British-Cars.org

Welcome to the DMR Site for British Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite General - My old, restored Midget has been scrapped

I cannot believe my old car has been scrapped! During 1994, 95 and 96 I rebuilt a 1500cc Midget. It was reshelled on a rot free American shell which was completely cleaned and painted – I even spent 3 months scraping underseal off the bottom. The engine was rebuild, the gearbox and axle was rebuilt – everything was like new. New hood, new interior all the right bits and made to look like it had just come out the factory. The shell was painted everywhere (even the areas BMC missed originally!!) and it was Waxolyed – everything to ensure a long life. Now I understand that was 14 years ago and that I sold it 10 years ago, and it is a rubber bumpered car, but I was horrified to discover that it has now been scrapped! Now maybe it was crashed or something, but I am completely gutted!! Seems even these days, good MGs don’t end up in the hands of enthusiasts. Think I might have to save another Midget to readdress the balance!
JB Williams

Really sorry to hear about this, it makes me mad and I didn't put in all the hard work. The problem is that unless they are looked after and put in a garage etc. 10 years is a long time and probably will have rusted a little or a lot.

The other sad fact is that they are worth so much more as parts than as a whole car.

I would say saving another midget is the way forward to readdress the balance.
C Carter

Well at least it’s not just me who annoyed!

I think we all appreciate, like C Carter above, if these cars aren't cared for they will still rust - however much effort you put in. The chap I sold this car too supposedly looked after it, but didn't really have any mechanical knowledge and sold it in 2007. It was then scrapped in 2009, so perhaps it was in a bad way and maybe because of the Governments scrappage scheme it found its way to a scrap yard to make way for something new. All I can hope is that the parts are been used and it hasn't just been crushed.

It’s just such a shame as these cars are worth saving in my opinion.

So that’s it then, looks like a search on eBay for a Midget to save, before it too finds its way to a scrap yard!
JB Williams

I have two midgets and when I work on them it annoys me at how these cars are scrapped. There is nothing you cant fix on them and they are not expensive to run! I suppose only problem is that if people didn't break them for parts then they wouldn't be as cheap to run but even so the insurance saving on these alone pays for the car.
C Carter

that's shocking, but others live on thanks to the parts
David Cox

A number of relatively good cars were scrapped as a result of the government scrappage scheme.
Dave O'Neill 2

I would like to think that the parts are been used to save other Midgets. I hope so anyway!
JB Williams

to last 10 years or more looked after yes but a garage isn't absolutely necessary

a good garage will prolong the cars life, a bad garage may shorten it

plenty of fresh air outside at least

it's a pity the car went to scrappage but a lot of people find trade-in a lot easier or more comfortable for them that's what traders rely on certainly with scrappage

unfortuately selling or buying a car is seldom a pleasant thing
Nigel Atkins

It had to be crashed or an abondened dead mexican hooker was smelling up the boot... what moran having owned it for just 10 years would have crushed it, theres more to this seedy story.
Prop

Well guys, like Prop said, there is more to this story. However, its ending in good news. After a bit of digging I have struck lucky! I found my Midget!! For some reason it now has a different reg plate. Anyone know of this happening and why??
I know this is my old one because of a few details. The additional stud on the hood, the slight damage on the front bumber, the small cigarette burn on the rear panel, the odd centre console with no radio, the red engine block, the American bonnet hinges, the electric windscreen washer I left on for some reason, the rip in the front seat I was always going to get mended, the Mountney steering wheel, the non standard allen key bolts, the beaten out floor (damaged in transit from the states), the slightly faded bumbers. I know you have to take my word for it, but it is my car.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59183967@N03/5419808356/in/set-72157625858790477/

If anyone has bought this car, I have the photos of the rebuild and the artilce written about it in the MG Owners Club magazine. Happy to pass copies on.

Chuffed that it still exists and it still looks nice!

James
JB Williams

Good news

plate changed may come up on DVLA web site

could be a couple of reasons for the change (but I wont say in case I'm wrong about what is possible)

and I wont mention folding of hood as it's not your car :)



Nigel Atkins

Yes, perhaps just forget about plate change. Good thing is its still alive!

And yes, eek, folding of hood! Mmm, wouldn't have happened like that when I had it!
JB Williams

not your photos then, pity as some might have been useful for use on threads here

Looks like you done a good job just the odd hint that your work was a few years ago

still a lot of life in the car yet by those photos (like I'd know)
Nigel Atkins

JB

Do you know if the DVLA details for TDH377R are the same as your car - i.e. date of first registration?

If not, it could be that your car has 'acquired' a new identity!!

If it had a personal plate at some point since you sold it, it would normally have been re-issued with its original reg number when the personal plate was removed, so I doubt that is the explanation.

BTW you seem to have moved from Staffs to Warks during the course of yesterday.
Dave O'Neill 2

The only other option, which has just occurred to me is that the original number may have been sold. Was it likely to have had a value? What was it?
Dave O'Neill 2

Thanks Nigel. The car still looks in good nick which is nice to see, and also nice to see it it still free from any serious rot.

No, not my photos on the internet, but I do have the full photographic evidence of the rebuild, including the LHD/RHD conversion. I will see if I can get some up on a site somewhere (with hood folded correctly!)

I did think maybe it had a personal plate. The original reg was ODK 380R. When I searched this plate, the history was still an MG Midget in green but scrapped in 2009. The new plate, TDH 377R is an MG Midget, in green also first registered in 1977, so perhaps 2 Midgets just had thier plates changed. I don't think it really matters, just as far as the DVLA documentation is concerned the history of this particular car is incorrect. Maybe I will pay the fiver and see what it says about TDH 377R. Whatever the case, this car was rebuilt in 1994-1997 on an American Shell and if anyone wants to know the cars full history, I can tell them. It was Harvest Gold, then Inca Yellow before I painted it green and the american shell was blue! Such an array of colours!

As for the change in location. I was in Staffs when I first registered with this site back in 2001 sometime (I had a BGT at the time). Haven't been back to the site for sometime and a trip to the MG Show at Stonleigh reignited my interest for MGs. I now live in Warwickshire and when I noticed my details were wrong, I corrected them accordingly.

James
JB Williams

James

I'm intrigued. Where did you get the information that it had been scrapped in 2009?
Dave O'Neill 2

You can check out the history of a car online if you pay a fiver. A work collegue had bought a bundle of 5 checks but he only used 3, so he offered to use the remaining 2 if I wanted to search for anything, so I searched for my old MGs.

I think the site is this one.

www.mycarcheck.com
JB Williams

<<If it had a personal plate at some point since you sold it, it would normally have been re-issued with its original reg number when the personal plate was removed.>>

I don't think that's true any more - I've been told you have to keep the old reg on a retention certificate (from which they make money), otherwise they issue an age-related plate.

As we know, the DVLA changes its rules as it likes, without feeling it has to tell the public and with little direct authority from Parliament. It then enforces those rules with a vigour that can only be described as Stalinist and if you question them you are told the office is 'closed to the public', a true Kafkaesque nightmare.

Imagine how popular the coalition would be if it announced that it was disbanding the DVLA and devolving its responsibilities back to the regional motor taxation offices! Then I'd believe in 'people power' ...

Tom
Tom Coulthard

<<I don't think that's true any more - I've been told you have to keep the old reg on a retention certificate (from which they make money), otherwise they issue an age-related plate.>>

That may depend on the type of registration number that was originally on the vehicle. I could well believe that if it was a pre-suffix number, the DVLA would be less inclined to let you have it back.

The last time I removed a 'cherished' number from a vehicle was two years ago, and the original number was re-assigned.

Now if someone were to buy the 'MG' registration number currently attached to my Honda 750, I could confirm whether or not that is still the case ;o)
Dave O'Neill 2

It was with a suffix registration and I remember now it was re-registering a modern car that had been given a cherished plate ... but they wouldn't give the modern car its original registration back.

"The registration might have been re-issued in the meantime," I was told which I thought at the time was specious nonsense. But this was more than two years ago, so practices may differ between local offices.

They've probably changed their rules again by now!

Tom
Tom Coulthard

This thread was discussed between 04/03/2011 and 05/03/2011

MG Midget and Sprite General index

This thread is from the archives. Join this live forum now