While twin overhead cams, aluminum heads, and 5-speed transmissions are all exciting, there’s something very appealing about a simple little car like the MG Midget. It’s everything you need to define it as a car, and nothing more, much like, say, a pizza margherita or simple pasta and tomato sauce. And true to both, because there’s not a bunch of fancy features to distract the driver/eater, the basic product is a test of its maker’s abilities. Just as some chefs can make a great pizza margherita, so MG made some great sports cars, and with the Midget, they proved that even the most basic, stripped down of sports cars could still be a lot of fun. You can find this 1974 MG Midget for sale for $4000 in Keller, TX.
Posts Tagged ‘british’
Little Car, Big World – 1974 MG Midget
March 27, 2014Going Abroad – 1965 Innocenti-Morris IM3
March 21, 2014As we saw today with the Alfa Romeo Arna, it was not uncommon for Italian manufacturers to build other nations’ cars under license. Here is another example of the practice – the Innocenti-Morris IM3. Innocenti had already built two BMC cars under license, the A40 and the 950 Spider (based on the Spridget). It had the twin-carburetor 1100cc engine, altered front-end styling, a different dash cluster, and other more minor details. You can find this 1965 Innocenti-Morris IM3 for sale for €1500 ($2069) in Milan, Italy.
Old Yeller – 1980 Rover SD1 3500
March 17, 2014Rover will be forever forgotten in US car history, but for a few nutcases who cling on to one of the thousand SD1s built for the US market, or any of the earlier cars. However, they really do deserve to be remembered for what is arguably one of the most successful designs for a 4-door fastback sedan. Inspired by the Ferrari 365 Daytona and a Pininfarina BMC study, it had a swooping roofline before that trend was “started” by Audi and others in the late 1990s. And somehow, among other fastback contemporaries like the Lancia Beta sedan, the Saab 99/900 5-doors, and the Chevrolet Citation, it managed to be long, low and elegant where the others were rather gawky. You can find this 1980 Rover SD1 3500 for sale for a mere $850 in Mendocino County, north of San Francisco, CA.


