But seriously, Bob...
The British auto industry went through several stages of "recombination" a la
British Motor Corp (BMC), British Motor Holdings (BMH) and British Leyland
(Leyland made trucks). Somewhere circa BMC or BMH, Austin and MG became part
of the same corporate structure. Austin had been manufacturing the Austin
Healey Sprite in its Bugeye form for several years and had recently come out
with the Sprite MkI with the headlights up on the fenders. MG was already
involved in the project at the time the car was styled, MG doing the back end
of the car which explains why it is so similar to the MGB from that angle.
The Sprite sold on its own for a little while and then someone decided to
make a somewhat upgraded (leather, chrome strips, carpet) version under the
MG brand name and capitalize on the legendary MG Midget name. It worked
pretty well, and the Midget was soon outselling the Sprite. During the
seventies, the Sprite was finally discontinued while the Midget soldiered on.
So MG didn't specifically go out and invest a lot of money in designing a
second car to sell with the MGB, but rather had one more or less fall into
their laps. It was significantly cheaper than the MGB and was very different
in character, so it really wasn't redundant in any way and served to satisfy
additional buyers.
It is, however, a well known fact that whenever potential customers wanted to
test drive both the Midget and the MGB, they were required to drive the
Midget first for safety reasons. Drivers switching from the MGB to the
Midget were wont to steer completely off the round due to the incredible
responsiveness of the Midget. It was really only the people who drove both
cars on the same day who were likely to comment that the MGB drove like a
truck.
Or perhaps it was the Leyland lorry influence asserting itself...
Sincerely yours,
Glen
>Date: Thu, 2 Nov 95 22:20 EST
>From: rdonahue@holli.com (Robert J. Donahue)
>Sender: owner-mgs@triumph.cs.utah.edu
>To: mgs@autox.team.net
>Subject: Why both MGBs and Midgets?
>
>Why did MG make two different sports cars? The MGB is bigger than the
> Midget
>but it is not exactly a land yacht. I own an MGB but know little about the
>Midget.
>
>
>Bob Donahue " 50s FOREVER "
>rdonahue@holli.com
>1953 MG-TD under restoration
>1971 MGB
>
>
I live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
'59 English Ford 100E Squire Deluxe Estate (Excellent Original)
'67 MG 1100 Saloon (Runs & Drives)
'66 MG Midget (Really Nice)
'66 MG Midget (Solid Project Car)
The last three are definitely for sale.
The first might be for sale, but who would pay what it's worth?
Thinking about buying a nice Rover sedan by Spring...
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