Good morning and happy Friday! You might have noticed from the header image that we’re doing something just a little different today. The Friday roundups were feeling just a little formulaic, like a CBS cop drama (“Tonight, on NCIS: Omaha…”), and I wanted to mix it up a bit. So on Fridays, for a while, I’m throwing out the rule book and doing whatever I feel like (Gosh!).
First, let’s look at how yesterday’s toys did:
Close one, but the Baja Bug wins. I’m sure neither one will have trouble finding a new home, though; they’re both way cool projects.
Now, today, we’re upping our standards (like Pat Paulsen!) and looking at a pair of cars in much better condition than our usual fare. These two are from a category near and dear to my heart: little British cars, or LBCs, for those in the know.
But before you go thinking these are too nice for the likes of us, keep in mind that these are both late-stage British Leyland products, and as such, no matter how nice they may look, both are still projects. (Hell, they were projects when they were new.) But they’re also both pretty solid examples of the breed, and either one would be a hell of a lot of fun on summer weekends. So let’s check them out.
1977 MG Midget – $8,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5 liter inline 4, 4 speed manual, RWD
Location: Burbank, CA
Odometer reading: 73,000 miles
Runs/drives? Quite well, according to the seller
The story of the British auto industry from the 1950s to the 1980s is a story of mergers, acquisitions, quality control problems, strikes, bankruptcies, and really fun to drive little sports cars. The MG Midget, introduced in 1961, started out as a clone of the Austin-Healey Sprite MkII, but outlived the Sprite by almost a decade. By the time this MkIV Midget was built, the original BMC A-series engine (shared with the original Mini) had been replaced by a Triumph engine – actually the same engine as the Spitfire below.
It had also acquired a set of big black rubber 5 mph bumpers similar to those on the MGB, but I always thought the Midget wore them better. It looks like a happy little frog. If you don’t like the big bumpers, the good news is that the Midget is easier than the B to retrofit with the old-stype chrome bumpers. It looks really cool with no bumpers at all, for that matter.
Make no mistake; this is a tiny car. It’s snug inside, and you had better like your passenger a lot. But that smallness and snugness translates to a wonderful immediacy and imtimacy with the road. You hear modern Minis and Fiat 500s described as having “go-kart-like handling;” they’re Buick Electras compared to an MG Midget or Austin-Healey Sprite. You can feel everything this car is doing, every bump in the road, every rail in the gearbox sliding into place, every loading and unloading of the suspension through the turns. It’s not fast, with only 65 horsepower on tap, but it’s so responsive that you won’t care.
This Midget isn’t perfect, but it is really nice. There’s something odd about the paint on the hood (sorry, bonnet) and a few other places. But being a California car, there shouldn’t be any worries about rust. Inside, it looks really nice, with fresh upholstery and carpet and a new Moto-Lita style steering wheel. The seller says the top needs replacing, but a replacement is included. A bunch of unspecified mechanical work is also mentioned; it would be worth looking over the receipts to see what has been done. These are simple and stout cars, but they’re not low-maintenance.
These cars have been bouncing along the low end of the classic sports car market for a lot of years, but they’re starting to gain some respect (and value). Like most classics, it’s better to spend a little more to get a good one, unless you’re looking for a long-term project (take it from someone who knows). This looks like a good one, but not too nice to drive and enjoy.
1980 Triumph Spitfire – $8,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5 liter inline 4, 4 speed manual, RWD
Location: Dundee, OR
Odometer reading: 62,000 miles
Runs/drives? Like a top, the seller says
Rival to the Sprite/Midget, but also its stablemate after the British Leyland merger, the Triumph Spitfire was always just a notch cooler than Healey’s little roadster. Maybe it’s the styling by famed Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti, or the swing-axle independent rear suspension, or the name taken from Britain’s most famous WWII fighter plane, or the way the bonnet opens with the entire front of the car flipping forward like a Jaguar E-Type. Whatever the reason, the Spitfire was a big success for Triumph, selling over 300,000 examples during its 18-year run.
This Spitfire is one of the last, from the final year of production. Although saddled with gigantic rubber bumpers like the Midget, and hobbled with a single Zenith-Stromberg carb like the last of the MGBs, the Spitfire’s handling got better and better as years went by. Triumph continued to develop and improve the swing-axle rear suspension right up until the very end. In stock form, the US-spec model is slow, but the twin SU carbs of the UK-spec Spitfire can be retrofitted to make it a little quicker.
