Picture Of

MG Midget Cars

The MG F-type Magna was a six cylinder engined car produced by the MG Car company from October 1931 to 1932. It was also known as the 12/70.

F

The original F was restricted by only having 8 inch (200 mm) brake drums which with its 4 seat bodies was not really adequate. Many F1 cars have subsequently been fitted with the larger F2 brakes.

The four seat tourer cost 250 and the Foursome coupe cost 289.

F2

Introduced in late 1932 the F2 was the open 2 seater car in the range. It also got much needed enhanced braking by fitting larger 12 inch (300 mm) drums all round. The body with straight topped doors came from the J-Type Midget.

F3

The F3, also introduced in 1932, used the same brakes as the F2 but had the 4 seater tourer and Foursome Coupe bodies fitted. The engine cooling was improved by changing the cooling water flow.

The MG Midget is a small two seat sports car produced by MG division of the British Motor Corporation from 1961 to 1979. It re-used a famous pre-war name used on MG M-type, MG D-type, MG J-type and so on.

Picture Of

MG Midget Cars

The MG Midget Cars is a small two seat sports car produced by MG division of the British Motor Corporation from 1961 to 1979. It re-used a famous pre-war name used on MG Midget M-type, MG Midget D-type, MG Midget J-type and so on.

The MG D-type Midget Cars was produced by the MG Car company in 1931 and 1932. It used the engine from the MG M-type Midget in the chassis from the MG C-type Midget and was only available as a four seater. Of the 250 MG cars produced, 208 were open tourers, 37 were salonettes and five went to external coachbuilders.

The MG Midget Cars used the MG Midget M-type 847 cc engine that was derived from the overhead camshaft engine from the 1928 Morris Minor Cars and Wolseley Cars 10 with a single SU carburettor producing 27 bhp (20 kW) at 4500 rpm. Drive was to the rear wheels through a three speed non-synchromesh gearbox with a four speed gearbox was an option on later MG Midget cars. The chassis came from the MG C-type Midget and took the form of a ladder frame with tubular cross members and passed under the rear axle. The suspension used half elliptic springs and Hartford friction shock absorbers with rigid front and rear axles and centre lock wire wheels, the brakes were cable operated with eight inch (203 mm) drums. At 84 inches (2134 mm), 86 inches (2184 mm) after the first 100 MG cars, the wheelbase was longer than the MG Midget C-Type to cater for the larger body, but the track remained the same at 42 inches (1067 mm).

In spite of its looks the MG Midget Cars was not very fast, 60 mph (97 km/h) being just possible in the tourer, the body being really too much for the small engine. The MG Midget Cars are quite rare today, many having been converted into MG Midget C-Type replicas. At the same time as the MG Midget D-Type was being made MG Cars was also offering the 6 cylinder 1271 cc MG Midget F-Type and externally the two are virtually identical. The extra power of the MG Midget F-Type made it a much better MG Midget Cars and it proved a bigger seller.

Picture Of Mg Midget Cars

The mid-sized Farinas were launched in 1958 with the Wolseley 15/60. Other members of the group included the Riley 4/68, Austin A55 Cambridge Mk II, MG Magnette Mk III, and Morris Oxford V. Later, the design was licensed in Argentina and produced as the Di Tella 1500/Traveller/Argenta. The mid-size cars used the B-Series straight-4 engine.


Most of these cars lasted until 1961, though the Di Tellas remained until 1965. They were replaced with a new Farina body style and most were renamed. These were the Austin A60 Cambridge, MG Magnette Mk. IV, Morris Oxford VI, Riley 4/72, and Wolseley 16/60. These mostly remained in production until 1968, with no rear wheel drive replacement produced.


Farina also designed a large car. Launched in 1959 as the Austin A99 Westminster, Vanden Plas Princess 3-Litre, and Wolseley 6/99, it used the large C-Series straight-6 engine. The large Farinas were updated in 1961 as the Austin A110 Westminster, Vanden Plas Princess 3-Litre Mk. II, and Wolseley 6/110. These remained in production until 1968.

Picture Of Mg Midget Cars

In 1958, BMC hired Battista Farina to redesign its entire car line. This resulted in the creation of three "Farina" saloons, each of which was badge-engineered to fit the various BMC car lines.


The compact Farina model bowed in 1958 with the Austin A40 Farina. This is considered by many to be the first mass produced hatchback car: a small estate version was produced with a horizontally split tailgate, its size and configuration would today be considered that of a small hatchback. A Mark II A40 Farina appeared in 1961 and was produced through 1967. These small cars used the A-Series engine.

Picture Of Mg Midget Cars

BMC's headquarters were at the Austin plant at Longbridge, near Birmingham and Austin was the dominant partner in the group mainly because of the chairman. The use of Morris engine designs was dropped within 3 years and all new car designs were coded ADO from "Austin Drawing Office". The Longbridge plant was up to date, having been thoroughly modernised in 1951, and compared very favourably with Nuffield's 16 different and often old fashioned factories scattered over the English Midlands. Austin's management systems however, especially cost control and marketing were not as good as Nuffield's and as the market changed from a shortage of cars to competition this was to tell. The biggest selling car, the Mini, was famously analysed by Ford Motor Company who concluded that BMC must be losing £30 on every one sold. The result was that although volumes held up well throughout the BMC era, market share fell as did profitability and hence investment in new models, triggering the 1966 government sponsored merger with Jaguar to form British Motor Holdings (BMH), and three years later leading to the merger of BMH with Leyland Motor Corporation.


At the time of the mergers, there was a well established dealership network for each of the marques. Among the car-buying British public there was a tendency of loyalty to a particular marque and marques appealed to different market segments. This meant that marques competed against each other in some areas, though some marques had a larger range than others. The Riley and Wolseley models were selling in very small numbers. Styling was also getting distinctly old fashioned and this caused Leonard Lord, in an unusual move for him, to call upon the services of an external stylist.

Picture Of Mg Midget Cars

The British Motor Corporation (BMC) was a UK vehicle company, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation (parent of the Morris car company, MG, Riley and Wolseley) in 1952. Basically, it was the predecessor of British Leyland.


BMC was the largest British car company of its day, with (in 1952) 39 percent of British output, producing a wide range of cars under brand names including Austin, Morris, MG, Austin Healey, Wolseley as well as commercial vehicles and agricultural tractors. The first chairman was Lord Nuffield (William Morris) but he was replaced in August 1952 by Austin's Leonard Lord who continued in that role until his 65th birthday in 1961 but handing over, in theory at least, the managing director responsibilities to his deputy George Harriman in 1956.