Bob -
In '65, I was shopping for either a new Midget or a used B. At that time
the Midget was a recent offering and the Sprite was established. Except
for trim, they were the same cars and I asked the an MG dealer why MG
bothered to offer it. His answer, "there has always been an MG Midget and
the badge-loyality in the market called for it to continue, so the factory
took the least-cost way out."
The word "always" seemed odd since there wasn't a midget during the time of
the MGA. It makes more sense when one realizes that all the early MG sport
cars were called midgets to differentiate them from the saloons. For some
reason (anyone know why?) this designation was dropped with the A, which
was not much bigger than the T's, and, if the salesman was right, brought
back in a separate, smaller car, just to fill a market nitch.
Russ Wilson
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