• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

OK, lets pick apart my car

Share this page

walshja

walshja

Jedi Warrior
Offline
a few months ago we were all pointing out the things wrong with that purple aconite Midget that keeps appearing on eBay.

I said I would take pictures of my unrestored Midget, and see what everyone can find which is not original to my year car. I know of a couple things wrong.

don't go easy on me, I want to know what isn't original to my year car.

1974 - GAN5UE149791
https://home.comcast.net/~walshja/side.jpg
https://home.comcast.net/~walshja/front-corner.jpg
https://home.comcast.net/~walshja/rear.jpg
https://home.comcast.net/~walshja/seats.jpg
https://home.comcast.net/~walshja/seats2.jpg
https://home.comcast.net/~walshja/dashboard.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 16403.jpg
    16403.jpg
    66.6 KB · Views: 589
one word...SWEEEEEEEET! Very nice! O.K. I see the stereo isn't original, what do I win?
 
Joe, first off. Nice car. I have a 78 Midget and noticed something that may have changed from your 74 to my 78. That black rocker panel under the door with the Midget logo on it. Mine also continues on behind the rear wheel and tapers up to the bumper. My car of course has the ugly rubber bumpers and I would much rather have the chrome bumpers. I like the blue as well.
 
I do not think the rear license plate lights are correct. I think they are supposed to be in the ends of the split bumpers.
 
I never noticed that on later cars the black skirts continues to the rear bumper, I wonder when that changed? Probably when the RWA went back to square maybe?

Trevor, you are onto the what I think is the only non-original part of the car, but the lights sadly are correct, I plan to making them un-correct soon !! I should have the big rubber sabrina's on the car, they were removed and the small chrome overriders were added, making the license plate holder and light assembly look incorrect. I'm searching for the the lights you describe. That should clean up the rear end nicely.

my car is a 1974.5. I am trying to convert mine to a 1974 but have found out the chrome bumpers are a bit different along with the license plate holder. I found this out when I purchased NOS chrome bumpers for a 1974, and they will not fit my car.
 
Trevor Jessie said:
I do not think the rear license plate lights are correct. I think they are supposed to be in the ends of the split bumpers.
Click to expand...

I have a pair of 74 split chrome bumpers that might be correct. I'll get some photos and post them. You can tell me if they are the correct ones. I owe you anyway! Let me know what you think they're worth...
 
Ed, thanks for the offer, but I have the 1974.5 bumpers on the car, and I purchased NOS 1974 bumpers, which don't fit. So I have both variations of the split rear bumpers, what I now need is the proper license place holder, and the lights that go in the 1974 bumper ends.

If you have the lucas lights, lets talk !!!

thanks
 
Thanks !!

The picture sure make the car look better than it is. The paint is original and has many scratches that I am slowly fixing. I purchased paint pens with the proper MG Teal Blue, and that is doing a great job of fixing the many flaws in paint. By summers end I will hopefully have most everything straightened out.
 
Way too nice to pick apart...however, there are some thing you could work on (& I'm taking a different position than some other answers.)

walshja said:
I never noticed that on later cars the black skirts continues to the rear bumper, I wonder when that changed? Probably when the RWA went back to square maybe?
Click to expand...
When they introdiced rubber bumpers.

walshja said:
my car is a 1974.5. I am trying to convert mine to a 1974 but have found out the chrome bumpers are a bit different along with the license plate holder. I found this out when I purchased NOS chrome bumpers for a 1974, and they will not fit my car.
Click to expand...
Actually, yours is a '74...there were 3 different 'types' of '74 Midgets but none was called "1/2"...the "1/2" denoted a change to rubber bumpers on the MGB...yours is just the later '74 with Sabrina's & a different bumper....the "Sabrina" bumper had the overriders in a different place (moved inboard closer to the end of the bumper) to allow access to the gas cap....When that change happened, there wasn't enough room in the end of the bumper for hidden license plate lights so they went to your setup with chrome lights instead of the RB Midget's black lights....you have the correct license plate setup for a "Sabrina" car.

All you need is a set of "Sabrina's" & the bumper for them...I can't tell if your bumpers are correct for "Sabrina's" as the "Sabrina" should be real close to the end of the bumper....I think you have the correct bumpers for your overriders (which was the 2nd '74 bumper setup) but not the correct bumper for "Sabrina's".......forget about changing the license plate setup & make sure you have the correct bumpers.....find a car with "Sabrina's" & measure the hole in the bumper through which they are attached from the end of the bumper & then check the location of your hole!

Oh, the last RWA was produced 17 Oct '74.....after that they switched to the '75 RB Midget.
 
