AHHH!!
In a message dated 12/7/99 11:44:57 PM, mvheim@studiolimage.com writes:
<< >Midgette roadster. Built cheap to compare with the Miata on the Z3
>pan. Styling should remind us of a midget with a retro style chrome
>grille, round headlights set high like the original Bugeyes. Should
>look all-Brit with no Japanese styling influence. Maybe a peppy
>inline four with full aftermarket race support for autocrossers
>everywhere.
The MIDGETTE?!? Built cheap to compare with Miata, and (deep breath) the $32k
BMW Z3? I think the name makes me sicker than the price. Man, the Midget was
about very, very simple sports car motoring, a notion that is simply too
impractical for ANY automaker to reproduce at a price for mere mortals to
afford, not to mention meeting current government safety standards. The
Midget as we remember it could never be replicated in a way that could
possibly do the original concept any justice.
We all know the Miata was modeled closely after the Lotus Elan, whose closest
MG competition was the MGB. Today's market simply would not accept any sports
car less than a modern MGB (like today's MGF) in terms of size and comfort,
at least in America.
The Midget is a car whose time has come and gone. Let us not bastardize her
memory with a decontented BMW Z3 with faux Bug Eye headlights and sell her
for $25,000. Anyhow, I think I may have to spend some time with my car
now....let her know she is loved...
Tom
78 Midget rubber bumpered, but no BMW
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