This Spirfire looks to be stock, and very well cared for. The seller lists a lot of recent work, and it looks like they started with a nice clean car to begin with. It wears its original paint, and has had an interior refresh like the Midget, including the same Moto-Lita style steering wheel as the Midget (they’re a really popular upgrade for British sports cars).
I came really close to buying a car almost identical to this one about twenty years ago, for $2,000. Looking at this one makes me wish I had gone for it. I still love the styling of these, and I don’t care that it can be outrun by an automatic Kia Rio. It’s a cool, fun, and still affordable bona-fide British classic.
And look at that big chrome fuel cap right in the middle! And the big chrome latches on the sides of the bonnet, and those sharp steel wheels… This Spitfire comes with the factory hardtop, as well, so the fun doesn’t have to stop when the skies get cloudy.
OK, obviously I’m biased. I have loved little British cars since I was very small, and it’s wonderful to see a pair of them in such good condition for such reasonable prices so many years later. I’d take either of these in a heartbeat, but which one do you prefer?
Not knowing anything at all about which one is less temperamental, or less rare, or less expensive to maintain (basically assuming they’re pretty much interchangeable in the PITA department), I’ll take the Triumph because is does have much prettier lines. But they’re both overpriced. And I guess we can call them shiteboxes.
At first one would think they’d be interchangeable but in fact each one is more temperamental, more rare, more expensive to maintain, and more overpriced than the other one.
Someone lay some knowledge on me; what the what is the raison d’etre for those black rubber strips from the door back on the trunk? I cannot even come up with a facetious use for them.
Help me out here, willya?
It’s not rubber but a strip of moulding which is there to cover the external flange where the panels meet. On earlier Spitfires there’s a similar flange along the tops of the front fenders, too.
I can not and will not vote. Those damn US specs bumpers spoil everything.
I voted Spitfire because we’ve owned several Triumphs in my family. I learned to drive in a GT6+, and I “helped” (I was probably 5 or so) my Dad wrench on an old Spitfire when he bought “someone else’s project”.
It had the driveline out of a Mazda RX-7, and it went like stink driving from the previous owners to our house. Dad tore into it trying to fix all the issues. Most of the issues were the result of a father and son engine swap project that generally consisted of the father giving the son money to do things to the car, and the son buying cocaine instead.
It never ran after that first day. I do distinctly remember the day it lived up to it’s name by literally spitting fire out of the carb and nearly burning down our garage. It left not long after.
Loved my 74 Spitfire back in the day. Simple to work on. And every ride was a flat out race.
$8000 is about double what I’d be willing to spend on either of these cars.
Aesthetically, these are not the most attractive variants of their perspective models. However, based on looks, I would go for the Spitfire. Plus, people have been building chrome bumpers and tuning kits for these late-model BL roadsters for years, so I can make it look and go as good as its pre-emissions predecessors.
I have to go with the Spitfire as my dad had a TR7 when I was a kid. I just wish it wasn’t in such an ugly color as my dad’s TR7 was a gorgeous British Racing Green….
I’ve owned a Midget and a Sprite and those cars were a blast to drive. I piked the Spitfire just because I’ve never owned one. Now if that Midget was ’74 or older, that would have been the choice. Those bumpers, increased ride height and it having a Triumph engine was the deal breaker.
I vote for the Doubtfire as it is best for “a drive by fruiting” 😉
The Spitfire is much better looking and I’d much rather visit Oregon wine country than LA.
My answer is simple and always right.. A NA Miata..
The Spitfire is just a better looking car than the MG, so that gets my vote. Wouldn’t really want either since I don’t like picking bugs out of my teeth, being taller than average. Sure would be fun though if I fit.
Had a friend who, just before we graduated high school, bought a older TR6 (don’t remember the year), and we drove it hundreds of miles down the Florida to celebrate after being released from HS prison. Never put the top up, and were both wind and bug burned by the time we got there. The TR6 had overdrive, which died on the way down, and then proceeded to completely die shortly after arriving.
We didn’t care at first since we were staying for a week, and then my friend met a girl through all the parties we attended, decided to stay until she left. Luckily I managed to find another group heading back to our same general area who were nice enough to give me a lift. Never appreciated a hardtop more on that drive back. Friend actually ended up marrying the girl he met, and had a couple of kids, no idea what happened to the TR6.
The Triumph for three reasons
1. It looks sexy even today
2. It looks sexy even today
3. The name “Midget” makes me squirm.
While I am a MG guy at heart, the Spitfire as a lovely color combo of brown on tan. So that takes my vote.
I just road tripped a Midget from St. Helens Oregon to Hoover Dam and back last week. In 5 days. Had a great time, car did well. Go for the Spitfire. Your legs will appreciate it.
“You can feel everything this car is doing, every bump in the road, every rail in the gearbox sliding into place, every loading and unloading of the suspension through the turns.”.
You haven’t felt road until you’ve driven one of these. At night. Pitch black in Blackout Drive conditions. Not to mention backing up pushing a trailer.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2010/03/22/march-military-campaign-1971-m561-gama-goat
Spitfire. The lines, the hardtop. And a good mate for my Bonne America.
I don’t want either, so I picked Midget because that’s an awesome name for a tiny car.
Look, they are both rust prone, maintenance intensive, definitely leave you stranded on the highway pieces of junk. But they are also some of the most fun you can have on four wheels. As someone who has owned multiple examples of both, you are definitely going to want the spitfire here. They always looked better than the MG, no matter the year, and you just can’t go wrong with a full flip front end!
I like the looks of the midget better, but I fit better in the Triumph, so that’s the winner for me.
As a former long term owner of a TR3B I couldn’t possibly vote for anything but the Spitfire. Having said that, it is still far and away the better car to instantly put your butt into a real English roadster. The hardtop alone is enough to swing the deal to Triumph. As an other said, “Too bad its not BRG”.
Prices are too high but Spitfire all the way because of nostalgia. My best friend (who remains so 40 years later) had a ’75 1500 and we had some great times in that car. It was slow, slow, slow, but the handling was awesome. Also, it required roughly one hour of work in the garage to drive it for an hour (an exaggeration, but one meant to prove a valid point about its unreliability). I remember a stuck throttle, electrical issues, and a host of other things that would have destroyed all the love in a less charming car.
When the times were good, they were awesome – running it up the route of the Duryea Hillclimb to the Pagoda in Reading PA, bombing the local back roads at whatever speeds the wheezy little engine could muster, and riding with my friend driving, a girl in my lap and another very petite gal behind the seats (those were different times back in the early 80s – don’t do that now!).
And for those who objected to crossing out the word “shitbox”: whatever most British sportscars and luxury cars may be, and regardless of how unreliable and finicky they are, the word does not apply in my book. On the rare occasions they are working they provide far too much joy for such a perjorative term.
$8000 should buy you a really nice late 70’s Midget. I love a well sorted MG, but $8000 seems too high for this. I think this is a $5000 car, and with the paint issue, you’d be better off getting the best one you can buy where someone else has spent too much money on it already. Or get an MGB and have a lot more space for a little more money.
That’s why I’d want to see the receipts for the work done on the Midget. If it’s really as good mechanically as they say, then you offer $7,000 and see if they bite.
Then, you remove the rubber bumpers and sell them at the next swap meet, flat-black the bonnet, and install some big round driving lights up front. Looks cooler, and gives that Triumph lump 100 lbs or so less to lug around.
I gotta show the Midget some love. I like the lines on the Spitfire better, but I’ve got fond memories of whipping around some beautiful rural roads in a Midget and an MGB (that someone else owned, so I didn’t have to maintain them) many years ago. Also, I know we stan brown wagons, but for a sports car the Midget’s color is WAY better. Also better for catching the eye of the monster truck drivers all around you on the road. I don’t think you can truly appreciate how big modern cars are until you hit the highway in an MG!
That’s a great point.
About a decade or so ago, I came across an E-Type convertible in urban traffic. While I took in its sublime beauty, I also was downright shocked when it pulled up at a light next to a more-or-less current-model Accord. The difference in size was jaw-dropping.
I guess I always think of cars like Jaguars as mid-size (I know, relatively-speaking they are), but seeing it next to a modern car really drove home how big vehicles have gotten.
Boy, you ain’t kidding. I’m eye-level with the skidplates on lifted pickups. Of course, I had a Miata for eight years before I got the MG, so I’m kinda used to it, but it definitely gets your attention when one of them comes up behind you.
Color definitely matters, too: my MG is bright yellow. I don’t think I’d want a dark-colored one.