Evaluation: Bought new in Lubbock and has been a Texas car its whole life. Unrestored and the 6921 miles on the odometer are represented as actual. A few minor scrapes and scratches on the body and wheels but nothing crazy. Good top. Tidy underneath. Excellent interior. It would be almost impossible to find another rubber bumper Midget, or almost any MG for that matter, that’s as well-preserved as this one.
Bottom Line: The Midget was already getting long in the tooth by the time it gained the heavy rubber bumpers, raised ride height and emissions-choked Triumph engine in the last 1974-80 version, but British Leyland nevertheless sold nearly 74,000 examples worldwide as they made a popular weekend car for sunny days. Popular, but also cheap, so few people kept their rubber bumper Midget for very long and rarely pampered it when they did.
This car isn’t perfect, but the Dallas bidders recognized it as one of those unicorn low-mile specimens of a car that’s usually either ragged or restored. The price paid is absolute top dollar (and certainly a lot of money for 50 horsepower), but it would take a long time to find another one like this.
This is good to see, as I am refurbishing (not restoring) TWO 1500 Midgets for customers. Those two will never be worth 25K unless inflation goes totally insane, but they will relive a lot of memories for both of their long term owners. They will also likely still be running in 10 or 20 years.