I noticed something that I had not noticed before - that they converted to the Rostyle wheels before switching to rubber bumpers. I had always through those changes happened at the same time.

My interest in the 1974 Midget is particular because the PO of NCBugeye blew the original 948cc engine (cracked the block) some time in the mid 1990s, and replaced it with a 1275cc from a totally rusted out 1974 Midget, also took the front discs as well.

My era working at the BL Cowley Body plant (where the Midget was mostly assembled in the later days) was 1975-1978 so only a couple of years later. The "built at Abingdon" story was largely a myth, only the engine/transmission installation, wheels, and final fit and finish were done at Abingdon in the last few years. Complete bodyshells with all electrical, paint, fittings, doors, windows, carpets, hood, etc were shipped by truck from Cowley, a distance of about 10 miles.

The new BMW group MINI is built in a brand new plant on the site of the factory where I worked back then.
 
ahhhh, I didn't know there were 3 versions in 1974. I have never seen a rubber bumper 1974.

mine is definitely the middle '74 with the rubber sabrina's. the previous owner removed the sabrina'a and added the chrome sabrina's. I have the rubber sabrina's in the garage.

my rear bumpers are the sabrina bumpers, and I cannot change to the early 1974 bumbers, the spring bar is different, and the mounting holes do not line up.

so Tony, I won't be able to mount the old style license plate lights on my rubber sabrina chrome bumpers? I am thinking no from what you are saying about the overriders being moved closer to the center of the car, which stinks, because my setup looks pretty cluttered around the license plate. what's funny is the holes where the electrical wires would have gone through the body of the car for the license plate lights are there, I just gotta remove the rubber plugs.
 
walshja said:
ahhhh, I didn't know there were 3 versions in 1974. I have never seen a rubber bumper 1974.

mine is definitely the middle '74 with the rubber sabrina's. the previous owner removed the sabrina'a and added the chrome sabrina's. I have the rubber sabrina's in the garage.

my rear bumpers are the sabrina bumpers, and I cannot change to the early 1974 bumbers, the spring bar is different, and the mounting holes do not line up.

so Tony, I won't be able to mount the old style license plate lights on my rubber sabrina chrome bumpers? I am thinking no from what you are saying about the overriders being moved closer to the center of the car, which stinks, because my setup looks pretty cluttered around the license plate. what's funny is the holes where the electrical wires would have gone through the body of the car for the license plate lights are there, I just gotta remove the rubber plugs.
Click to expand...
Yours is the <span style="text-decoration: line-through">3rd</span> 2nd (my mistake) of the '74 Midgets, not the middle one, if it was a "Sabrina" car...however, your overriders are from the middle one.

True, they just plugged up the holes that were for the lights in the ends of the bumpers when they went to the "Sabrina's".....if you choose to go back to "Sabrina's", you'll have to keep your present license plate setup.

&, yes, the mounting brackets/spring bars were different for the "Sabrina" bumpers....MG was trying to meet US regulations 'on the cheap' with the "Sabrina" bumper setups.

Do you have a copy of "Original Sprite & Midget"? If so, go to page 91 & you'll see what the rear end of your car should look like.
 
wow, I am now very confused !!

what are the 3 versions in 1974?

1st - split rear bumper with chrome overriders
2nd - split rear bumper with rubber sabrina's
3rd - rubber bumper car??

or do I have this wrong?

looking at the Original Sprite & Midget book now.
 
1st - split rear bumper with chrome overriders
2nd - split rear bumper with rubber sabrina's
3rd - rubber bumper car??

NO.....but, I stand corrected...I started reading & found there were only 2 major changes to the '74 Midget....sorry:


1st - split rear bumper with chrome overriders...from '70 until mid-'74
2nd - split rear bumper with rubber Sabrina's....mid-'75 until end of '74 run

Rubber bumper Midgets first appeared with the 1975 model year (if there's any such thing as a true 'model year' with MG's)
 
Pre-Sabrina:

74Midget.jpg
 
Joe,
You might want to compare against the factory documentation as well as Horler's book. As has been mentioned, there were some subtle and not so subtle changes going on during that model.

There's a factory brochure on my web site dated 3/1/74 that has some nice detailed shots. Here's the link:

https://www.raysmg.com/rays_mg_midget_documentation_mark3_1_74brochure.htm

Check out the brochure just prior to that one and the one just after for comparison. All of the Midget factory brochures I've ever seen or heard of are scanned and posted there.

Ray



page4.jpg
 
Joe, if you ever decide to sell that Midget, please let me know.

I'm looking for a nicely sorted RWA Midget, all you LBC hoarders out there, so please keep an eye out for me. :thumbsup:
 
Back
Top