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MG Midget and Sprite General - To Buy or Not To Buy, that is my question

I Saw one of my questions, on an older post, but I could not find a way to post a follow up question, so I'm sorry if I started a new post that has already received an answer once before.

I'am thinking of buying a 1978 MG Midget, but I'm 6'3", I need to be able to fit in the car better. If I installed aftermarket racing seats /w seat straps, will this lower myself? My bulk? Will I fit a little better? Because now, when I went for the test drive, my lefty is on clutch, and righty is on the gas, and I looked like I was crammed in there, or like a bear riding a trycycle.
My goal is to be safer, thus adding seat harnesses, but also to be able to fit lower so I'm not getting back cramps, and then be low enough so that I can also add, an aftermarket roll bar too, and have the convertable top be able to close at the same time.

Any comments and recomendations are gladdly and humbly welcome. I am totaly new to the MG line, this was just a drive by, "oh I like that little car" kinda thing, and I'm now trying to make it work.
Dws Sloop

Maybe buy as B? You might find it easier on the wallet, as you wont have to do so much conversion, and and on the back as there's loads of room in them.

And despite this being a spridget thread, there's no harm in saying, that I quite like B/C roadsters.

I'm lucky in this instance, I'm not as tall as you. However, even with the seat fully back I still can't exactly stretch out as it were, unless I have the seat so upright (recliner), as to be almost kissing the steering wheel, --- which allows me another inch of leg room.

I doubt bucket seats will make that much difference. I had one in the drivers side once, and whilst it sat lower, it didn't give me any more leg stretch, and the reduced support made my back ache.

But there are taller drivers here, so wait till one posts with some more accurate advice. :)
Lawrence Slater

A friend of mine from Northern Ireland is 6'5" but reasonably thin. He drove a 1500 Midget for years with the standard seats. He reclined the backrest right back and splayed his knees around the steering wheel. Don't forget if the car has the original steering wheel, the steering is so easy that a much smaller wheel can be fitted.

Lawrence is right in that an MGB has more room inside, but is nothing like as much fun as a Midget. I have both. The B is heavy and ponderous compared with the chuckable small car. This may be heresy, but the Spitfire is a roomier small sports car. (Ducks to avoid brickbats thrown at me).
Mike Howlett

Talk to Bill Young here on the BBS...he is a giant of a man and has figured all that out...and he fits comfotably.

Prop
Prop

Maybe this website is of any help?
http://www.peterrenn.clara.net/midget.html#legroom
Modifications for those of us who aren't midgets!

The author is 6 feet 6 inches tall and did some modifications to his Midget and is happy with the result.
Pascal
pjw Seezink

That's a great link, even if you don't need the information for tall drivers.
Lawrence Slater

By no means are they limited to 'normal' sized people :)

I'm 6 foot 5 tall and 17 stone, and I fit in mine really well, the only mod being a pair of fiat seats that are a LOT thinner than the original ones - both in height and back thickness, so I can shove them a long way back and I sit quite low. There's a smaller steering wheel on there as well, 13 inches, as the original one meant I couldn't get my knees in.

Bear riding a tricycle sounds about right for the original seats, especially if they've not collapsed :)

I didn't fit in a spitfire with collapsed seats so well, I kept hitting my left knee on the centre dashboard bit, and I had to have the seat so far back I could hardly reach the gearstick, which seemed stupidly far forwards to me...

Didn't fit in a B either, though it had the biggest squashiest seats ever, so that might be why that didn't work...
Rob Armstrong

It's a car that you wear...
David "size M" Lieb
David Lieb

This thread was discussed between 08/10/2011 and 09/10/2011

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