atlantis. I'm in Australia, and am building an Atlantis style Sprite - Escort engine and Sierra gearbox. It's passed it's engineering certificate, and needs a bit more work to get its Safety Certificate (a la MOT).
I'm planning a talk about the Atlantis to my club, the Sprite Car Club of Queensland (https://www.spritecarclub.com/) and some actual history and photos would be great. A few years ago, on one of our visits to England (my wife is from Sussex), I visited Bedford to see if anything remained of the Atlantis factory. Someone at a pub close by remembered it, but it is now a block of flats.
I wouldn't mind getting a look at your car in some detail. Could you contact me, through the forum or via email, to see what we can arrange.
Much appreciated.
Michael Dwyer
I'm planning a talk about the Atlantis to my club, the Sprite Car Club of Queensland (https://www.spritecarclub.com/) and some actual history and photos would be great. A few years ago, on one of our visits to England (my wife is from Sussex), I visited Bedford to see if anything remained of the Atlantis factory. Someone at a pub close by remembered it, but it is now a block of flats.
I wouldn't mind getting a look at your car in some detail. Could you contact me, through the forum or via email, to see what we can arrange.
Much appreciated.
Michael Dwyer
Just catching up on old Mg Midget exchanges and thought you might like to know that my ‘76 Midget has a 1300 Ford Crossflow engine with twin ‘40s and 5 speed Sierra box, plus Frontline front suspension kit, lowered to pre-rubber bumper height and goes very well since replacing four bike carbs with Webers. But would be interested in a suitable 1600 if anyone has one or alternative. Hello to all!
Gassing Station | MG | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff