$35,000 slightly modified Midget

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https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-MG-M...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[JamesWilson]

Looks bloated and ugly to me....

 

[aeronca65t]

Looks bloated and ugly to me....

Yeah, I agree. Those extreme race fenders never look that good on a street car.
And the seller says it's "SCCA legal for the Super Production class".
The SCCA SP class is a race class that requires a full cage...that car only has a roll bar; not a cage.

And, though it looks nicely done, a 200 HP Japanese engine in a Spridget seems wrong to me.

Anyway, for less money, you could buy a ~JET CAR~.
[:devil: emoticon needed here]

 

[Hap Waldrop]

It's a nice car, but you're right, that cage isn't even close to SCCA requirements. Porr ole boy is about to learn a hard lesson in life, you van put money into these cars, but there's no guarantee you're going to get it out. I would fall out of my chair if he got $10K for it. That bodywork is Spridgetech SCCA bodywork. I have no doubt he has some serious bucks in it, but he'll never see them back. This car cost almost that to build and it is a race car, same bodywork by the way /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Here one the Huffaker Bugeye I drove a few years back, it belonged to another fella, it's rumored to have cost over $70K to build. My buddy bought it used, so he paid no where near that, but make no mistake about it, they are people out there who will spend major bucks on these little cars.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

cockpit shot

 

[drooartz]

Those are some purdy cars, Hap. I really like the dash in the Huffaker Bugeye.

 

[jlaird]

That Huffaker Bugeye is one preaty car.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Yeah, it is pretty, but it's one pain in the ass. After racing F-Production 1275s for years, I wondered why anyone would go to this much trouble to race a 948, this car had a powerband about as long as my pee-pee and cost like $13K. When nothing was in HP but 948 Spridgets it made sense somewhat, but now with the "limited prep" 1275s, the 948 engines are quickly becoming a thing of the past. The 948 race engine has no, and I mean no torque, you literaly never go below 6000 rpms form the time you leave the paddock until the time you go to impound, if anybody baulks you on the track and you have to crack the throttle, you're toast, it take forever to get back up to speed, for this reason I have the upmost respect for really fast 948 drivers like Bob Weber, Ron Bartell, Tony Drum, Randy Canfield, Dan Colishaw and others, it take a bunch of talent to keep one of these up on the pipe. To give you a good example this 948 Huffaker engine above make the same horsepower at the flywheel as my limitd prep 1275 engine makes at the rear wheels, so that a good 15+ horsepower advantage for the LP 1275, for a ton less money, plus the LP 1275 has tons of useable torque when compared to the 948. This car overall was a handful, I ended up giving up the ride, because I disliked driving it so much, hopped right into a LP 1275 car and felt right at home again.

 

[Guest]

Hap Waldrop - This question isn't related to the topic of this post but on the way you added photos to the text of your replies. How did you do that? With the changes in this forum I don't seem to see any way to add a photo to my text. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jlaird]

When you use something other than quick reply, like new post or the reply button on the bottome of the page you will see a "file Manager". That's it.

 

[Steve_Lawrence]

I put together a similar car (same engine, but but not such a radical body) in my head a couple months ago and came up with a much lower cost. The body panels must be made of unobtanium, or he paid someone else to do a lot of the work.

I'm not a purist, and would have no problem hacking up any of the more common Midgets or Sprites to do something wild to it, so I do appreciate his results. I do wonder, though, what his weight distribution is now. Is his goal to take up drifting? Weight distribution is what makes me think that it is better to soup up the 1275 or go for a rotary rather than the larger displacement I4. We are starting out with about 60/40 distribution in a car that is well under a ton. Adding a couple hundred pounds 70-80% of the way toward the front would probably add another 3-4% to the front and take it from the rear. Moving the tiny battery to the trunk may help offset some of that, but keeping the engine weight down AND moving the battery to the rear would probably be even better. Hap, Chris and/or Nial (or anyone else who knows) what's a good weight distribution for a SCCA racer and for a street hot-rod?

Drew, would you still be willing to let me help you make garage space if I might hack up the tub to do something wild with it?

 

[Guest]

Jack - Thanks for the information. I will give it a try.

 

[drooartz]

Steve - when it comes time to pass the Midget on, I'll be entertaining all offers and plans. As long as it is not being scrapped, I'll be happy. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif